1,811 examinees sat for the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) in eight jurisdictions on September 9–10, 2020, including three jurisdictions that administered a September bar exam instead of the July bar exam, four jurisdictions that offered both a July and a September bar exam, and one jurisdiction that offered the September bar exam as well as a remote exam in October. Alternative test dates were used this year by many jurisdictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The national mean scaled score for September 9–10 examinees was 142.7.

Because of the low examinee count in both the July and early September administrations, a comparison of early September or combined results to previous years’ national results for the July administration is of limited value.

Approximately 400 additional examinees in five jurisdictions sat for the bar exam on September 30–October 1, 2020; MBE results from that administration are scheduled to be announced in November. Additionally, approximately 30,000 examinees sat for a remotely administered exam on October 5–6. Because that exam will be scored by the individual jurisdictions that administer it, NCBE will not have MBE mean score data to report for the remote option.

Bar graph of July MBE national examinee counts, 2016-2020. 2016 = 46,518; 2017 = 46,627; 2018 = 45,274; 2019 = 45,334; 2020 = 5,678. Examinee counts for September 2020 MBE national examinee count = 1,811 and October exams also taking place because of the COVID-19 pandemic have not been determined yet.

Line graph of July MBE national mean scaled scores, 2016-2020. 2016 = 140.3; 2017 = 141.7; 2018 = 139.5; 2019 = 141.1; 2020 = 146.1. Mean scaled scores for September 2020 MBE national mean scaled scores = 142.7 and October exams also taking place because of the COVID-19 pandemic have not been determined yet.

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