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United States · Licensing exam

How many questions are on the bar exam, and what’s the pass rate?

On the legacy Uniform Bar Exam and in California, the multiple-choice part is the MBE: 200 questions over six hours, 175 of them scored. Around it you write essays and performance tests. Passing scores are scaled and set by each jurisdiction, for example 266 out of 400 in New York and 1390 out of 2000 in California. On the July 2026 exam, 67% passed in New York, 70% in Texas and 64% in Florida.

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Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

What’s on each exam

Legacy UBENextGenCalifornia
Multiple choice200 MBE questions, 175 scoredMultiple-choice questions with 4 to 6 options, some with more than one right answer200 MBE questions
Writing6 MEE essays, 30 minutes eachIntegrated question sets with short and medium answers5 essays, 1 hour each
Practical tasks2 MPT tasks, 90 minutes eachPerformance tasks, about a third of the time1 performance test, 90 minutes
Total timeAbout 12 hours over 2 days9 hours over 1½ days2 days
Score scale400 points500 to 7502000 points

As of October 2026. NCBE doesn’t publish an exact NextGen question count, only the share of time each part takes: about 40% multiple choice, just over 25% integrated sets and about a third performance tasks.

The seven MBE subjects

The 175 scored MBE questions are split evenly, 25 in each subject: civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, real property and torts. The other 25 questions are unscored trial questions. They look the same as the real ones, so answer everything.

Passing scores

ExamLowestHighestExamples
Legacy UBE (out of 400)260270New York 266, Texas 270, Illinois 266
NextGen (500 to 750)610620Washington 610, Maryland 616, Oregon 620 after July 2026
California (out of 2000)13901390One pass mark for everyone

These are scaled scores, not the percentage of questions you got right. Each jurisdiction chooses its own, and some NextGen states are still deciding. Our practice test uses 70% only as a practice target.

Pass rates on the July 2026 exam

JurisdictionOverallFirst-time takersRepeatersExaminees
New York67%76%25%9,936
Texas70%79%23%3,230
Illinois71%80%20%2,259
Pennsylvania73%81%26%1,473
Florida64%75%15%2,750

California hadn’t released its July 2026 results when we checked; they’re due on October 30, 2026. In July 2025, 55% passed overall in California, with 70% of first-timers and 12% of repeaters.

NCBE warns that each jurisdiction defines “first-time” and “repeater” its own way, so the numbers aren’t perfectly comparable.

Don’t forget the MPRE

Almost every jurisdiction also needs the MPRE, a separate ethics exam. It has 60 multiple-choice questions, 50 of them scored, in two hours. It’s scored from 50 to 150, and passing scores in UBE jurisdictions run from 75 to 86. Wisconsin and Puerto Rico don’t require it.

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Everything else, in one place

OverviewThe US bar examScoringHow the bar exam is scoredExam datesBar exam dates and how to registerCostHow much does the bar exam cost?Online examCan you take the bar exam online?If you failWhat happens if you fail the bar exam?Study guideBar exam study guide: the official materialsPractice testFree bar exam practice questionsWhere to learnWhere to study for the bar exam
Sources: NCBE, State Bar of California and 7 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.