Access past news and announcements about the NextGen bar exam research, development process, and jurisdictions’ adoption. As of December 2024, NextGen bar exam news is now published on the NCBE website.
Visit https://www.ncbex.org/news-resources for the latest NCBE and NextGen bar exam news.
NCBE has published the family law subject matter outline for the NextGen bar exam. The outline shows the specific topics within family law to be assessed on the new exam starting in July 2028.
The Alaska Supreme Court has announced that it intends to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2028. Twenty-seven jurisdictions have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2026; 26 jurisdictions in total have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
NCBE has published a research brief summarizing the results of field testing conducted in January 2024, part of ongoing implementation research for the NextGen bar exam. Over 4,000 final-year law students and recent law graduates at 88 volunteer law schools across the United States took part in the field test, which provided NCBE with data about…
West Virginia and North Dakota have announced that they will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027. Twenty-five jurisdictions in total have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
Indiana has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2028; 23 jurisdictions in total have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
Georgia has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2028; 22 jurisdictions in total have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
Florida has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2028; 21 jurisdictions in total have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
Updated on September 13, 2024 The National Conference of Bar Examiners is preparing to launch a new bar exam designed to test the knowledge and skills needed by new attorneys entering practice today. The NexGen bar exam, set for first administration in July 2026, will test an expanded set of essential lawyering skills alongside a…
Oklahoma has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027; 20 jurisdictions in total have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
NCBE has published its first analysis of NextGen bar exam performance data, focused on the pilot testing phase, one of three stages of implementation research being conducted in preparation for the launch of the NextGen bar exam. Over 2,500 law students and recently licensed lawyers participated in the pilot test, which was conducted in four…
Illinois has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in 2028; 19 jurisdictions in total have now announced their intent to adopt the new exam.
Tennessee has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027, bringing the total number of jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam to 18.
Washington has announced that it plans to administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2026, bringing the total number of jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam to 17.
Colorado and Minnesota have announced plans to administer the NextGen bar exam, bringing the total number of jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam to 16. Minnesota intends to first administer the exam in July 2027, and Colorado will hold its first administration in July 2028.
Kansas has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2028, joining thirteen other jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam. Connecticut, which announced its adoption of the NextGen exam late last year, has announced that it will first administer the exam in July 2026. A list of…
NCBE recently conducted a nationwide field test to gather key data and feedback on new question types that will appear on the NextGen bar exam. The field test included 4,124 participants from 88 law schools in 41 jurisdictions. NCBE has also announced the formation of the Family Law Content Scope Panel, which will develop the content…
New Mexico has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027, joining twelve other jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on the NCBE website.
Guam has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2026, joining eleven other jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on the NCBE website.
Utah has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2028, joining ten other jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on the NCBE website.
NCBE has announced that Surpass Assessment will provide the testing software for the NextGen bar exam. Founded in 1985, Surpass Assessment is a global leader in assessment services and technology with offices in Exton, Pennsylvania, and in Saltaire, UK. Their system for question drafting and management is already in use by NCBE. This system, as well…
Vermont has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027, joining nine other jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on the NCBE website.
New sample questions for the NextGen bar exam are now available, including a performance task focused on family law and a new integrated question set. These new questions are available on the NextGen website alongside the sample multiple-choice questions and integrated question set published earlier this year. NCBE and AccessLex Institute, a renowned nonprofit organization…
Nebraska has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027, joining eight other jurisdictions that have announced their intent to adopt the new exam. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on the NCBE website.
