United States · Licensing examWhat's on the California bar exam?
The essays and the performance test can cover 13 subjects: business associations, civil procedure, community property, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, professional responsibility, real property, remedies, torts, trusts, and wills and succession. The MBE covers seven of them: civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, real property and torts.
You type the written sessions on your own laptop in ExamSoft, or you can handwrite them. For the MBE you get a paper booklet and fill in a Scantron sheet with No. 2 pencils. As of October 2026, NCBE lists July 2028 as California's first NextGen exam; the State Bar's own exam pages don't mention NextGen yet. NCBE's guide still describes California's own multiple-choice questions; the State Bar confirms the MBE for February 2027.
| Day | Session | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1, morning | Essays | Three one-hour essay questions |
| Day 1, afternoon | Essays and performance test | Two one-hour essays and one 90-minute performance test |
| Day 2, morning | MBE | 100 multiple-choice questions in three hours |
| Day 2, afternoon | MBE | 100 multiple-choice questions in three hours |
California bar exam dates and deadlines for February 2027
If you sat the July 2026 exam and are going again right away, your application opens on October 30, 2026, after 4:00 p.m., with a timely deadline of November 13. The July 2027 exam is on July 27-28, 2027; the State Bar says more about it will come later.
Testing sites are in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego areas, and the State Bar lists them on its February 2027 exam page.
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Exam application opens | October 1, 2026, after 8:00 a.m. PT |
| Timely filing deadline | November 2, 2026 |
| Late filing, $50 fee | November 3-30, 2026 |
| Late filing, $250 fee | December 1, 2026 to January 4, 2027 |
| Final filing and testing accommodations deadline | January 4, 2027 |
| Test center change requests | By February 1, 2027 |
| ExamSoft laptop registration opens | January 26, 2027 |
| Mandatory mock exam done by | February 19, 2027 |
| Exam | Tuesday and Wednesday, February 23-24, 2027 |
| Results | April 30, 2027 |
How to register for the California bar exam
- Register with the State Bar as a general applicant. That's a separate step from applying for the exam itself.
- File your moral character application with the State Bar.
- Apply for the exam in the Applicant Portal by the deadline. You can't sit the exam without a filed application.
- Request testing accommodations in the Applicant Portal by the same deadline, if you need them.
- Register your laptop with ExamSoft and complete the mock exam before exam week, unless you're handwriting.
California bar exam fees
From the State Bar's schedule of charges, as of October 2026. Card payments add a 2.5% processing fee. ACH (eCheck) has no fee but can take up to seven days to clear.
Our own sum for a first-time general applicant typing on a laptop, with no late fees: $155 + $900 + $878 + $153 = $2,086, plus the MPRE, which NCBE charges for separately.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Registration, general applicant | $155 |
| Registration, attorney applicant | $310 |
| Exam application, general applicant | $878 |
| Exam application, attorney applicant | $1,650 |
| Laptop fee | $153 |
| Moral character application, general applicant | $900 |
| Late filing | $50 or $250, depending on how late |
| First-Year Law Students' Exam | $925 |
California bar exam results and the pass list
July 2026 results are due on October 30, 2026, in the Applicant Portal by 4:00 p.m. February 2027 results are due on April 30, 2027. The public pass list goes up on the State Bar's Examination Pass List page a few days after each release.
You pass with 1390 out of 2000. If you land between 1350 and 1389, a second set of graders reads your answers and the two scores are averaged. How the scaling works is on our scoring page.
As of October 26, 2026, California hadn't reported its July 2026 numbers to NCBE. For how hard the California bar exam is compared with other states, see the pass rates page.
Past exams, the baby bar and the Attorneys' Examination
The State Bar posts past California bar exams as PDFs: the questions, plus essays and performance tests with selected answers, from July 2012 to February 2026.
The baby bar is the First-Year Law Students' Exam (FYLSX). Students at unaccredited registered law schools and in the Law Office Study Program take it after their first year of law study. It has 100 multiple-choice questions on contracts, criminal law and torts, and it's given in June and October. Students who've moved on to their second year at an ABA- or California-accredited school, with enough undergraduate units, are generally exempt.
If you're approved to sit the Attorneys' Examination, you don't take the multiple-choice portion.
Requirements, reciprocity and retakes
Three rules that set California apart:
- Education: NCBE's guide lists California as accepting ABA-approved schools, California-accredited and unaccredited schools, correspondence and online schools, and law office study. Students from unaccredited schools need four years of law study and must pass the FYLSX.
- Reciprocity: California has no admission on motion, according to NCBE's guide. Lawyers licensed in other states sit the exam, and approved attorney applicants can take the Attorneys' Examination.
- Retakes: NCBE's guide shows no limit on attempts in California.
Sources: State Bar of California · NCBE · NCBE Comprehensive Guide, Chart 3 and 9 more. Checked October 2026.
- State Bar of California: California Bar Examination ↗
- State Bar of California: February 2027 California Bar Exam ↗
- State Bar of California: Scope of the exam ↗
- State Bar of California: Grading ↗
- State Bar of California: Schedule of charges and deadlines ↗
- State Bar of California: Past exams ↗
- State Bar of California: First-Year Law Students' Examination ↗
- NCBE: NextGen bar exam (first exam by jurisdiction) ↗
- NCBE Comprehensive Guide, Chart 3: Domestic legal education ↗
- NCBE Comprehensive Guide, Chart 9: Non-UBE jurisdictions, admission by examination ↗
- NCBE Comprehensive Guide, Chart 14: Admission on motion ↗
- NCBE: Bar exam pass rates by jurisdiction ↗
Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.