February's Average Multistate Bar Exam Score Hits All-Time Low

Karen Sloan (Law.com), February's Average Multistate Bar Exam Score Hits All-Time Low:

The national average score on the Multistate Bar Exam—the 200-question multiple-choice portion of the attorney licensing test—fell 1.4 points from the previous year to land at 132.6, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners, which develops the test. That represents the lowest average February MBE score on record, and is an ominous sign for pass rates in individual jurisdictions.

“It’s obviously disappointing to see this decline after last year’s mean increases in February and July,” said national conference president Judith Gundersen on Monday. “Although the MBE isn’t the only factor that affects bar passage rates, we will probably see a decline in pass rates for February 2020.”

The February results are likely to throw cold water on the legal academy’s hopes for a sustained bar exam turnaround. Pass rates plummeted between 2014 and 2018, but a 1.2-point gain on the February 2019 average MBE score fueled cautious optimism among educators that the worst was behind them. Those hopes accelerated after July 2019 bar takers posted a 1.6 point increase in the MBE average. The July administration is watched more closely by the legal industry, as it is significantly larger and draws a higher percentage of first-time takers that the February test.

This past February, 19,112 people sat for the exam—down 10% from the previous year. And more than two-thirds of them were taking the test for a second time or more, according to the national conference. It was those repeat test-takers who were the primary drivers of the declining average MBE score, Gundersen noted, rather than those who were sitting for the exam for the first time.

Update:  Derek Muller (Pepperdine), February 2020 MBE Bar Scores Fall to All-Time Record Low in Test History:

The decline in scores comes at a particularly poor time. Some are advocating for “diploma privilege” for the Class of 2020 in light of bar exam postponements given the coronavirus pandemic. Bar licensing authorities will assuredly be skeptical of such proposals as they look at all-time low scores like these.