July 2021 Bar Exam Updates

MADISON, WISCONSIN, June 25, 2021—The July 2021 bar exam is just over a month away. The exam will be administered July 27–28; 29 jurisdictions plan to administer the exam remotely, while 24 will administer it in person. Information about jurisdiction announcements regarding the July bar exam is available on the website of the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). NCBE is the not-for-profit corporation that develops the licensing tests used by most US jurisdictions for attorney admissions.

In the second half of 2020 and throughout 2021, NCBE has made bar exam materials available to jurisdictions for both in-person and remote exam administrations. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bar exam had been administered by each jurisdiction in person, in a secure, proctored testing environment. The July 2021 bar exam is expected to be the last that includes a remote testing option; NCBE announced on June 1 that it anticipates a return to exclusively paper-based, in-person testing for the February 2022 bar exam.

Information for candidates taking the July bar exam is available on NCBE’s FAQs page. Candidates taking the exam remotely can also visit the ExamSoft website for more information. Free and low-cost study aids are available on BarNow, NCBE’s eLearning platform, to help candidates prepare for the MBE, MEE, and MPT. 

The National Conference of Bar Examiners serves bar admission authorities, courts, the legal education community, and candidates by providing high-quality assessment products, services, and research; character investigations; and informational and educational resources and programs. It promotes fairness, integrity, and best practices in bar admissions for the benefit and protection of the public in pursuit of its vision of a competent, ethical, and diverse legal profession. For more information, visit the NCBE website at www.ncbex.org.