3 days ago
Hundreds of California bar exam-takers move from fail to pass with new scoring
June 2 (Reuters) - More than 200 people who took California's disastrous February bar exam will go from failing to passing under a new round of grading changes approved on Friday, boosting the test's overall pass rate from 56% to 63% — nearly double the state's historical average of 35%.
The grading change affecting 230 test takers is the State Bar of California's latest attempt to mitigate the fallout of its February test, which was plagued with technical and logistical problems. That exam has sparked several lawsuits, including at least two filed by test takers and one filed by the state bar against the testing company that administered it.
The February exam was the debut of California's hybrid remote and in-person test without the components of the national bar exam the state has used for decades — a change that was intended to save as much as $3.8 million annually. But addressing all its problems for the July exam is now expected to add nearly $6 million in costs.
With the approval of the California Supreme Court, the state bar already implemented a lower raw passing score and 'imputed' scores for test takers who weren't able to complete significant portions of the two-day exam.
Some state bar trustees have expressed discomfort with some of the exam's proposed remedies and the higher pass rate, citing the bar's duty to protect the public from unqualified lawyers.
The state bar faced a difficult task in finding "fair solutions" that maintained the exam's integrity, the organization said in a Monday statement. The bar "would never take any steps to detract from its public protection mission," it said.
On Friday, the State Bar of California's Committee of Bar Examiners voted to modify how February scores were calculated for examinees who initially fell just shy of passing and qualified for a second read of their essays and performance test. Instead of using an average of the first and second-read scores — as the bar initially did — the new scores will be based solely on the higher of the two reads.
The latest scoring change was detailed in a report, opens new tab from the state bar's staff to the committee, and the 230 new passers will be informed by the bar this week, according to a Friday email to test takers reviewed by Reuters.
The state bar has also asked the California Supreme Court to extend an existing provisional licensure program, which it had enacted in 2020 when the bar exam was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to give unsuccessful February bar examinees or those who withdrew a period of two years to pass that test while working under supervision. The court has not yet ruled on that proposal.
Read more:
California bar exam meltdown on Tuesday prompts offer of March retakes
California Bar backs provisional licensing after February exam mess
