February 2013 California Bar Exam: Results

The pass list will not be available to the public until May 19, 2013, at 6 a.m., but the California Bar has released some of the statistics.  The press release can be viewed here.

The State Bar of California's Committee of Bar Examiners has reported that 41% of the applicants passed the February 2013 California Bar exam.  Overall, there was a 41% pass rate.  First-time takers, who comprised 1,371 of the 4,419 applicants (31%), had a 52% pass rate.  Repeat takers, who comprised 3,048 of the 4,419 applicants (69%), had a 36% pass rate.

You can see a detailed breakdown of the score ranges here.  As you're likely aware, a passing score is 1440.  40% of applicants had a score of 1442 or higher.  Notably, only 30% of applicants had a score of 1342 or lower.  Of the roughly 60% of applicants that did not pass, this means that roughly half of them were within 100 points of passing.  Similarly, of those that passed, only roughly 5% had scores that were more than 100 points above a passing score.

What does the breakdown of scores show?  Get your points where you can!  Make sure that your grader can easily see every issue you've spotted, your analysis, and your conclusions.  Make it super easy to follow your performance test answer so it's clear that you followed the directions.  Practice the MBE religiously so that you do not get thrown off by a series of curve ball questions about nuances.  I'll have more advice for those that did not pass, but I wanted to post my initial thoughts on these statistics.

While more detailed school-based results will be released in four to six weeks, the Committee has released some general statistical information related to types of schools.  Of students from California ABA-accredited schools, first-time takers had a 60% pass rate while repeat-takers had a 50% pass rate.  Of students from out-of-state ABA-accredited schools, first-time takers had a 49% pass rate while repeat-takers had a 39% pass rate.  Of students from California schools that are accredited but not by the ABA, first-time takers had a 25% pass rate while repeaters had a 17% pass rate.  The press release contains even further information for other types of schools.

I'm hopeful to soon get my hands on a copy of the essays and performance tests from the February 2013 California Bar exam so that I can begin drafting sample answers.  There are rumors that they will not be posted on the California Bar website until July, but some have been able to receive copies.  (See here and here.)