Scores are in for July 2026 MBE; how did test-takers fare?
The national mean score for the July 2026 Multistate Bar Examination decreased about 1.7 points to 140.7 compared to the July 2025 mean of 142.4—the first decrease since 2022, according to data released Tuesday from the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
The MBE, consisting of 200 multiple-choice questions answered over six hours, is one of three key assessments in the legacy bar exam that was administered in 44 U.S. jurisdictions in July.
The NCBE figures show that 44,472 people took the July test—a decrease of about 5% compared to the 46,959 examinees who took the exam in July 2025. That decrease can be attributed to 10 locations offering the new NextGen Uniform Bar Examination, and those scores, expected in October, were not included in these figures.
“Our analysis indicates that their absence from the national pool did not meaningfully affect the mean, as MBE mean scores over time are nearly identical whether those 10 jurisdictions are included or excluded,” said Bob Schwartz, the NCBE’s managing director of psychometrics, in a Sept. 1 press release.
Each bar exam administration uses a different mix of questions, and the July administration tested fewer subjects, says Sean Silverman of Silverman Bar Exam & LSAT Tutoring.
“There was definitely some talk about the essays feeling especially difficult,” Silverman told the ABA Journal. “Perhaps thinking that the difficulty of the test might be decreased with fewer subjects, the NCBE tested on some especially tricky topics, but that’s purely speculative.”
Based on the NCBE’s data, 76% of July 2026 examinees were likely first-time examinees, a 1 percentage point decrease in the proportion of likely first-time test-takers compared to July 2025, according to the NCBE.
“Overall, the mix of likely first-time and repeat test-takers remained similar to July 2025, suggesting that the change in the national mean was not driven by a substantial shift between these two groups,” Schwartz said in the press release.
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