What is the hardest state to pass the bar in?
While California's bar exam may be largely perceived as the hardest one in the nation, some other states that may pose similar difficulty and the reasons for this include: Arkansas: Arkansas also has a grueling two-day test. It requires you to know several state and local laws, in addition to federal ones.
By test difficulty, Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, and North Dakota tie as the easiest (UBE passing score of 260!). By academic first-time pass rate, Oklahoma is the victor (86.90%), with Puerto Rico (40.45%) being the hardest to pass!
Alaska is the state with the highest UBE score, at 280.
1. South Korea Bar Exam: The South Korea bar examination is the nationally administered examination for admission into the bar association in the state and it is regulated by the National bar Examination Act 2018.
John F. Kennedy Jr., failed the NY bar exam twice before he passed on his third try.
Unsurprisingly, California has the lowest passage rate (44.42%) by a wide margin. Take even a great in-state school like UCLA and only 86% percent of students are passing on their first try. That gives you an idea of how hard the CA bar is.
Rank | State Bar Examination | Calculated Average LSAT |
---|---|---|
1 | California | 160.68 |
2 | Louisiana | 154.79 |
3 | Washington | 158.12 |
4 | Oregon | 158.83 |
The vast majority of law school graduates, 85 percent, take the bar exam once, according to a study by the National Conference of Bar Examiners that looked at data over five years. About 9 percent took the test twice. Less than 1 percent took the exam more than five times. A few refused to give up.
- Southern Illinois University School of Law. ...
- Charleston School of Law, South Carolina. ...
- Thomas M. ...
- Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law. ...
- Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. ...
- North Carolina Central University School of Law. ...
- Appalachian School of Law, Virginia.
Answer and Explanation: Michelle Obama failed the Illinois bar exam one time. She later passed and became a licensed attorney in Chicago.
Who is the oldest person to pass the bar exam?
Work wanted: 72-year-old passes bar, struggles to find employment as an attorney. Nancy Martin, standing in Missoula Municipal Court where she does legal research, already had a career in law before taking the state bar exam in July. Martin became the oldest person to pass the bar exam in the last eight years.
The MBE is graded on a scale of 0-200, with 130 being the lowest passing score. To determine your score, the NCBE will first convert your raw score (the number of questions you answered correctly) into a scaled score.

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Top 15 Toughest Exams in the World
- UPSC – Union Public Service Commission.
- CFA (Chief Financial Analyst)
- Mensa.
- JEE-Advanced.
- GATE.
- CCIE.
- Gaokao.
- GRE.
The Large Candidate Pool
In comparison to other states, California has a large number of applicants. The fact that California's population of exam takers is so large contributes to the overall lower pass rate the state is regularly pumping out.
How Is the Bar Exam Scored? The UBE has a possible score of 400.
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt. ...
- First Lady Michelle Obama. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Michelle Obama failed the bar exam the first time she sat for it. ...
- John F. ...
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ...
- Kathleen Sullivan. ...
- Kamala Harris. ...
- Jerry Brown. ...
- Governor Pete Wilson.
Too much passive studying: Engaging in too much passive studying is the number one reason students fail the bar exam. It's the “too much time reading and watching and not enough time doing” problem. Bar review companies are great at assigning a bunch of videos to watch and giving you extremely long outlines to read.
- Wait for them to talk about it. ...
- Don't assume they'll retake it. ...
- Don't ask what their score is. ...
- Continue to talk to them about topics other than the bar. ...
- Ask them how you can best support them. ...
- Educate yourself on how to approach this with empathy.
The Louisiana Bar Exam is a three-day-long examination used to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in the state of Louisiana. It is the longest bar exam in the United States, consisting of 21 hours of examination on nine topic areas.
In 2021, Kim cleared her bar when the results got announced in December. She shared with her friends that passing the baby bar exam was a nearly impossible journey and that it was sheer hard work and determination. By passing the test, Kim can continue with her legal apprenticeship and try the state bar exam.
What percentage of law students fail the bar?
