What does my New York Bar Exam Score Mean?

What does my New York Bar Exam score mean?

UPDATE: READ THIS POST IF YOU TOOK THE NEW YORK BAR EXAM AFTER FEBRUARY 2016. THIS POST ONLY COVERS THE “OLD” NEW YORK BAR EXAM SCORE REPORT.

If you took the February 2016 New York Bar Exam, you may wonder what your New York Bar Exam Score report means. (As of the writing of this post, February 2016 New York Bar Exam results have just been released and mailed to candidates at the email filed with the Board.)

Even though New York will be switching to the Uniform Bar Exam in July 2016, if you fail the bar exam, it is still critical to know what your score report means if you failed the bar exam, so that you can identify your strengths and weaknesses and conquer the next bar exam.

What Your New York Bar Exam Score Report Means Before February 2016:

To pass the New York bar exam, you need a score of 665 on a 1000-point scale. If you do not score a 665, you must retake the entire bar exam again. New York is in the majority of states where appeals are not permitted, unfortunately.

Before we go into what your score report means, as a recap, here is how the New York Bar Exam is scored:

• The written portion of the February 2016 New York Bar Exam counts for 50 percent (40 percent for the essays, 10 percent for the MPT).
• The MBE portion counts for 40 percent.
• The score on the New York multiple-choice counts for 10 percent.

If you failed the New York bar exam, on the left side of your score report you will see:

Essay Question 1: (scaled score) If you score between 45-50, this is generally “passing”
Essay Question 2: (scaled score)
Essay Question 3: (scaled score)
Essay Question 4: (scaled score)
Essay Question 5 (scaled score)
MPT: (scaled score) If you score between 45-50, this is generally “Passing”.

Written Average (scaled score)

MBE (even though it does not say it, this will be the scaled score!)  If you score above 135, this is generally considered to be “passing.”

Then you will see the “common scaled score” for each subjected (this scale is derived by the board, the weight of each one, and the weighted score).

At the very bottom of the page, it will say your final score. This is added by adding the “weighted score” for the MBE, written portion, and New York portion together. If your final score is not above 665, you did not pass. The closer you are to 665, the closer you are to passing.

Note: If you passed the New York Bar Exam, you will see your scaled MBE score but that is it—you will not see a breakdown of your score!

While the New York Bar Exam is switching to the UBE, it is still useful to know what your score report means. You can tell where you struggled: the essays, the MBE, or the MPT? This will be useful information going forward because even though the new New York Bar Exam will not be testing New York law, all three components (the MBE, essay portion, and MPT) will all be a part of the Uniform Bar Exam.

If you failed the New York bar exam and need help discerning where you went wrong or what your score report means, please contact us at excellenceinlawschool@gmail.com or 248-228-5547. Also, New York allows you to see the written portion of your exam if you failed. It is wise to request that as soon as possible. Even if you scored relatively high on the written portion, we will be able to discern areas where there is room for improvement by reading your essays.

If you are looking for tutoring, we offer tutoring for bar exam students nationwide. We specialize in the Uniform Bar Exam (which New York will be switching to beginning the July 2016 administration.) To read more about our New York Bar Exam tutoring services as well as our upcoming New York Bar Exam seminar, simply click the links.

What your New York Bar Exam score report means July 2016 and beyond

A passing score for the New York bar exam is a 266 on a 400 point scale, once it switches to the UBE.  It looks like New York will follow traditional UBE grading in scoring its bar exam. To see the breakdown of how the UBE is graded, please read this post on “what does my UBE score report mean“.

If you are wondering what the UBE schedule is in New York, according to the New York Board of Law Examiners, the schedule for the UBE in New York is as follows: