Higher pass rate but smaller pool for New York’s online bar exam
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New York’s bar exam, administered online in October, had an overall pass rate of 84%.
According to a news release from the New York Board of Law Examiners, 5,150 people took the test. Comparatively, 7,916 people sat for the state’s July 2019 exam, and the overall pass rate was 76%.
“The board acknowledges that the pandemic added significant challenges for this year’s graduates, including the delayed administration of the July exam, and we are grateful for their patience and cooperation. The board would also like to thank the National Conference of Bar Examiners for making available the test questions for the remote bar examination,” the news release states.
The exam had 5,004 first-time test-takers, with a pass rate of 85%. Among the 4,016 first-time test-takers who graduated from an ABA-accredited law school, the pass rate was 89%.
New York is a Uniform Bar Exam state, but the UBE was only available for in-person tests, which some other jurisdictions had. According to the news release, 351 people who took the UBE in other jurisdictions have transferred passing scores to New York.
