Over 200 More California Bar Takers to Pass After New Adjustment

More than 200 February bar exam scores are expected to move from “fail” to “pass” after a California Bar committee approved new scoring adjustments.

Applicants who nearly passed and got a second read on their written questions will receive the higher of two scores for each question, rather than the average, according to a Friday email from the Bar.

The scoring adjustments are the latest in a suite of remedies Bar leaders are approving for thousands of applicants whose careers were imperiled by the exam that crashed widely on test day.

Test takers will hear this week if they passed using the recalculation. Unlike many other remedies, the new method doesn’t require approval from the California Supreme Court, the Bar said.

Today is the last day for applicants to sign up for the July exam. They’ll automatically be withdrawn if this week the Bar determines they passed, the Bar said.

The Committee of Bar Examiners will soon ask the state’s Supreme Court to also approve a scoring method that could raise some applicants’ scores on the performance test portion of their exams using statistical analysis, the email said.

The California Supreme Court in a May 28 announcement proposed an expansion of the committee’s formal power over the exam, including its development and grading, and the admissions budget. Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero said earlier this year the move was needed to give the Supreme Court more oversight after the “inexcusable” February exam rollout.

The California Supreme Court approved May 2 an adjustment that effectively lowered the score to pass the exam, despite news that 29 of the 200 multiple choice questions were written by ChatGPT.

A record-high 55.9% of applicants passed the exam, prompting concern from Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), who said it was a “huge deviation.”

The pass rate is growing. Starting May 14, 13 examinees heard that the Bar erroneously told them they failed when, in fact, they passed.

Applicants with disabilities in a letter dated May 26 said the Bar systematically failed to provide accommodations, in violation of state and federal civil rights law. The Bar in a Friday email to applicants with accommodations said it would respond to their complaints by September 30.

Pending before the California Supreme Court is a proposal to allow all February applicants—including those who withdrew before the exam was administered—to practice law provisionally under an attorney’s supervision.