How Do You Get Admitted to the North Carolina Bar?

The Board of Law Examiners of the State of North Carolina, based in Raleigh, administers bar admission.

NCBE coordinates the exam itself, but it admits no one: UBE jurisdictions decide for themselves who may sit, what the educational requirements are, how character and fitness is investigated, and how long incoming scores are accepted.

In North Carolina, those decisions belong to the Board.

Questions about your own application — forms, deadlines, testing accommodations — go to the Board's office, not to NCBE.

North Carolina gives the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), the portable exam NCBE coordinates.

The UBE combines the Multistate Essay Examination, two Multistate Performance Test tasks and the Multistate Bar Examination — weighted 30%, 20% and 50% respectively on a 400-point scale — given over two days in February and July.

North Carolina's minimum passing UBE score is 270.

The UBE alone is not enough: North Carolina also requires the NC State-Specific Component, a state-law add-on that some UBE jurisdictions layer on top of the national exam.

North Carolina's bar exam fees are $850 for general applicants, $1,650 for attorney applicants and $400 for repeaters.

Beyond those fee categories, our research did not establish North Carolina's full eligibility rules, such as its educational requirements, so read the Board's current admission rules before you apply.

NCBE's own materials note that UBE jurisdictions independently decide who may sit and what the educational requirements are, so the Board's rules are the authority on who qualifies in North Carolina.

North Carolina requires an MPRE scaled score of 80, according to NCBE's North Carolina jurisdiction page.

The MPRE is a two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice exam offered three times a year, scored on a scale from 50 to 150, and each jurisdiction sets its own passing score.

North Carolina does not use NCBE's character and fitness services.

The Board of Law Examiners runs its own investigation, and applicants must submit fingerprints.

Transferring a UBE score does not bypass this step: the receiving jurisdiction conducts its own character and fitness review.

Our research did not establish how the Board weighs particular issues in an applicant's record, so questions about your own history belong with the Board.

Yes, through two routes.

Admission by comity is North Carolina's route for admission without a written exam: it is open to lawyers from reciprocal approved jurisdictions who practised law during at least 4 of the 6 years before applying, and the fee is $2,000.

The other route is a UBE score transfer: North Carolina accepts a UBE score taken within 3 years of the application filing date that meets the state's 270 passing score, and a score that fell short in the jurisdiction where you tested can still transfer if it meets North Carolina's minimum.

Transfer applicants must also complete the NC State-Specific Component.

NCBE charges $30 for the official score transcript, and the Board's transfer application fee is $1,500 for applicants licensed in another jurisdiction or $1,275 for those who are not.

Exam application fees are $850 for general applicants, $1,650 for attorney applicants and $400 for repeaters, plus a $125 laptop fee.

General applicants' filing deadlines for the July 2026 exam were January 6 (timely) and March 3 (late); for the February 2027 exam they are October 6 and November 3.

Our research did not establish a current North Carolina pass rate or how long the Board takes to release results, so check with the Board of Law Examiners for its current results announcements and filing deadlines before you apply.

North Carolina's last legacy UBE is scheduled for February 2028 and its first NextGen UBE for July 2028, with a NextGen passing score of 620.

NCBE calls the current exam the legacy UBE and administers it through February 2028, and it lists North Carolina among the jurisdictions starting the NextGen UBE in July 2028.

The NextGen exam reports one score on a 500–750 scale, and NCBE cautions that legacy and NextGen scores should not be compared directly — 620 on the NextGen scale is not an equivalent of 270 on the legacy scale.

NCBE says most jurisdictions that have set NextGen passing scores have landed between 610 and 620.

NextGen examinees also pay NCBE a $149 software and technology fee on top of the Board's application fee.

The Board's admission rules define the NC State-Specific Component as a multiple-choice examination covering Decedents' Estates and Trusts, and it must be completed within 12 months after the start of the bar exam the applicant passes.

The Board offers it in February, May, July and November: there is no extra charge when it is taken with the February or July bar exam, and it costs $100 in May or November.

Lawyers who qualify through a transferred UBE score must complete it too.