Will Everyone Know If I Failed The Bar Exam?

The bar exam is stressful for a number of reasons but for many test-takers, it’s the public’s ability to access their results that magnifies the pressure surrounding the exam. Below is a state-by-state guide on how bar examiners release exam results. In it, we answer the question “will anyone know if I failed the bar exam?” Use this guide to determine whether other people can see whether you passed the bar and any other relevant details.

Will Everyone Know If I Failed The Bar Exam?

Note that most of the time the answer is “yes” by omission, whereby the onus is on the reader to determine which name(s) are not included on a published pass list.

Note also that this post is not to be used as a substitute for anything posted by the state board of bar examiners for your state, nor is it to be used as legal advice. This is a compilation of information that we have found online and is offered for convenience only. Check with your state board for official information.

If you see that any of our information is incorrect, out of date, or missing, please post in the comments below or contact us so we can keep this post as updated as possible.

Check out our related post on February 2020 Bar Exam Results Release Dates by State to find out if your jurisdiction released bar exam results yet, how you find out bar exam results, bar exam statistics, what a passing score is, and whether you will see your score. If your state has not yet released February 2020 results, then the data provided below will represent the most recent information available regarding the procedures for publishing names of test-takers.

Will Everyone Know If I Failed The Bar Exam?

Alabama: Yes

The Alabama State Bar publishes a public list with applicants’ first and last names on their website.

Alaska: Yes

The Board of Governor’s posts a list of passing applicants using their first and last name on their website.

Arizona: Yes

The names of successful applicants will be posted to the Attorney Admissions and Supreme Court website on the date of public release, the same day letters with results are mailed. This list includes applicants’ first, middle, and last names along with the city and state they are from.

The list also highlights applicants who received the highest score on the exam and the law school they attended.

Arkansas: Yes

The names of successful applicants will be posted to the Announcements page on the Arkansas courts website.

This list is limited to those who successfully completed the Bar Examination, the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE), and who will be certified to the Clerk for admission to the Bar of Arkansas. If you passed the bar exam but not the MPRE, your name will not appear on the list.

California: Yes, but only for people who registered with the State Bar of California and have login credentials to their website.

Results are posted online and include successful applicants’ first and last names as well as their city and state. However, in order to see these results, you need your applicant and file numbers to log into the State Bar’s webpage. The list will show only your name if you passed, not if you failed.

Colorado: Yes

The Colorado Supreme Court’s publicly posts an alphabetical pass list on their homepage.

Connecticut: Yes

The Connecticut Bar Examining Committee posts a public pass list on their homepage. Successful applicants are listed alphabetically (according to their surname) with their first and last names, along with their city and state.

Delaware: Yes

The Board of Bar Examiners of the Supreme Court of Delaware publicly post a list of first and last names for applicants who successfully passed the bar exam.

Florida: No

The Supreme Court of Florida releases the General Bar Examination results on their website for 30 days. Results are posted here according to applicant file numbers. No names or other pieces of identifying information are used in the list.

Georgia: Yes

Names of applicants who successfully passed the Georgia Bar Exam are listed alphabetically on the Supreme Court of Georgia Office of Bar Admission website. This information is available to the public. Applicant names who are not yet eligible to be admitted to practice but who passed the bar exam will also be listed but with an asterisk next to their name.

Hawai’i: Yes

The Board of Law Examiners posts a public list of bar exam passers on their webpage.

Idaho: Yes

The Idaho State Bar publicly lists all successful bar applicants on their homepage with their first and last names.

Illinois: No

The Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar sends exam results to individual test takers through their user accounts at www.ilbaradmissions.org.

Indiana: Yes

Indiana Board of Law Examiners publicly posts a list of first and last names for successful applicants on the Indiana Bar Exam. This list includes anyone who passed the Indiana Bar Exam, even if they are not yet eligible for admission to practice.

Iowa: Yes

The Iowa Board of Law Examiners publicly posts a pass list on their home page. This list includes an applicant’s first name, last name and the law school they attended. Those who have failed the bar examination will have their numbers, but not their names posted.

Kansas: No

Kansas Board of Law Examiners posts a pass and fail list on their homepage. The list only includes the examinee’s number for all applicants that have passed and failed. No names are included on this list.

Kentucky: Yes

A list of successful applicants is posted on the Kentucky Office of Bar Admission’s website with the applicants first name, last name, city, and state.

