California Bar Eyes Creating Its Own Licensing Exam With Kaplan

The California State Bar’s Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote this week on adopting its own bar exam to replace the national standardized test, part of a bid to cut costs during a budget shortfall.

The state bar wants its Board of Trustees on Thursday or Friday to approve a $1.475 million, five-year agreement with Kaplan North America LLC to replace the Multistate Bar Exam in California with a different, “cost-effective” exam.

Securing a private vendor to supply multiple-choice and written questions would let the state bar administer the test fully remotely or at small vendor-owned test centers, according ...