NextGen UBE examinees faced unique uncertainties in July, new study finds
Going first always provokes anxiety, and bar candidates who took the inaugural administration of the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam in July had distinct pressures, a forthcoming article in the Duquesne Law Review finds.
Andrew Realon, director of student academic development and a lecturer at the George Washington University Law School, interviewed 28 examinees from four of the 10 jurisdictions that took the NextGen UBE in the days after its first run.
“They were taking the same exam, but they had wildly different experiences,” he says. “Adoption of a common instrument is not adoption of a common licensing experience.”
Although the National Conference of Bar Examiners had hosted trial runs of the exam, the candidates said there was no one to explain to them what successful preparation for the test entailed and no one to relate what taking the test itself was like. That provided Realon with a unique research opportunity.
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Andrew Realon.
“These students really were experiencing something they couldn’t have been prepped for,” he adds, noting his study “is not an endorsement of the NextGen UBE or an indictment.”
The NextGen UBE, adopted by 52 jurisdictions, will be rolled out nationally by July 2028. The skills-based exam emphasizes practical lawyering skills over memorization. While it has traditional multiple-choice and essay questions, it now includes integrated question sets consisting of a factual scenario and applicable legal resources such as statutes or caselaw. The entire exam is taken on a computer, unlike the legacy exam.
Broadly, the examinees liked the test itself, but the struggles they experienced to get the test up and running in some jurisdictions—not so much.
“The troubling part was getting started in the first place,” Realon says.
Of the participants in the survey, 16 sat for the test in Maryland, seven in Washington, four in Missouri and one in Connecticut.
Maryland, Missouri, and Washington experienced technical difficulties during the July administration, with Washington having to cancel and reschedule its test for September.
“The test-takers craved an insight into what the backup game plan was. And in the absence of that, they were left guessing,” he says.
The uncertainty invoked a host of frustrations and concern, including “the stress of having to show up early, wait, all the false starts, or the mental drain of trying to cognitively understand the software delays and the heightened stakes of your job being on the line, the potential of having to reschedule flights or deal with child care.”
The examinees were eager to discuss the mood in the test centers, including “the frustration, the tears, the vomiting, the lack of air conditioning,” he adds.
“I think the sitting there waiting, for me, was honestly more painful than taking the exam itself,” a candidate told Realon.
Be prepared
“The absence of information was more disorienting than the interruption itself,” the study stated.
Surprisingly, as Washington’s administration woes unfolded, candidates in the other jurisdictions shifted their mindset between the two days of their bar exam, he found. “They said, ‘I may have had delays, but at least I’m here. I’m grateful,” he says.
Once the test started, “there was generally positive feedback for the instrument itself,” he says. “The students favored the new approach.”
“I was actually gonna write to NCBE, because I actually had a great experience,” one candidate told Realon.
But examinees’ reactions were divided regarding the integrated question sets, with many finding the “pick two answers out of six options” format frustrating. The candidates told him “there was one obvious answer and then another answer where several could be right,” Realon says.
The test-takers told Realon they had an ample supply of practice problems and had a surprising amount of familiarity with the software, crediting their bar prep providers for mimicking the demo software provided by the NCBE.
“The bar providers have done a remarkably strong job,” Realon says. “Hats off to them.”
Overall, Realon says he learned that academic support educators should spend more time helping students develop strong mental and emotional health hygiene practices to help face uncertainties.
“That’s a big takeaway for me,” he says, “making sure that the students develop preparedness—not just for the cognitive demands of sitting through a bar exam, but also the mental, emotional, social toll of a disrupted exam experience.”
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