Louisiana: Yes

The Louisiana Committee on Bar Admissions publicly posts a pass list on their website for applicants who successfully passed the Bar Exam and are eligible for admission to practice. The list includes an applicant’s first, middle and last name along with their city and state.

There are two other lists. One includes only applicants’ exam numbers for those who passed the bar exam but are unable to be certified to Court for admission because additional information is still needed regarding their candidacy. Additionally, there is a fail list that lists only exam numbers. There are no names listed on either the “fail” or “passed but additional information is needed” list.

Maine: Yes

Results are posted on the Maine Board of Bar Examiner’s website by applicant number on the day the result letters are mailed. Three days after results are mailed, a pass list is publicly posted on the Examiner’s website that includes successful applicants’ first and last names.

Maryland: No

The State Board of Law Examiners posts an unofficial list of pass/fail results on their website according to applicant seat numbers. No names are used on this list. Official results are sent to each examinee by mail and are not publicly posted on their website.

Massachusetts: Yes

The Board of Bar Examiners publicly publishes the names of examinees that passed the Bar Exam, including their first, middle, and last names along with their city and state.

Michigan: Yes

The Board of Law Examiner’s publishes a pass list that includes applicants’ first and last names Note that the Board of Law Examiners will post results by seat number on its website the same day the results are mailed to examinees. The Board of Law Examiners then posts the list of passers by name approximately five days after they are mailed to applicants and posted by seat number.

Applicants who passed the Bar Exam but do not have character and fitness clearance or who have not passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam will not appear on the public list. Applicants who have not been certified as having graduated from law school will not receive any results until that certification is received by the Board of Law Examiners and also do not appear on that list.

Minnesota: No

Individual examinees are sent an announcement of whether they passed the bar exam or not via their Applicant Portal. The state office does not provide a list to the public of who passed each bar exam.

Mississippi: No

A list of the successful and unsuccessful applicants is available on the State of Mississippi Judiciary website. The list only includes applicant numbers. No names are used to identify applicants, regardless of whether they passed or failed the exam.

Missouri: Yes

A pass list of the names of applicants who passed the exam and satisfied all other requirements of Rule 8 for admission is publicly posted on the Missouri Board of Law Examiner’s website.

The names of applicants who passed the bar examination but did not complete all eligibility requirements for admission within the prescribed time period are not included on the list.

Montana: Yes

The State of Montana Board of Bar Examiners publicly posts a pass list with the applicants’ first, middle and last names. In that list there is a separate section for applicants who passed the bar exam but did not pass the MPRE and/or attend the Montana Law Seminar yet. This separate section also includes the applicants’ full names.

Nebraska: Yes, but only those that are sworn in will have their name listed publicly.

The Nebraska State Bar Commission often publicly posts a list of individuals, including their first and last names, who are being sworn-in following the exam. Statistics for July 2019 and February 2020 are not available. Individuals who are eligible for admission to the bar but unable to attend the swearing-in ceremony do not have their names listed.

Applicants receive notification of whether they passed or failed the exam in writing. Exam results are not posted publicly online aside from the names of individuals participating in the swearing-in ceremony.

Nevada: Yes

The State Bar of Nevada publicly posts an unofficial pass list on their website including applicants first and last names.

New Hampshire: Yes

New Hampshire publicly posts a pass list including the first, middle and last names of all applicants who based the Bar Exam. name of all individuals who pass the New Hampshire bar exam to the website.

New Jersey: Yes

A list of the first and last names of applicants who passed the bar examination is posted on the state bar’s website.

New Mexico: Yes

The New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners publishes two pass lists. One is a list of applicants by name, whom were successful on the written and MBE portions of the regular bar examination and have successfully taken the MPRE section, and the Board certifies to the Court that these applicants have met all requirements for admission to the New Mexico State Bar.

The second list includes applicants who have successfully passed the bar exam but have not completed the MPRE requirement and/or other requirements for admission. First, middle, and last names are used for both lists.

New York: Yes

The New York State Board of Law Examiners publishes a public pass list for all successful applicants, including their first, middle and last names.

North Carolina: Yes

The Board of Law Examiners of the State of North Carolina public post a pass list of applicants who meet all of the requirements for licensure,, including passing the North Carolina Bar Exam and the MPRE. This list does not include applicants who passed the Bar Exam but have not yet taken or passed the MPRE or have not yet successfully completed the North Carolina State-Specific Component.

The pass list includes applicants first, middle and last names along with their city and state.

North Dakota: No

Results are not publicly posted online for applicants who pass or fail the bar exam. Applicants are notified of their results individually via email with a link to the examinee’s result.

