California Bar Exam Pass Rate For First-Time Takers From ABA-Accredited In-State Law Schools Falls 8 Percentage Points

The California Bar has released the results of the July 2022 bar exam. The overall pass rate was 52.4%, down 0.6 percentage point from last year's exam. For California ABA-accredited law schools, the pass rate for first time test-takers was 73%, down 8 percentage points from 2021.

School Type	First-Timers	Repeaters
California ABA	73%	26%
Out-of-State ABA	69%	23%
California Accredited (not ABA)	30%	12%
Unaccredited: Fixed-Facility	11%	5%
Unaccredited: Correspondence	25%	8%
Unaccredited Distance-Learning	12%	9%
All Others	0%	0%
All Applicants	62%	17%

The July 2022 pass rate on the General Bar Exam was slightly lower than the July 2021 pass rate of 53 percent.

Performance on the July 2022 bar exam varied nationally, with some states seeing a higher pass rate, and others experiencing a decline. Here are a few highlights:

• Washington, D. C. (72 percent compared to 73 percent in 2021)
• Pennsylvania (68 percent compared to 69 percent in 2021) 
• New York (66 percent compared to 63 percent in 2021)
• Florida (51 percent compared to 44 percent in 2021)

The National Conference of Bar Examiners announced that the national average score on the July 2022 Multistate Bar Examination of 140.3 represented a fraction of a point reduction from the July 2021 score (140.4). This suggests that the July 2022 result should track closely to 2021’s pass rates and, in California's case, it does.

Attendance at California’s July 2022 General Bar Exam was lower (7,164) than during the remotely administered July 2021 exam (7,536) and the October 2020 remotely administered exam (8,723) and lower compared to average attendance for in person exams in prior years, when 8,000 typically took the exam.  

• ABA Journal, Bar Pass Rates for California Decrease Slightly
• The Recorder, California July 2022 Bar Exam Pass Rate Dips Slightly to 52%
• Reuters, California's July Bar Exam Pass Rate Fell, Mirroring Results Nationwide