A Modest Proposal: Provide Examinees with the Same Post-Graduation Study Time
There are still a couple of days remaining in February, but the February bar exam has already come and gone.
Almost every bar exam in the United States is administered only two times a year—on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in July as well as the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February.
As the National Conference of Bar Examiners continues to develop its NextGen Bar Exam, which is slated to go into effect beginning with the July 2026 administration, the NCBE—the organization that develops and licenses bar exam questions to individual jurisdictions—has already indicated that the timing of the exam will not likely change. The administration of the NextGen Bar Exam will likely still take place on the Tuesday and Wednesday in July and February.
I have always found the timing of the bar exam a bit curious because the last Tuesday and Wednesday in July or February can mean a difference of an additional week of studying in some years.
For example, the February exam can take place as early as February 21, as it did this year as well as in 2017, when the last day in February was Tuesday, February 28, which makes the last Tuesday and Wednesday a week earlier (absent a Leap Day). On the other hand, the February exam can also take place as late as February 28, as was the case in 2012 when the last Tuesday and Wednesday was February 28 and 29, respectively, since Leap Day fell on a Wednesday that year.
Now, one week may not appear to be a significant amount of time. But it is.
Post-graduation bar preparation is the most important study time for examinees. It’s when examinees can completely immerse themselves in bar preparation without the other responsibilities of law school and final exams. A difference of seven days of study time can mean the difference between passing and retaking the next bar exam. One week of bar preparation (or potentially 40 hours or more of solid studying if bar prep were treated as a full-time job) is generally equal to a little more than 10-percent of post-graduation study time.
Let’s look at some examples. For ease of illustration purposes, let's assume that many law schools hold Commencement for their graduates on the second Saturday in December and May.
Let’s also assume that the post-graduation bar preparation for the February bar exam begins in earnest one week after Commencement. After all, graduates shouldn’t be expected to dive right back into hardcore studying after three or more years of law school. Beginning a week after when many law schools hold Commencement means February examinees will have either 66 days or 73 days to prepare for the bar exam, depending on when the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February falls. From 2017 to 2021, nine February administrations provided examinees 66 days to prepare for the bar exam (2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2021) while only six February administrations provided examinees with 73 days of preparation (2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2018, and 2019).
Similarly, for graduates preparing for the July bar exam, let’s assume that bar preparation also begins a week after when many law schools hold Commencement in May. That also means graduates will have either 66 days or 73 days to prepare for the July bar exam, again depending on when the last Tuesday and Wednesday in July falls. July examinees usually have more days to prepare for the bar exam compared to the February exam. From 2017 to 2021, eight July administrations provided examinees 66 days to prepare for the bar exam (2007, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, and 2018) while nine July administrations provided examinees with 73 days of preparation (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2021).
What’s the impact of one less week of post-graduation bar preparation? In other words, what’s the difference between having 66 days of study time versus 73 days?
For both the February and July administrations, the first-time bar passage rates are lower when the dates of the bar exam provide examinees with one less week of study time (66 days versus 73 days).
In February, the average first-time pass rate on administrations with 66 days of post-graduation study time is 65.67%. By comparison, the average first-time pass rate on administrations with 73 days of post-graduation study time is 67.17%. This is a difference of 1.50%, which represents an average of 210 examinees on each February administration.
In July, the average first-time pass rate on administrations with 66 days of post-graduation study time is 76.33%. By comparison, the average first-time pass rate on administrations with 73 days of post-graduation study time is 78.67%. This is a difference of 2.33%, which represents an average of 1,005 examinees on each July administration.
To me, the NCBE’s decision to schedule the bar exam for the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February and July year after year appears to be one based on convenience. Memorial Day is the last Monday in May. Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November. The bar exam is the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February and July.
But, for a high-stakes licensing exam like the bar exam, all examinees should be afforded the same amount of post-graduation study time to prepare for the exam. And that burden should be placed on the examiners rather than the law schools.
This can be done by the NCBE scheduling the bar exam a certain number of days after a fixed date, like the third Saturday in December or May, which represents a week after when many law schools graduate the individuals who will soon be taking the bar exam.
If the bar exam were consistently scheduled 73 days after this fixed date, then the bar exam would not always fall on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February and July but will always give graduates the same number of days to prepare for the exam.