Ohio: Yes

A complete list of the first, middle and last names of successful bar examination applicants is published to the Supreme Court of Ohio’s website. Applicants, city, state and law school are also listed.

Oklahoma: Yes

The Oklahoma Board of Bar Examiners publicly posts a pass list under the “exam results” section of their homepage. This list includes the first, middle and last names of successful bar exam applicants, irrespective of whether they fulfilled all of the requirements for admission to practice.

Oregon: Yes

The Oregon Board of Bar Examiners publicly posts an unofficial pass list with successful applicants’ first and last names.

Pennsylvania: Yes

The Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners publicly posts a pass list for all successful applicants including their first and last names.

Rhode Island: Yes

The Board of Bar Examiners publicly posts a pass list for all successful applicants including their first, middle, and last names. Applicants who passed the Bar Exam but have not yet completed their character and fitness, under Rule 2, have asterisk listed next to their name.

South Carolina: Yes

The Office of Bar Admissions of the Supreme Court of South Carolina publicly posts a pass list for all successful applicants including their first and last names. Applicants who failed the bar exam have their examination numbers, but not their names, listed.

South Dakota: No

Examinees receive a letter in the mail with their score. Bar Exam results are not posted publicly.

Tennessee: Yes

Tennessee Board of Law Examiners publicly posts a pass list, including the applicants’ first, middle and last names.

Texas: Yes

The Texas Board of Law Examiners publicly posts a pass list, including the applicants’ first and last names, along with their exam number. Those that passed the Bar Exam but have not yet completed the requirements for admission to practice have an asterisk next to their name.

Utah: No

The Utah Board of Examiners email results to takers. The results are not posted publicly online.

Vermont: Yes

The Vermont Supreme Court’s Board of Bar Examiners publicly publishes a pass list, including the first and last names of successful applicants on their website.

Virginia: Yes

The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners publishes two pass lists. One includes the first, middle, and last names of those that passed the Bar Exam and are eligible to be admitted to practice. The second list includes the names of applicants who passed the Bar Exam but have outstanding admissions requirements and are not licensed to practice law.

Washington: Yes

The Washington State Bar publicly publishes a pass list, including the first and last names of successful applicants, as well as their city and state.

West Virginia: No

The West Virginia Judiciary posts a pass/fail list according to applicants’ seat numbers. There are no names or other identifying information included on this list.

Wisconsin: Yes, but not always

There doesn’t seem to be an official pass list published by the Board of Bar Examiners but the State Bar of Wisconsin does sometimes release publications with the first and last names of newly admitted attorneys after each administration. Publications from 2019 and Feb 2020 are not yet available.

Wyoming: Yes, but not always

There is no official pass list that the Wyoming Bar Examiners releases, but the Wyoming State Bar does regularly publish announcements on their webpage with a list of first and last names, along with city and state of applicants who were successfully admitted to the bar after some administrations. This list also includes information for applicants who were waived into the Wyoming Sate Bar, or successfully transferred a score from another UBE jurisdiction.

District of Columbia (D.C.): Yes

The Committee on Admissions publishes a list with the first and last name of successful applicants after each bar exam.

American Samoa: No

It does not appear that there is a published pass list for bar exam applicants. However, the American Samoa Bar Association does publicly publish a list of their members along with their contact information. It is not clear if this is an optional member disclosure, and therefore cannot be relied upon as a comprehensive record of successful bar exam applicants in this jurisdiction.

Guam: No

The Guam Board of Law Examiners publishes a pass/fail list according to your examination number. No names or other identifying information is included on this list.

Northern Mariana Islands: No

It does not appear that the Northern Mariana Islands Judiciary publicly publishes a pass/fail list.

Palau: No

It does not appear that there is a published pass list for bar exam applicants. However, the Palau Bar Association does publicly publish a list of their members along with their contact information. It is not clear if this is an optional member disclosure, and therefore cannot be relied upon as a comprehensive record of successful bar exam applicants in this jurisdiction.

Puerto Rico: No

The District Court for the District of Puerto Rico only permits access to bar exam results using login credentials with your last name and the last four of one’s social security number. If you are not registered, you will not be permitted access.

It is not clear if those with access to the database can view only their results or a comprehensive list of successful applicants.

Virgin Islands: No

The Virgin Islands Board of Law Examiners does not publicly publish their pass/fail list. The website has not been updated in quite some time (2007). There was only a press release published once, in 2007 of successful bar examinee

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