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California Supreme Court approves incentives for new bar exam question testing

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Thursday, November 21, 2024

California Supreme Court approves incentives for new bar exam question testing

State Supreme Court
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Associate Justice Goodwin H. Liu | Supreme Court of California website

The California Supreme Court has approved a proposal from the State Bar of California to incentivize bar applicants to participate in a study scheduled for November 8 and 9. The study will pretest experimental multiple-choice exam questions developed by Kaplan, Inc. Participants may have an increased chance of passing future bar exams if they meet certain performance criteria.

The scoring adjustment will be available only to those who reach a specific performance threshold, as determined by the Committee of Bar Examiners. According to the court's order, "No participant shall receive a scoring adjustment simply for participating in the proposed study." It further clarifies that any scoring adjustment "does not alter the maximum available points for the General Bar Examination or its passing score," but instead offers participants additional questions to demonstrate their competency.

A related proposal for scoring adjustments linked to special sessions during the July 2025 California Bar exam was denied by the court. This part of the request can be resubmitted pending results from the November study and further details about plans for the July sessions.

Additionally, the court has granted a petition allowing most of the bar exam to be administered remotely starting February 2025.

On October 10, modifications were approved based on recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on the Future of the Bar Exam. The State Bar was instructed to develop a California-specific bar exam while rejecting a separate licensing alternative known as the portfolio bar exam. This alternative would have enabled law school graduates to prove their competence through supervised legal practice with graded work products.

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