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California Bar Exam Pass Rate
California has the highest employment level of lawyers of any state in the nation as of May 2017, per information provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At that time, 79,980 lawyers worked in the state, averaging an annual mean wage of $168,200 (making California the second highest-paying state in which lawyers work, District of Columbia being the first). Attorneys working in certain areas of the state made even higher than average salaries.
For example, those in the Glendale-Long Beach-Los Angeles metropolitan area averaged $170,201 per year; while lawyers working in the San Mateo-San Francisco-Redwood City metropolitan area averaged $189,660 annually. Additionally, California is the first state in the country that offers certification in legal specialization areas to members of the Bar, offering them the opportunity to show their expertise in one of 11 areas of law practice (including admiralty and maritime law, bankruptcy law, criminal law and taxation law).
Read on to discover how to join the almost 80,000 practicing attorneys in California.
How to Pass the California Bar Exam
Study Hard and Often
You’re going to need to absorb a lot of information before you can pass the California Bar Exam. Some of your study time is going to be general, but a lot of it is going to deal specifically with the laws in California. You should give yourself around 6 months to go over everything you need to know. If you set aside about 20 hours a week to work on getting everything down, you should be on schedule for success.
This may seem like a lot of time, but remember that the California Bar Exam includes a written portion and 6 essay exams that will test your understanding of California law, 2 performance tests that focus on your skills and the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) that deals with general legal knowledge regarding everything from contracts, criminal law and federal civil procedure.
You have lots of options available for studying, including your notes and textbooks from school. You can also access online study guides that can help you review the information that might appear on the bar exam. Check out these courses on Business Law, American Government and Criminal Justice as you prepare. These courses are full of video lessons that allow you to go over different concepts quickly. You’ll find lots of quizzes that can help you gauge how well you understand these subjects as you get ready for the big day.
Prepare for the Essays
The essay questions on the California bar test your ability to analyze points of law and facts. To pass this portion of the exam, be careful about simply relaying legal principles. Instead, focus on demonstrating your ability to analyze the facts and the scope of the law(s), as well as their relationship to each other. For an idea of the kinds of essay questions you can expect, check out past exams and selected answers on the State Bar of California website.
Prepare for the Performance Tests
In order to complete the California Bar Exam, you’re going to need to successfully finish two performance tests. These tests are worth 26% of your total grade and will focus on testing your practical skills. Each test is designed to last 3 hours. Prepare for this portion of the bar exam by practicing writing different legal information, such as memos, contracts or briefs. Be sure to keep your writing organized, to only include relevant information, and to rely on consistent and reliable facts. Work through practice questions as you prepare for the exam, which you can find on the California Bar’s website (www.calbar.ca.gov).
Write on Your Laptop
You have the option to write your answers by hand, but this actually negatively affects your chance to pass the test. Those who type on a laptop create longer responses and are better able to edit their answers, which is a huge bonus for passing the exam.
Focus Before the Exam
Getting a good night’s sleep is a big part of being ready to pass these grueling exams. Make sure you have enough to eat so you’re not distracted in the middle of a test. Additionally, don’t get drawn into stressing out with other test-takers on your big days. Try to keep to yourself before the exams each day, as well as afterwards. You don’t want to unnerve yourself at the end of day 1 and choke on your tests on day 2.
FIVE TIPS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM
By Rebecca Koch 
THE SANTA BARBARA & VENTURA COLLEGES OF LAW – FRI, JUN 28, 2019
The California bar exam pass rate in February 2019 was the second-lowest in 35 years. Preparation is key to seeing positive results. Here’s information about what to expect during the exam.
After adding J.D. to your name, you may think you’re officially a lawyer. But before you can practice, you must pass the infamous bar exam.
In order to practice law in the state of California, a lawyer must be licensed by the State Bar. With the second-highest cut score, and the lowest passage rate for test-takers in the nation, the California bar examination is considered a terror of a test.
The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law is dedicated to preparing successful legal professionals, which means readying graduates to take the bar examination. Consider this your bar study guide; below, we give a brief overview of the exam, then share tips and tricks from recent COL graduates who passed the bar on their first try. Happy studying!
CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM STRUCTURE
The California bar examination is conducted twice per year, in February and July, over a two-day period.
The first day consists of a written portion split between the morning and afternoon. The morning session provides test-takers three hours to answer three essay questions, with one hour allotted for each question. The afternoon consists of two essay questions, with one hour allotted for each answer, and one 90-minute performance test.
On day two, applicants will encounter the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). Unlike the first day, the morning and afternoon sessions on day two both consist of a three-hour multiple-choice exam with 100 questions each (for a total of 200 graded questions over six hours).
