Other Statistics

Bar Exam Difficulty

The "cut score" is the minimum passing score as set by each individual state. If a test-taker scores below the cut score, they fail the exam. Although not all states use the MBE's 200 point-scale for the cut score, the National Conference of Bar Examiners converts state scales to the MBE scale. We've reproduced the NCBE's table below.

Cut scores indicate bar exam difficulty. Difficulty does not refer to how challenging a state's exam is—the scaling and equating process smooths over that variance. Difficulty refers to the chances a state will consider a person minimally competent to practice law in the state based on the same performance. A hypothetical test-taker could take the bar in two states and pass one and fail the other based on nothing more than both states' cut scores. Different cut scores reflect different views on minimal competence.

Note that South Dakota recently made their bar exam dramatically tougher—and the 2013 bar passage rates on this report do not account for this change. South Dakota changed its MBE cut score from 130 to 135 and set a minimum passing standard for each section.

The list below does not include Louisiana because Louisiana does not utilize the MBE. However, industry observers indicate that it is among the most difficult exams in the country. Our data confirm: schools in Louisiana have poor bar passage rates despite relatively stronger (if not strong) entrance credentials.