Which State Has the Hardest Bar Exam?
April 12, 2025 :: Admissionado
Let’s cut through the noise: Is the bar exam hard?
Yes. But probably not for the reasons you’ve been led to believe.
See, there’s this pop-culture myth that the bar exam is some kind of intellectual Mount Everest—something only the 1% of the 1% of legal minds can summit. Like if you weren’t writing treatises on tort reform in high school, you’re toast. But that’s… not quite it.
Here’s the deal: the bar exam is not a test of brilliance. It’s a test of stamina. Of repetition. Of how many rules you can cram into your frontal lobe and keep from leaking out your ears. It’s about training like a marathoner, not a Mensa member. And let’s be real—if you can’t handle Type A monotony on steroids for two straight months, the bar is gonna eat you alive.
So how hard is it to pass the bar? It depends. If you prepare strategically and consistently, it’s entirely passable. If you wait until panic kicks in and hope your memory is fueled by Red Bull and vibes, well… good luck.
This ain’t about brilliance. It’s about grind. Precision. And the will to eat multiple-choice questions like popcorn while everyone else is doomscrolling Reddit.
Let’s Talk Structure
The bar exam is not one test—it’s several, stacked on top of each other like a bureaucratic Jenga tower:
- MBE (Multistate Bar Exam): 200 multiple-choice questions across seven subjects—Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. These aren’t trivia questions. These are logic puzzles in legalese, designed to trip you up with almost-right answers. If you’ve ever stared at a bar exam sample question and thought, “Wait, B and D are both kind of correct,” welcome to the club.
- Essays (State-Specific): Depending on your state, you’ll write answers to 4–6 essays that dive into state law specifics. This is where you pray you didn’t skim the chapter on secured transactions.
- MPT (Multistate Performance Test): You’re handed a case file and a legal library, and you’ve got 90 minutes to whip up a memo or brief. It’s not about what you know—it’s about how you think like a lawyer. Also, surprise! This is graded just as seriously as the rest.
The NCBE: Puppetmaster-in-Chief
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) is the wizard behind the curtain. They create the MBE, the MPT, and the MPRE (ethics exam). But here’s the kicker—the bar isn’t just about your legal knowledge. You could’ve nailed every law school class and still struggle. Because the bar isn’t testing whether you “understand the law.” It’s testing whether you can apply it with surgical precision… under pressure… on a timer… while your inner monologue is quietly panicking.
What Actually Makes It Hard
It’s not that the content is impossibly difficult. It’s that there’s so much of it. It’s the volume. The pace. The mental fatigue of digesting outlines so dense they should come with a fiber warning. It’s the strategy of prioritizing which topics to focus on. It’s the psychological warfare of knowing you can miss 40% of the questions and still pass… but you don’t know which 40%.
The hardest bar exams (hello, California and New York) aren’t brutal because the questions are more “clever.” They’re brutal because they combine complexity, length, and that good old-fashioned ingredient: pure, unfiltered stress.
So yeah—hard? Definitely. But not because you’re not smart enough. Because it demands a kind of disciplined obsession that most people simply haven’t practiced… yet.
Let’s get to the million-dollar question: Is the California bar actually the hardest in the country?
The Myth of the Monster
Yes, the California bar is infamous. Yes, it has a low pass rate. Yes, it’s where dreams go to either launch or spontaneously combust. But let’s not confuse low pass rates with impossible difficulty. There are other forces at play.
First, who takes the exam? California attracts a wider range of candidates than most states: out-of-state law grads, international lawyers, online law school students, and yes, even celebrities with Instagram study groups. That variety affects pass rates. It’s not that the test is evil—it’s that the pool is wildly diverse in preparation levels.
California vs. The Big Dogs
- New York: High pressure, but thanks to the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), it’s now a bit more standardized. Still tough. Still dense. But fewer curveballs than CA.
- Florida: Known for heavy state-specific content and a love affair with obscure ethics questions. Many say it feels harder than CA because it’s just so… Florida.
- Texas & Georgia: Similar UBE structure (post-2021 for Texas), but still no walk in the park. Texas used to be extra spicy with its own content before the switch. Georgia is sneaky tough—if it were a person, it’d be smiling while assigning you six essays on commercial paper.
- Washington, D.C.: The cool cousin who uses the UBE but doesn’t have its own residency law school. Still competitive, but manageable with solid prep.
- Maryland: Lowkey killer. State-specific topics, strict grading, and little national fame to warn you. Don’t sleep on it.
What Actually Sets CA Apart?
- Three essays in the morning, performance test in the afternoon… and then do it all over again on Day Two. Fun!
- No UBE. That means it’s harder to port your score to another state. It also means the format is unique to California, and you can’t rely on national bar prep programs alone.
- Grading curve? Mysterious. Not public. There’s a scaled score system that involves converting raw scores to scaled ones using a statistical formula no one fully understands—probably not even the CA Bar Association.
The California bar feels harder because of its mythology. But the truth? With proper prep, sane pacing, and a few thousand flashcards, it’s passable. It’s not about California being a monster. It’s about knowing how to slay it.
Let’s finally address the part no one really talks about when they ask “how hard is the bar?”
It’s not the law. It’s not even the essays. It’s the marathon.
This isn’t a test of whether you’re brilliant. It’s a test of whether you can stay sharp while your brain is melting slowly over a two-day slow roast. You’re not just taking an exam—you’re running a mental triathlon with a hundred-pound outline strapped to your back. That’s the real challenge.
