What Will The New Bar Exam Look Like? Say Hello To The NextGen Bar Exam Blueprint
It's still a hazing ritual for new lawyers, but it promises to be less about rote memorization. The post What Will The New Bar Exam Look Like? Say Hello To The NextGen Bar Exam Blueprint appeared first on Above the Law.
Future lawyers of America, a “blueprint” for the NextGen bar exam has finally been released by the NCBE, and it looks like the test we all love to hate is getting a major makeover. Nearly 40 states have already signed on to use the NextGen exam, so what should law school graduates in those states be expecting? First things first: it’s time to say goodbye to 12 grueling hours of testing spread over the course of two days, and say hello to nine hours of testing spread over the course of a day and a half.
What else is different about the NextGen UBE test? Law.com has the details:
Each three-hour section will be arranged with 40 standalone multiple-choice questions (approximately 72 minutes) making up 49% of the score; two integrated question sets (approximately 48 minutes) totaling 21% of the score; and one performance task (estimated at one hour) encompassing 30% of the overall exam score, according to the Blueprint. …
Similar to current Multistate Performance Test (MPT) questions, NextGen performance tasks will require examinees to demonstrate their ability to use fundamental lawyering skills in realistic situations, completing tasks that a beginning lawyer should be able to accomplish.
Designed to reflect the work performed by newly licensed attorneys, the NextGen UBE will test eight areas of legal doctrine (civil procedure, contract law, evidence, torts, business associations, constitutional law, criminal law, real property) and seven foundational lawyering skills (legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, client relationship and management).
“We are pleased to be able to share this new resource to help legal educators support their students as they prepare for the first administrations of the NextGen UBE,” said Kara McWilliams, NCBE’s chief product officer. “The details found in the Blueprint are grounded in data we’ve gathered over thousands of hours of development and pretesting; they are designed to provide clear guidance for educators and candidates preparing for the NextGen exam.”
In addition to the blueprint, the NCBE has published a sample NextGen legal research performance task, which is available here.
The NextGen exam will make its first appearance for the July 2026 and February 2027 administration of the bar, but the currently version of the UBE will be used concurrently through February 2028. The first states to get a taste of the bar exam’s evolution in July 2026 will be Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington.
Best of luck to those who will take the next generation of the bar exam. Of course, it will still be considered the legal profession’s hazing ritual, but now it’s a little more gentle, with a little more real-life lawyering involved.
NCBE Releases ‘Blueprint’ for NextGen Bar Exam [Law.com]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The post What Will The New Bar Exam Look Like? Say Hello To The NextGen Bar Exam Blueprint appeared first on Above the Law.