Kentucky has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027. Kentucky joins seven other jurisdictions that recently announced their intent to adopt the new exam: Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Wyoming. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on…
Arizona has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027. Arizona joins six other jurisdictions that recently announced their intent to adopt the new exam: Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Wyoming. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on the NCBE…
Iowa has announced that it will administer the NextGen bar exam beginning in July 2027. Iowa joins five other jurisdictions that recently announced their intent to adopt the new exam: Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Wyoming. A list of participating jurisdictions, as well as other useful information about the exam, is available on the NCBE…
Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Wyoming are the first jurisdictions to announce that they intend to adopt the NextGen bar exam. Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon intend to first administer the exam in July 2026; Wyoming’s first administration is scheduled for July 2027. Connecticut has not yet finalized its first administration date. As jurisdictions announce their…
NCBE has announced that family law will be added to the list of foundational concepts and principles to be tested on the NextGen exam, beginning with the July 2028 administration. The decision was made in response to feedback from jurisdiction high courts, and after careful consideration by the NCBE Board of Trustees. NCBE has begun…
How might the changes that are coming with the NextGen bar exam help shape changes in legal education? In the latest issue of the Bar Examiner, four law school faculty members share their reflections on the relationship between the NextGen exam, their teaching, and their disciplines more broadly. Also in this issue, NCBE’s Marilyn Wellington…
Note: In October 2023, NCBE announced that Family Law would be added to the list of foundational concepts and principles starting with the July 2028 NextGen bar exam. NCBE has published the first sample questions for the NextGen bar exam. The questions provide examples of two new question types that will be featured on…
Note: In October 2023, NCBE announced that Family Law would be added to the list of foundational concepts and principles starting with the July 2028 NextGen bar exam. NCBE has published the content scope for the NextGen bar exam, outlining the breadth of material to be covered on the new exam in eight areas…
The Spring 2023 issue of the Bar Examiner features a column by Marilyn J. Wellington, NCBE’s Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, that examines the issue of measurement bias and details the steps that NCBE takes to minimize it for both the current bar exam and the NextGen exam. Read more on the Bar Examiner website.…
The Bar Examiner’s latest quarterly update on the NextGen bar exam takes an in-depth look at the interconnected stages of research testing—pilot, field, and prototype—that will be performed over the next few years as part of the NextGen exam development process. Read the full column on the Bar Examiner website. The first stage of this…
NCBE has published an updated implementation timeline for the NextGen bar exam. The timeline provides a high-level overview of the exam development process that is currently under way, from pilot testing to the first exam administration. The earliest stages of the implementation process, in 2021 and 2022, were focused on publishing and gathering feedback on…
NextGen in the Bar Examiner Marilyn Wellington’s update on the NextGen bar exam is featured in the new issue of the Bar Examiner magazine, now available online. In this column, Wellington dives into NCBE’s history of bar exam development and identifies ways in which the new exam will represent an evolution from the current exam,…
The latest issue of the Bar Examiner magazine features an update on the development of the next generation of the bar exam. We encourage you to click through to read the entire update, which includes: Content Scope Outlines: The preliminary Content Scope Outlines for the new exam were published and opened for public comment from…
NCBE would like to thank everyone who took the time to review our Content Scope Outlines and provide input on whether there are any significant oversights of the topics and lawyering tasks identified for assessment by the Content Scope Committee. Our public comment process closed on April 18, 2022, and we are pleased to share…
The Jurisdiction Advisory Committee (JAC)had its kickoff meeting on February 16, 2022. The JAC was created to ensure that jurisdiction perspectives would be heard regularly as we develop and implement the next generation of the bar exam. JAC members provide their reactions and opinions to help inform the policy decisions necessary to successfully launch the…
NCBE is pleased to announce the members of the newly formed Jurisdiction Advisory Committee (JAC), which will provide input to the Implementation Steering Committee on the many policy issues involved in the transition to the next generation of the bar exam. The JAC will help gather feedback and information to ensure that the views of…
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since NCBE’s Board of Trustees approved the Testing Task Force’s recommendations for the next generation of the bar exam. As we look ahead to the work still to come in 2022, we are also reflecting on everything we’ve accomplished over the past year. Following the Board’s…
The Content Scope Committee (CSC) has been working diligently over the last few months on its charge to make recommendations to the Implementation Steering Committee (ISC) regarding the breadth and depth of content coverage for the next generation of the bar exam, which is no small feat. Put simply, the CSC will make recommendations about…
In our August blog post, we took a closer look at the role of test content specifications in developing the next generation of the bar exam. This month, we’re ready to take the next step and tackle the ins and outs of the test design, which specifies the materials and procedures necessary to develop, administer,…
Our April 19 blog summarized work being done to develop the test content specifications (TCS) for the new bar exam, focusing mostly on how that work will get accomplished and who will do it—the stakeholders and subject-matter experts who make up the Content Scope Committee. This blog takes a closer look at the purpose of TCS,…
NCBE’s Content Scope Committee (CSC) met by video conference on August 6 to begin developing test content specifications for the next generation of the bar exam. The CSC’s inaugural meeting focused on the breadth of the topics to be included in the Foundational Concepts and Principles (subjects) identified for assessment based upon NCBE’s three-year study…
The Implementation Steering Committee is delighted to announce the selection of members for NCBE’s Content Scope Committee, which will assist us in developing test content specifications to delineate the scope of coverage of the Foundational Concepts and Principles (FC&P) and the Foundational Skills that will be measured on the next generation of the bar exam.…
Welcome to NCBE’s blog on all things related to the next generation of the bar exam! We will be using this space to keep stakeholders informed about our work to implement the recommendations of the Testing Task Force for the redesign of the bar exam. Our April blog post described the first task that NCBE…
NCBE is looking for lawyers and legal educators who want to contribute to the profession and shape the bar exam of the future by serving on our Content Scope Committee. These individuals will assist us in developing test content specifications to delineate the scope of coverage of the Foundational Concepts and Principles (FC&P) and the…
The Testing Task Force’s innovative recommendations for the NextGen bar exam were approved by NCBE’s Board of Trustees in January 2021, and we have since been busy mapping out our implementation plan. For starters, we created this website to keep our stakeholders informed of our progress as we develop and launch the new exam—a process…