Strategy Over Smarts
Every year, “smart” people fail the bar. Why? Because they didn’t take it seriously. Because they tried to cram too late. Because they thought their 3L GPA would carry them.
And every year, people who struggled in law school pass with flying colors. Why? Because they trained like athletes. They worked smarter. They planned for burnout. They practiced MBE questions like it was their job. They knew it wasn’t about acing one exam—it was about managing 1,000 micro-decisions over two days without cracking.
The law exam doesn’t care how clever you are. It cares how well you prepared for the storm.
So… which state has the hardest bar exam? Depends who you ask—and what you’re measuring. Pass rates? Number of exam days? Number of subjects? Vibe of the essay prompts? Let’s break it down:
So… Which State Has the Hardest Bar?
Spoiler: it’s complicated. “Hard” can mean a lot of things—pass rates, exam structure, prep demands, grading quirks. Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the toughest bar exams by state, with real stats and real talk:
🐻 California
- First Time Pass Rate: ~79%
- Passing Score: 1390
- Length: 2 days
California’s bar exam is a rite of passage in legal folklore. It’s not just the reputation—it’s the structure. This beast packs in five essays, one 90-minute performance test (MPT), and the full 200-question MBE. Unlike UBE states, California insists on its own rules and essay topics, many of which feel plucked straight from legal purgatory. Toss in a secretive scoring curve and zero score portability, and it becomes a uniquely high-stakes, high-stress experience. It’s hard, yes. But mostly because it’s exhausting and unpredictable, not because it’s intellectually impossible.
🗽 New York
- First Time Pass Rate: ~80%
- Passing Score: 266 (UBE)
- Length: 2 days
Thanks to its adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), New York’s bar is more standardized than it used to be. That doesn’t mean easy—it just means you know what’s coming. You’ll face two MPTs, six essays (MEE), and the MBE, all within a tightly timed two-day window. What still makes NY tough is the test-taker pool: elite law school grads, global candidates, and an extremely motivated crowd that turns the curve into a razor-thin margin. It’s doable—but you’d better bring your A-game.
🐊 Florida
- First Time Pass Rate: ~61%
- Passing Score: 270
- Length: 2 days
Florida is the dark horse of this list—less talked about, but arguably one of the sneakiest hard exams in the country. Unlike UBE states, Florida sticks to its own blueprint. Day one brings three essays and 100 multiple-choice questions on Florida-specific law, and day two is the full MBE. What makes this one tough isn’t just content—it’s the grading. Rumor has it that graders are stingy, and the essays often feel like law school final exams with extra flair. Many underestimate it… and regret it.
🤠 Texas
- First Time Pass Rate: ~80%
- Passing Score: 270 (UBE)
- Length: 2 days
Texas transitioned to the UBE in 2021, which brought relief to thousands of bar takers who once faced a daunting hybrid exam with heavy state law emphasis. Now, it’s in line with the national standard—still tough, still fast-paced, but far more predictable. Texas remains a challenge not because of trick questions, but because it draws a huge, highly prepared pool of candidates. Don’t let the UBE label fool you: you still need to prep like your career depends on it (because, well… it does).
🏛️ Washington
- First Time Pass Rate: ~82%
- Passing Score: 266 (UBE)
- Length: 2 days
Statistically speaking, D.C. has one of the highest pass rates in the country. So why is it on this list? Because the exam itself may not be brutal, but the environment absolutely is. D.C. attracts an overachieving, Type-A crowd from top-tier schools across the country. The test is UBE-standard, but the competition is Olympic level. If your score isn’t exceptional, your chances of standing out—or even finding work—can shrink fast. It’s a strategic choice for folks gunning for federal or policy work. Be ready to flex hard.
🍑 Georgia
- First Time Pass Rate: ~68%
- Passing Score: 270
- Length: 2 days
Georgia hasn’t adopted the UBE yet, and it shows. Its essays are known for unpredictability, and the grading isn’t exactly transparent. There’s also a hefty emphasis on state-specific law, which means you’ll need to go beyond your bar course if you want to feel truly prepared. What makes Georgia quietly brutal is the curve—tight and tricky. If you think this is just a southern soft-serve version of the New York bar, think again. Georgia comes with a bite.
🎰 Nevada
- First Time Pass Rate: ~73%
- Passing Score: 75
- Length: 2.5 days
If there were a “Most Underrated Bar Exam That Will Break Your Brain” award, Nevada would take the crown. It’s a non-UBE state, still holding on to its own exam format that spans 2.5 days and includes 8 essays and a performance test—plus the MBE. The curve is harsh, the content deeply Nevada-specific, and resources for prep are limited compared to larger states. Most people don’t talk about Nevada… until they take it. And then they don’t stop talking about how awful it was.
Here’s the kicker: Hardest doesn’t mean best. Or most respected. Or more “real lawyer.” Choose your bar based on your career path, not to win some imaginary flex-off. Pass the bar that gets you where you want to go. Then go crush it.
The bar exam 2024 isn’t your enemy—it’s a boss level with a cheat code: smart prep, cool head, and relentless focus. The bar exam passing rate 2024 won’t define you, but how you train for it will.
Waiting on California bar results or eyeing your next academic move? Don’t go it alone. Whether it’s law school apps, post-bar pivots, or figuring out what’s next—we’ve got you.
👉 Book a free consultation with Admissionado. We’ll help you plan your next power move—minus the panic, plus a game plan. Let’s do this like pros.
