More On The California Bar Exam Carnage

Following up on my previous post, July 2016 California Bar Exam Carnage: Robert Anderson (Pepperdine), Breaking Down the California Bar Exam:

First, the California bar exam is the second-toughest in the country, with only Delaware having a more difficult exam. There are actually large differences in the difficulty of passing the various state bars. Some bars are extremely easy, and a few are very difficult. Unfortunately California has one of the difficult ones. The "difficulty" of the exam is based on the passing Multistate Bar Exam "cut score," which is 144 in California. Most states have passing scores that are much lower.

Second, most of the people who failed the California bar exam would have passed if they took the bar in other states. For example, although only 42% of those who took the bar exam in California passed, 70% would have passed if California used New York's passing score, which is much lower. If they had taken the bar in Wisconsin, which is one of the easiest, the pass rate would have been 80%.