Inaugural NextGen UBE Results Provide Encouraging First Evidence from New Bar Exam

First results offer an encouraging early look at performance on the new Uniform Bar Exam

MADISON, WISCONSIN, Sept. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) today released national results from the inaugural July 2026 administration of the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination, providing the first operational evidence of candidate performance on the new exam.

Across the 10 jurisdictions administering the NextGen UBE, 2,630 examinees earned an official UBE score. The national mean score was 640.6 and the median was 640. The overall pass rate was 72.7 percent, within 4.3 percentage points of every July national pass rate from 2021 through 2025. Unlike the legacy exam, the NextGen UBE produces a single score reflecting performance across the entire exam. The national mean and median reported here therefore reflect performance on the NextGen UBE as a whole, rather than on an individual exam component.

“These results give us an encouraging first look at how the NextGen UBE is performing,” said NCBE President and CEO Judith Gundersen. “NextGen was designed to better reflect the knowledge and skills newly licensed lawyers need today while continuing to give jurisdictions a strong basis for making licensure decisions. These first results are encouraging, but they are just the beginning. We’ll continue to learn from each administration and build on what we know as more jurisdictions and candidates transition to the exam.”

Performance Patterns Remained Consistent

First-time examinees, meaning those who had never previously taken a bar exam in any jurisdiction, passed the NextGen UBE at a rate of 85.2 percent, compared with 41.0 percent for repeat examinees. First-time examinees have historically passed at higher rates than repeat examinees. However, direct comparisons with prior years should be made cautiously. In previous years, an examinee could be counted as a first-time taker if they were taking the bar exam for the first time in a particular jurisdiction, even if they had previously taken it elsewhere. For the July 2026 NextGen UBE, first-time examinees are those who had never previously taken a bar exam in any jurisdiction.

NCBE Examined Performance Following July Disruptions

NCBE recognizes that the operational disruptions during the July administration created a difficult and stressful experience for affected examinees. Because of the importance of understanding whether those disruptions may have affected examinee performance, NCBE conducted targeted analyses of score outcomes. Those analyses did not find a consistent pattern showing that examinees who experienced disruptions scored differently from those who did not.

In Missouri, where some examinees experienced delays and an adjusted testing schedule, examinees on the adjusted schedule performed consistently with the broader population.

In Washington, NCBE examined the performance of examinees who were able to complete the July administration. Their performance was consistent with comparable examinees nationally.

“It’s encouraging that our analyses did not find evidence that the disruptions systematically affected examinee performance, but that doesn’t lessen the importance of what we learned from the administration,” said Kara Smith, NCBE Chief Product Officer. “Any disruption has the potential to affect the testing experience, so we’re using what we learned in July to strengthen readiness and reduce operational risk in future administrations.”

Following the July administration, NCBE implemented both technical and operational changes to strengthen exam-day readiness. NCBE will provide additional detail on those changes, along with a broader overview of the inaugural administration, in a forthcoming report.  

Building the Operational Evidence Base

The inaugural administration included 10 jurisdictions and a substantially smaller examinee population than a typical national July administration. A single administration cannot answer every question about performance across populations, jurisdictions, and administrations.

As more jurisdictions and examinees transition to NextGen, NCBE will continue studying performance across administrations and examinee populations, along with other questions related to the validity and fairness of the assessment. That work will also include continued examination of candidate feedback on the exam content. Initial survey responses frequently highlighted the emphasis on practical lawyering skills, realistic tasks, and applying legal knowledge rather than relying primarily on memorization. Future administrations will provide larger samples and additional data to evaluate longer-term trends and build on the extensive research that informed the development of NextGen.

Additional information about the July 2026 NextGen UBE administration, including jurisdiction-level pass rates, is available at https://www.ncbex.org/jurisdictions/bar-pass-rates-jurisdiction.

About the National Conference of Bar Examiners 

The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1931. NCBE promotes fairness, integrity, and best practices in bar admissions for the benefit and protection of the public, in pursuit of its vision of a competent, ethical, and diverse legal profession. Best known for developing bar exam content used by 54 US jurisdictions, NCBE serves admission authorities, courts, the legal education community, and candidates by providing high-quality assessment products, services, and research; character investigations; and informational and educational resources and programs. For more information, visit the NCBE website at https://www.ncbex.org.

About the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination

Designed to reflect the work of newly licensed lawyers, the NextGen UBE assesses foundational legal concepts and principles and essential lawyering skills in the context of contemporary legal practice. The content and skills measured by the exam were identified through a nationwide legal practice analysis examining the knowledge and skills most important for newly licensed lawyers in both litigation and transactional practice. First administered in July 2026, the NextGen UBE will expand to additional jurisdictions in future administrations. For more information, visit https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen.

NCBE Communications
National Conference of Bar Examiners
608-280-8550
communications@ncbex.org