February Bar Exam Results Are Out
New York law grads who took the February bar exam scored the state’s highest passing rate in nearly a decade.
340 candidates scored a passing rate of 74%, an increase of 2% from last year’s exam, Law.com reports.
HOW OTHERS PERFORMED
Other test-takers didn’t perform quite as well as New York.
The pass rate for 426 first-time test takers from out-of-state ABA-approved law schools was 70%, down 2% from last year.
For all 766 first-time takers, the pass rate was 72%, the same as last year.
Overall, February’s exam saw a total of 3,563 candidates with an overall passage rate of 40%, down 5% from last year’s exam.
WHY THE DROP?
Experts attribute the drop in passing rate to the performance of repeat-takers and foreign-educated test-takers.
Amongst 2,254 repeat-takers, only 28% passed. And repeat-takers make up nearly 64% of February’s cohort.
Foreign educated test-takers, who totaled 1,649, made up 46% of all candidates and had a passing rate of only 31%.
Sources: Law.com, New York State Board of Law Examiners
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