The February 2018 Bar Exam was one of the tougher bar exams of late. In UBE jurisdictions bar applicants have indicated that they felt blindsided by the number of political questions, one of the MPT’s and a few of the MEE questions. A number of other websites and have indicated that this past February 2018 bar exam has had the lowest passage rate thus far, for the states that have already scored the exam. Apparently, the average score on this years February 2018 bar exam decreased from last year’s 134.1 to 132.8 this year. This score may correlate with the new stigma that law schools are not accepting the right students into their classes, that the school are just trying to fill seats, or that the exam itself has become to difficult. According Pepperdine School of Law professor Derek Muller this past exam has been a record low. According to the ABA, “21,111 people took the February 2018 bar exam in UBE jurisdictions, 30% of those applicants were presumed first-time test takers (usually those who have graduated from law school early or took a few extra months to study after graduation last year), and the average score for that group was 135. For the February 2017 bar exam in UBE states, the average score for presumed first-time test takers was 135.3.” The ABA has also indicated that February 2018 bar exam repeaters achieved an average score on the MBE of about 132. That is nearly a 1.7-point decrease for that group from last year.