Both the written portion and the MBE are weighted equally at 50 percent each.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM
When preparing for the California Bar Exam’s written portion, it is important to know the 13 topics that will be covered. Most likely, these will include the following:
- Business associations
- Civil procedure
- Community property
- Constitutional law
- Contracts
- Criminal law and procedure
- Evidence
- Professional responsibility
- Real property
- Remedies
- Torts
- Trusts
- Wills and succession
The Uniform Commercial Code should be used when answering essay questions (articles one, two, and provisions of nine relating to fixtures). Past exams are available for practice.
The MBE covers seven topics:
- Civil procedure
- Constitutional law
- Contracts
- Criminal law and procedure
- Evidence
- Real property
- Torts
Practice tests and resources for the MBE are available here.
GRADING AND PASSAGE SCORE FOR THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM
The written portion and the MBE are each scored from 0 to 2000 points. The total score is calculated by multiplying each part by .5 then adding them together. A passing score is at least 1440 out of 2000 possible points.
FIVE TIPS TO STUDY FOR THE BAR EXAM
In preparation for the July exam this year, we asked five 2019 COL graduates, who passed the bar exam on their first try, to share their strategies and tips with us.
Megan Cooper, J.D. (The Ventura College of Law)
Dan Moore, J.D. (The Ventura College of Law)
Valarie Grossman, J.D. (The Ventura College of Law)
Joseph Beck, J.D. (The Santa Barbara College of Law)
Jon Gunderson, J.D. (The Ventura College of Law)
- Start early!
We treated bar studies like another class in our course load. Starting in your second year of law school, review earlier classes and stay on top of everything you have learned. It is much easier to have a light review at the end if you have been reviewing the whole way through.
-Grossman
- Set aside time every day—whether you’re squeezing in study time or scheduling in breaks.
I set aside time every day to do something, even if it was just an eight-question quiz, or listening to a lecture in the car. I think it’s important to keep a sense of momentum and accomplishment throughout.
-Beck
My best tip would be to have open and honest discussions with your family about what it is going to be like before you head into it. It can be advantageous to listen when your closest friends or family suggest that you take a break or go have dinner with them. Get sleep, and also do breathing exercises.
-Moore
I think it’s important to exercise in some form nearly every day and get some sunshine or outside time.
-Gunderson
- Use BARBRI
My study partners and I followed the entire BARBRI program [Editor’s Note: BARBRI is a bar review prep course] We wrote a lot of essays and did thousands of multiple choice questions. Having dedicated study partners to encourage and push you when you are losing motivation is incredibly helpful.
– Moore
One of the nice things about the BARBRI program is that there’s always something to do—you never have to think too much about what to do next. You take that quiz, or listen to that lecture, or go over that outline. Probably 80 percent of my prep was listening to the lectures over and over again, and then taking quizzes to make sure I absorbed what I needed to.
– Beck
- Practicing endurance is just as important as studying
The exam is an endurance test as much as anything. So, I HIGHLY recommend doing mock bar sessions. This is built into the BARBRI program but it can be tempting to do it at your own pace. Fight that temptation.
– Moore
There is no trick to replace hard work, and lots of it.
– Cooper
- Review everything—don’t think that some sections won’t be tested
The bar exam I took had something on it that had never been tested before. The bar is changing and there are no hard and fast rules anymore. Don’t let them catch you off guard. A mentor told me once that any shortcuts you take in studying for the bar exam are just cheating yourself. I found this to be 100 percent true.
– Grossman
THE COL ADVANTAGE
COL’s mission is to provide a first-class legal education to produce engaged, civically minded graduates. To help students pass the bar, BARBRI material is rolled into students’ tuitions. Starting the first year, students have access to BARBRI for every bar-tested subject and receive two personalized study plans after graduation (if students do not pass the first time). Students are also required to take a Bar Studies course in their final semester.
COL made all of the bar subjects required courses. It was so helpful to review for the bar rather than learn for it.
-Cooper
One huge advantage you have from COL is that many of the classes that you are required to take are electives for other schools.
-Moore
The professors were great—they were always available to talk and give solid advice. I also appreciate how you never knew what was coming on exam nights. It made the bar exam a little less scary.
-Grossman
I thought the COL exams were excellent preparation for the bar. I felt extremely mentally prepared. The summer class on taking the performance test should be a required class.
-Beck
The Bar review course helped me learn a better approach to MBEs early on. The emphasis on taking 2000-3000 MBEs before taking the bar also helped.
-Gunderson
The Colleges of Law is accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners. J.D. graduates are academically qualified to sit for the California Bar Examination. For more information about our J.D. programs and how to start your journey to the bar exam, visit here.
If you would like to learn about The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law, fill out the form below to request more information. Or you can apply today through our application portal.
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