State | Total Taking | Percent Passing |
---|---|---|
Arizona | 988 | 51% |
Arkansas | 357 | 57% |
California | 12,495 | 40% |
Colorado | 1,171 | 69% |
- Intellectual property law. ...
- Family law. ...
- Immigration & naturalization law. ...
- Real estate law. ...
- Contract management. ...
- Compliance. ...
- Labor and employment. ...
- Corporate transactions.
Rank | State | Average Attorney Salary |
---|---|---|
1 | New York | $130,648 |
2 | California | $125,659 |
3 | Massachusetts | $115,902 |
4 | Connecticut | $107,945 |
The lowest recorded annual salary of a lawyer in the United States is around $61,500. Although that's significantly lower than the national average, very few jobs in this profession pay that little. Meanwhile, some lawyers make more than $200k a year. The top lawyer salary hovers around $208,000.
Is taking and passing the bar exam something that you could study for on your own? The short answer is yes. You do not need to take a bar exam prep course in order to take and pass the bar exam.
Jurisdiction | Overall Pass Rate | First-Timer Pass Rate |
---|---|---|
Arkansas | 60% | 65% |
California | 34% | 53% |
Colorado | 51% | 66% |
Connecticut | 44% | 59% |
South Carolina (3) – after failing the bar exam three times, an applicant must wait one year before sitting for the exam again. The applicant may also have to complete additional education requirements before being eligible to sit for the exam again.
What type of lawyer is the least stressful? Real estate law, estate planning law, and intellectual property law are commonly cited as the least stressful types of law to practice.
- Roger Williams University School of Law. ...
- University of North Dakota. ...
- Charleston School of Law. ...
- Appalachian School of Law. ...
- Southern University Law Center. ...
- Western State College of Law. ...
- Thomas Jefferson School of Law. ...
- University of the District of Columbia.
Unraveling the secret behind Obama's LSAT Score
Hence it's very likely that Obama had an LSAT Score around the median of the class (43 on the then-used 48 point scale).
How many times did Kim Kardashian take the LSAT?
Kim Kardashian took the legal exam four times before passing on her last attempt.
In 1989, Kennedy earned a J.D. degree from the New York University School of Law. He then failed the New York bar exam twice, before passing on his third try in July 1990. After failing the exam for a second time, Kennedy vowed that he would take it continuously until he was ninety-five years old or passed.
Esther Chukwuemeka, 20 years old, has been called to the Nigerian Bar, thus making her the youngest Nigerian lawyer to be called to Bar. Esther who hails from Okigwe, Imo State, reportedly finished her secondary school at the age of 13.
While your study time, days and location are extremely flexible, passing the bar exam requires time and commitment. Plan on spending approximately 40 hours per week over 8-10 weeks studying for the bar exam. During the few weeks of bar prep, treat your studies like you would treat a new, important job.
It's never too late in life to apply to law school. Although most applicants are under 25, roughly 20% are 30 or older, according to the Law School Admission Council. Many older law graduates build fulfilling second careers that draw upon both preexisting skills and experiences and those that law school provides.
Your overall score
Uniform Bar Exam states require a score between 260 and 280 to pass the Uniform Bar Exam. So, if your score was above 280, you technically received a score that is considered passing in every Uniform Bar Exam state. Congratulations if that is the case.
The bar exam is timed, which is pressure in itself. But more than that, the majority of students are trying to learn and remember everything they need in order to pass the bar in a period of only about 10 weeks. And it's this time crunch that contributes to making the bar exam so hard.
Jurisdiction | Test Takers | Pass Rate Percentage |
---|---|---|
California | 12,928 | 50% |
Colorado | 909 | 71% |
Connecticut | 537 | 59% |
Delaware** | 213 | 52% |
1. MCAT. Before being admitted to medical school in the U.S., Canada, Australia, or the Caribbean Islands, you'll need to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
- List of Top 10 Toughest Exam in the World Overview. ...
- Gaokao. ...
- IIT-JEE. ...
- Mensa. ...
