Next-Gen Bar Exam Ditches Problem-Plagued ExamSoft Platform

Reuters, New Bar Exam Developers Ditch Problem-Plagued ExamSoft Platform:

The revamped bar exam set to debut in July 2026 won’t rely on ExamSoft—the testing platform that has suffered a series of tech problems over the years.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners said on Tuesday that it had replaced ExamSoft, the platform most states use for the current bar exam, with different testing software for the NextGen bar exam.

The bar examiners' switch to Surpass Assessment software comes after a number of technology issues with ExamSoft. The company paid $2.1 million in 2015 to settle a lawsuit brought by bar exam takers who couldn’t upload their test answers—an incident that became known as “barmageddon” in legal publications.

A spokesperson for ExamSoft parent company Turnitin on Wednesday said that it "continues to provide bar exam services" to states, and declined to comment further.