State Bar Announces February 2026 Bar Exam Results

The State Bar of California reported Friday that 30.8 percent of exam takers passed the February 2026 General Bar Examination (GBX). In addition, the State Bar also announced that 57.0 percent of those who completed the one-day Attorneys' Examination passed. If the 1,211 individuals who passed the GBX, along with the 272 who passed the Attorneys' Exam, satisfy all other requirements for admission, they will be eligible to be licensed by the State Bar to practice law in California.

"The State Bar congratulates all who passed the February 2026 bar examination," said Executive Director Laura Enderton-Speed. "Your dedication and perseverance have brought you to an important milestone, and we commend the commitment that carried you here as you advance toward the next stage of your legal career."

The February 2026 GBX pass rate is lower than the pass rates for the 2024 February bar exam (33.9 percent) and the 2023 February bar exam (32.5 percent). The February 2025 pass rate (63.6 percent) was much higher given the various scoring adjustments and remedial measures taken to address the technological and other issues that applicants experienced during that exam. For the February 2026 GBX, a total of 60 exam takers received the scoring adjustment authorized by the California Supreme Court for achieving at least 28 correct answers on the November 2024 special session, resulting in 5 passing the bar exam once the scoring adjustment was applied.

Preliminary analyses show that of the 3,931 applicants who completed the February 2026 GBX, 37.1 percent were first-time exam takers. The pass rate for first-time takers was 43.9 percent, slightly lower than pass rates in February 2024 (44.8 percent) and February 2023 (44.5 percent).

Repeat test takers made up 62.9 percent of all test takers, down from about 70-71 percent in the prior three February bar exam administrations. The pass rate for February 2026 GBX applicants who were repeating the exam was 23.1 percent, a decline compared to February 2024 (29.2 percent) and February 2023 (27.6 percent); the February 2025 bar exam pass rate for repeat test takers was higher, as expected, at 62.2 percent.

For the February 2026 GBX, the average number of attempts recorded for applicants who were repeating the exam was 4.2, a figure that has remained the same across the last three February exam administrations (2023-2025).

For the February 2026 Attorneys' Exam, the 57.0 percent passing rate is higher than the February 2024 results (52.7 percent) and February 2023 results (56.9 percent), but it's lower, as expected, than the February 2025 results (84.1 percent).

The two-day GBX is given twice a year, in February and July. In July 2025, the State Bar used the National Conference of Bar Examiners' Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) for the multiple-choice section of the exam, after using its own questions for the February 2025 exam. The MBE questions were delivered along with the State Bar's five essay questions and a performance test that is designed to assess an applicant's ability to apply general legal knowledge to practical tasks. For the February 2026 GBX, the mean scaled MBE score in California was 1313 (both adjusted and unadjusted), compared with the national mean score of 1312. Preliminary analyses show the first-time and repeat percent passing the GBX (rounded to the nearest tenth) by law school type as follows:

*Data displayed only for categories with 11 or more applicants who completed the exam.

Note: These are preliminary statistics. Law schools are required to confirm the eligible students from their law schools who completed the bar exam, and as a result, these statistics may change.

The Attorneys' Exam, which consists of the same written sections (i.e., essays and performance test) as the GBX, is open to lawyers who have been admitted to the active practice of law in another U.S. jurisdiction. They must be in good standing for at least four years.

The publicly available pass list will be posted on Sunday, May 3, at 6:00 a.m.

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The State Bar of California's mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.