- GRE (Graduate Record Examination) ...
- CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) ...
- CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert) ...
- GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, India)
What are the hardest exams in the US?
- American Mensa Admission Test. The American Mensa Admission Test is designed to be tough. ...
- California Bar Exam. One of the requirements to practice law in California is passing the California Bar Exam administered by the State Bar of California. ...
- Chartered Financial Analyst Exams.
By test difficulty, Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, and North Dakota tie as the easiest (UBE passing score of 260!). By academic first-time pass rate, Oklahoma is the victor (86.90%), with Puerto Rico (40.45%) being the hardest to pass!
The CPA Exam. You've heard the horror stories: It's derailed the careers of promising professionals. It's definitely harder than the BAR exam and maybe even some medical board exams. And it's nearly impossible to pass once you're a working professional.
Pass rates: Both Themis and Barbri offer strong pass rates, with about 85-90% for first-time test takers. Average pass rates are higher when students have completed more of the program.
Administered nationwide across all states and U.S. territories, the bar exam is widely known to be a test with an extremely high degree of difficulty. For first time test takers, the nationwide pass rate for the bar exam recently climbed to 79.64%.
The answer, in most states, is yes. In most states, as long as you make up for any lost points on the essay portion of the exam, you can fail the MBE and still pass the bar exam.
In comparison to other states, California has a large number of applicants. The fact that California's population of exam takers is so large contributes to the overall lower pass rate the state is regularly pumping out.
Rank | State Bar Examination | Overall Passage Rate |
---|---|---|
1 | California | 73.41 |
2 | Louisiana | 68.23 |
3 | Washington | 74.54 |
4 | Oregon | 77.96 |
Most people regard the MBE as the hardest portion of the bar exam. The questions are rarely easy or straightforward. They can be tricky, and sometimes worded in a way that guides you to the wrong answer.
The CPA Exam. You've heard the horror stories: It's derailed the careers of promising professionals. It's definitely harder than the BAR exam and maybe even some medical board exams. And it's nearly impossible to pass once you're a working professional.
Why do so many people fail the California bar exam?
Too much passive studying: Engaging in too much passive studying is the number one reason students fail the bar exam. It's the “too much time reading and watching and not enough time doing” problem. Bar review companies are great at assigning a bunch of videos to watch and giving you extremely long outlines to read.
The vast majority of law school graduates, 85 percent, take the bar exam once, according to a study by the National Conference of Bar Examiners that looked at data over five years. About 9 percent took the test twice. Less than 1 percent took the exam more than five times.
With the bar exam approaching, you've likely been reviewing materials for weeks. But reviewing isn't memorizing. And while studying and practice exams help you absorb some rules and elements, your final phase of bar prep should focus on making sure you've got all the key bar exam concepts committed to memory.
It's never too late in life to apply to law school. Although most applicants are under 25, roughly 20% are 30 or older, according to the Law School Admission Council. Many older law graduates build fulfilling second careers that draw upon both preexisting skills and experiences and those that law school provides.
Kim Kardashian took the legal exam four times before passing on her last attempt. Kim Kardashian received some very good news about her law school journey on The Kardashians. During Thursday's episode, the SKIMS founder was dining at Red Lobster when her make-or-break baby bar test results came in.
However, Kim Kardashian is not a lawyer yet. The baby bar is just one path California residents can take to become attorneys.
While it is possible to learn how to study for the bar exam in just a week or two, it won't happen unless you put the work in. If you've got time off, take it. If you don't have time off, try to find a way to take it anyway. Your future success depends on the results of this test.
It is typically recommended that you study for about 400 to 600 hours for the bar exam. That is a staggering amount, but there's a lot to do!. If you are studying full-time, again, you should study 40-60 hours per week for nine or ten weeks.
In general, we recommend you treat studying for the bar exam as if it was a full-time job. So if you study 9-5, five days a week (assuming you are studying efficiently!), you should be on track to pass the bar exam! However, there are a few factors to take into account that may change this recommendation.