July Multistate Bar Exam scores continue upward trend
July 2025’s Multistate Bar Exam mean score hit 142.4, about a 0.6-point jump over a year earlier and one of the highest recorded in 12 years, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
“These results continue the upward trend we’ve seen on July exams starting in 2022,” said Bob Schwartz, NCBE’s managing director of psychometrics, in a news release. This summer’s number is the highest July MBE mean score since 2013, with the exception of the summer and fall 2020 administrations at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the release stated.
It could be a sign that pass rates will be higher this year.
“Due to this increase in mean, we expect to see a small increase in overall pass rates compared to last July,” Schwartz added. Each jurisdiction will report their July 2025 results soon, once their grading processes are complete, the release noted.
In July, 46,959 examinees took the MBE, the portion of the three-part bar exam that consists of 200 multiple-choice questions answered over six hours, according to the NCBE. That’s about 6% fewer than the 49,844 July test-takers from a year earlier, the release said.
First timers’ performance drove up this year’s overall increase in the national mean, Schwartz added. About 77% of July 2025 examinees were likely first-time test-takers, just higher than July 2024’s 76%, according to the release.
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