Pass Rate On February 2025 California Bar Exam Hits All-Time High, Due To Lowered Passing Score And Bonus For Taking Experimental Test

The Recorder, Pass Rate on California's February 2025 Bar Exam Hits Historically High 56%:

Nearly 56% of those who took California's calamitous February 2025 bar exam passed, setting a historically high pass rate for the winter administration of the test.

The success rate, posted by the state bar Monday morning, rivals those set on past July exams, which include far more first-time test-takers who traditionally score higher on the notoriously difficult test. By comparison, fewer than 34% of applicants passed California's February 2024 exam.

The high pass rate was aided by two factors.

The California Supreme Court on Friday lowered the raw passing score, acknowledging the significant technical and proctoring problems experienced by most of the people who sat for the exam. Additionally, the bar awarded scoring increases to 527 applicants who did well on a November 2024 experimental exam designed as a test run of the agency's new remotely administered test. ...

In raw numbers, 2,172 people of the 3,886 who completed the February exam passed. As is typical, graduates of American Bar Association-approved schools taking the exam for the first time posted the highest pass rates: 77%. But so-called repeaters did well, too, with 53% passing the test. ...

The state bar's committee of bar examiners was scheduled to meet Monday afternoon to consider remedies for those who failed the February exam, including provisional licensing.

Update:

• ABA Journal, California State Bar Sues Vendor After Troubled Exam
• ABA Journal, California Supreme Court Orders Return to Multistate Bar Examination, Lowers Bar Pass Score
• Above the Law, California’s Bar Exam Fiasco Enters Next Stage Of Stupid
• Law.com, 
• Law.com, California State Bar Sues Testing Vendor Over Botched February Exam 
• Law360, Calif. Bar Sues Administrator Over February Exam 'Chaos'
• Law360, Calif. Justices Adjust Bar Exam Passing Score Amid Turmoil
• The Recorder, California's Bar Exam Debacle Carries High Price Tag
• Reuters, After California Bar Exam Mess in February, July's Test Will Cost Millions More, Official Says
• Reuters, California Bar Says It Has Sued Vendor Over Exam Meltdown

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• California Bar Exam Suffers Catastrophic Meltdown: ‘I’ve Never Had This Much Despair And Hopelessness’ (Feb. 27, 2025)
• The California Bar Exam Fiasco: Is Provisional Licensure The Appropriate Remedy? (Mar. 1, 2025)
• New York Times: California Bar Exam Fiasco Enrages Test Takers And Clouds Their Futures; Chemerinsky Calls For Provisional Licensure (Mar. 3, 2025)
• 17 Deans Ask California High Court To Provisionally License Grads Who Fail February Exam And Scrap New Kaplan-Written Questions And Revert Back To In-Person Exams In July (Mar. 4, 2025)
• California Supreme Court Reverts Back To In-Person Bar Exam In July (Mar. 5, 2025)
• Law Profs: California State Bar Must Be Held Accountable For Its Catastrophic Failures (Mar. 6, 2025) 
• California Bar Orders Investigation Of February Exam Disaster As Beleaguered Test-Takers Fume (Mar. 9, 2025)
• California Bar Blocked Law School Deans And Professors From Vetting Troubled Bar Exam (Mar. 15, 2025)
• California Bar Recommends Provisional Licensure For All Who Failed And Withdrew From The February Bar Exam (Mar. 16, 2025)
• State Bar Of California Announces Remediation Actions For The February Bar Exam And Plans For The July Bar Exam (Mar. 18, 2025)
• California Bar Still Can't Decide How To Make Applicants Whole After Botched February Bar Exam (Apr. 8, 2025)
• California Bar Allowed Non-Lawyers To Use AI To Draft February Exam Questions, Will Ask Supreme Court To Lower Cut Score (Apr. 23, 2025)
• California Supreme Court Demands Answers From State Bar On Its Use Of AI In Preparing Bar Exam Questions (Apr. 26, 2025)
• Pressure Grows On California Bar To Switch To NCBE For July Exam Following February Exam Debacle (Apr. 28, 2025)
• California Bar Delays Release Of Results Of Catastrophic February Exam, Further Punishing Applicants (Apr. 30, 2025)
• California Supreme Court Lowers Passing Score on February Bar Exam, Orders Return to Multistate Exam in July (May 5, 2025)

Editor's Note:  If you would like to receive a weekly email each Sunday with links to faith posts on TaxProf Blog, email me here.