What Does my Illinois Bar Exam Score Report Mean?

If you took the bar exam in Illinois, you might be wondering what your Illinois bar exam score report means. Here we dissect exactly what it means. We briefly explain each section below, but it is helpful to review the picture of the Illinois bar exam score report with our comments first. (Click on the photo to make it larger and open it in a new tab.)

Summary of Scores

At the very top of your score report, you will see your name, applicant number, and whether you passed or failed. You will also see your MBE scaled score, your written scaled score, and your UBE total score.

A 133 or higher is considered “passing” for the MBE scaled score and the written scaled score. A 266 or higher is considered “passing” for the UBE total score.

Written Sections

Illinois tells you your assigned score as well as the average score for all Illinois test takers. This is advantageous because you can see how far above or below average you performed on a given question! Keep in mind that each individual MPT is weighted more than each individual essay exam.

MBE Section

Illinois tells you your total MBE Scaled Score first. As noted above, a 133 or higher is considered passing. Then it tells you “National Percent Below.” If this number says, say, 10, you only scored higher than 10 percent of examinees. So, you have some work to do. If it says 80, you scored higher than 80% of examinees.

Illinois is also very helpful in that it tells you how you scored in each individual subject area. So, for example, if you scored 90 in Evidence but only 1 in Torts, you know you have work to do on Torts.

Finality of Results

Like most states, Illinois notes that its results are final and non-appealable. If you scored between a 262 and a 265, your essays were reread and re-scaled to arrive at a revised score. So, if you failed, you will not be able to appeal your score and should consider retaking the bar exam.

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What Does my Illinois Bar Exam Score Report Mean?