Rule 72-1 The Bar Examination

(a) Approval to Take Examination. The Board shall notify Applicants by email, to the email address provided in their application, as to whether they have been approved to take the Bar Examination as soon as practicable after all application materials and fees in accordance with Rule 71 have been received by the Bar Administrator.

(1) If the investigation as to character and fitness, or the determination of eligibility for admission of an Applicant, is not complete at the time of the exam, the Board may permit the Applicant to take the exam. Such permission, whether express or implied, does not constitute evidence of approval either as RULES OF ADMISSION AMENDED AUGUST 4, 2025 to an Applicant’s character and fitness or eligibility for admission.

(b) Bar Examination Content. The Bar Examination includes the current version of the exam prepared by the NCBE and two 30-minute essay questions based on local law.

(1) NCBE Bar. Content and form of the NCBE Bar is determined by the NCBE. Topic areas which may be tested are determined by the NCBE and are available at the NCBE’s official website.

(2) LCE. Local content essay questions shall cover such local law subjects as the Board may prescribe. The topics that may be tested will be announced at least thirty days prior to the LCE examination date. The Board may provide all Applicants with a list of local authorities in order to prepare for the Local Content Essays. The authorities will be provided to the Applicants for preparation purposes only. Applicants are not permitted to consult with these authorities during the exam.

(c) Time and Location.

(1) Bar Examination. The Board shall conduct at least two Bar Examinations annually, on the dates and at the times and locations designated by the Board. Each Bar Examination shall be conducted on two successive days and shall be scheduled so as to coincide with the administration of the NCBE Bar. The Board shall notify Applicants of the date, time and location of the Bar Examination by publication on the Judiciary’s website or by email, to the email address provided in their application.

(2) Additional LCE administration. The Board may also administer the LCE separate from the NCBE Bar, in addition to the two or more Bar Examinations. The LCE may be taken at any time that the LCE is offered, but the Applicant must comply with the time constraints provided herein. The Board shall notify Applicants of the date, time and location of the LCE examination by publication on the Judiciary’s website or by email, to the email address provided in their application.

(d) Grading.

(1) NCBE Bar. The Board will grade the examination in accordance with grading procedures and standards set by the NCBE. In its sole discretion, the Board may use professional assistants to assist with grading. Based on the grading, the NCBE will calculate and certify each Applicant’s score. A NCBE Bar score is portable to other jurisdictions accepting NCBE Bar scores. The Applicant must receive the minimum scaled score accepted, as established and published by the Supreme Court prior to the examination and based on the NCBE guidelines, to pass the NCBE Bar. RULES OF ADMISSION AMENDED AUGUST 4, 2025

(2) Local Content Essays. The LCE is expressed on a 40-point scale. A raw score of at least 26 points is required to pass the LCE.

(3) Time Period. An Applicant must earn a passing score on the NCBE Bar and a passing score on the LCE within the same 18-month time period in order to pass the Bar Examination.

(4) No Regrading. All constructed response answers will be graded pursuant to NCBE grading guidelines for the NCBE Bar. No circumstances will give rise to a regrade and no exams will be regraded at the request of the Applicant.

(e) Waiver of the NCBE Bar Requirement. If the Applicant has taken the NCBE Bar in another jurisdiction within the preceding three years of the Bar Examination for which they apply, and has attained the minimum scaled score designated by the Supreme Court prior to the examination, the Applicant may transfer the NCBE Bar score to this jurisdiction and take only the LCE. The Applicant must earn a raw score of at least 26 points on the LCE to pass the Bar Examination. It is the Applicant’s responsibility to have NCBE forward the Applicant’s NCBE Bar score to the Bar Administrator within the time required by the Board, as published on the Judiciary’s website.

(f) Administration of the Bar Examination.

(1) The Bar Examination of each Applicant shall be completed in such a manner that no part of an Applicant’s Bar Examination is identifiable by name to members of the Board or examination graders.

(2) The Bar Administrator shall appoint a sufficient number of monitors to ensure the Bar Examination is conducted in an orderly and expeditious manner and to ensure no Applicant gives or receives aid in taking the Bar Examination. To facilitate the orderly administration of the Bar Examination, Applicants who arrive at the designated testing site after the Bar Examination has begun will be barred from entry and will not be allowed to participate in that block of testing. Applicants who are unprepared to begin the Bar Examination at the start of verbal instructions will not be allowed to participate in that block of testing. If an Applicant is barred from any required block of testing, then all other required blocks of testing for that administration shall be voided, just as though the Applicant did not sit for any of the required blocks for that Bar Examination.

(3) To avoid distracting other Applicants, persons sitting for the Bar Examination must ask any questions of the test administrator(s) prior to the commencement of the Bar Examination; no queries will be entertained when the Bar Examination is underway.

RULES OF ADMISSION AMENDED AUGUST 4, 2025

(4) The Board shall establish any other rules and regulations necessary to ensure the security and integrity of the Bar Examination before, during, and after it is administered. Such rules will be provided to the Applicant prior to starting the Bar Examination or any particular block of testing to which the rules apply.

(5) Any Board member or the test administrator may exclude any Applicant from the Bar Examination who is disruptive or uncooperative.

(6) Each Applicant shall, by taking the Bar Examination, be deemed to have sworn the following with respect to each question: “I solemnly swear or affirm that I have no previous information as to the contents of the questions upon which I have been examined and that I have not received directly or indirectly, from any source whatever, any assistance, but that I wrote the answer exclusively from my knowledge.” The Applicant may also be required to write or type out the above oath and sign, attesting to the truth of the statement during any part of the Bar Examination.

(g) Exam Accommodations. The Board shall take all reasonable steps to facilitate the Bar Examination of Applicants who require accommodations for their testing. Applicants in need of accommodations must notify the Board of such reasonable accommodation(s) needed by submitting Form “H.” Absent good cause, such notification shall be filed at the time of the application, but in no event later than 45 calendar days prior to the first day of the Bar Examination. The Applicant may be required, as needed, to provide appropriate documentation to the Board. Reasonable accommodations may be made for Applicants with physical or mental impairments that substantially limit one or more of the major life activities of such individuals.

(h) Notice of Bar Examination Results. The Board shall notify each Applicant by email, to the email address provided in their application, whether they passed the Bar Examination as soon as practicable. The names of those Applicants who pass the Bar Examination may be made publicly available.