Should you take the February bar exam or the July one?
In UBE jurisdictions, the legacy UBE runs the same two-day format in both months, and NCBE equates MBE scores across administrations — on the same exam version, the two sittings differ in timing, not in the test.
The exception is a jurisdiction that switches to the NextGen UBE between the two sittings, covered below.
July is the first sitting after a spring graduation; February fits December finishers and repeat takers, and in the state calendars cited below its results arrive in spring rather than fall.
California is not a UBE jurisdiction, but its published statistics explain why its February pass rate reads lower: a larger share of its takers are repeat takers.
Why February bar exam pass rates are lower
California publishes first-time and repeater results separately, which makes its statistics the worked example for this comparison.
On the February 2026 California bar exam, 30.8% of General Bar Exam takers passed — but the blended figure hides two very different outcomes: 44.0% of first-time takers passed, against 23.1% of repeat takers.
Now California's July 2025 bar exam: 54.8% of General Bar Exam takers passed, with first-timers at 69.7% and repeaters at just 12.4%.
Among first-time takers who were graduates of California ABA-approved schools, 84.4% passed.
The mix, not the month, is what moves the number.
February 2026's pool held 2,475 repeat takers against 1,456 first-timers; July 2025's held 5,441 first-timers against 1,921 repeaters.
February's lower overall rate reflects that larger repeat-taker share.
A first-timer's realistic benchmark is the first-time rate in their own state's data — not the headline.
In UBE jurisdictions, one fear NCBE's scoring rules out is a different scoring scale by season: NCBE equates MBE scaled scores across administrations, so a February MBE score lands on the same scale as a July one.
And the legacy UBE runs the same two-day format in both months — the MEE and MPT on the Tuesday, the multiple-choice MBE on the last Wednesday of February and July.
Those are UBE facts: California is not a UBE jurisdiction, so its figures above speak to the pool, not to the test's design.
Read your own state's breakdown first
Who takes the February exam, and who takes July
For the UBE, the calendar runs twice a year: the MEE and MPT on a Tuesday, the multiple-choice MBE on the last Wednesday of February and July — the same legacy format both times.
The component-by-component structure is covered in our bar exam overview.
California's published counts sketch the two pools.
The July 2025 sitting drew 5,441 first-time takers against 1,921 repeaters; February 2026 drew 2,475 repeaters against 1,456 first-timers.
In the state data we verified, July's pool is mostly first-time takers and February's skews toward repeat takers.
Map your own timeline onto the two dates:
- You finish law school in December. February is your first available sitting — waiting for July means a long study window with no school structure behind you.
- You're retiming a retake. The calendar offers two sittings a year; the right one is the date your restudying can genuinely cover. Check the repeater pass rates in the FAQ below before booking the earliest date.
- You're changing careers and studying around a job. Pick the sitting your preparation realistically finishes near.
- You need results before a specific start date. If that's you, the next section is the one to read.
One more variable for anyone planning from fall 2026 onward: which exam, not just which month.
NCBE says most jurisdictions will move from the current MBE, MEE and MPT to the NextGen UBE between July 2026 and July 2028, and that the legacy UBE will be administered through February 2028.
In a switching jurisdiction the two sittings can be different exams: Kentucky's last legacy UBE is February 2027 and its first NextGen UBE is July 2027.
The remaining legacy dates are February 23–24, 2027, July 27–28, 2027 and February 22–23, 2028 — the full calendar is on our bar exam dates page.
Job start timing: results dates set your earliest start
The results calendar is what ties your sitting choice to the first day you can practice.
Bar results are released state by state, on schedules each jurisdiction publishes.
California schedules results of the July 2026 exam for November 6, 2026 and the February 2027 exam for April 30, 2027, through its Applicant Portal, with the public pass list following several days later.
Arizona's published schedule sets on-or-before dates instead: February results by the second Friday in May, July results by the second Friday in October.
In both states' calendars, a February sitting returns results in spring and a July sitting in fall.
For a job search, that is the calculation.
Work backward from your jurisdiction's published results date — not the exam date — to the first day you could actually practice: in both calendars above, a February sitting points to a spring-licensed start and a July sitting to a fall-licensed one.
When an employer asks when you'll be admitted, the results calendar is the honest answer.
Two footnotes to build into your start-date math.
First, a passing score isn't the license: UBE jurisdictions independently decide who may sit and be admitted, and each runs its own review — including character and fitness — before anyone is admitted.
Second, if you might practice somewhere other than where you tested, a transferred UBE score carries its own clock: receiving jurisdictions accept it for anywhere from 2 years to 5 years, with most using 3.
Clerkship timing
A judicial clerkship runs on the hiring court's calendar rather than the bar's, so the exam question is always the same: which sitting puts your results in hand comfortably before the position begins?
The spring-versus-fall pattern from the last section is what does the work.
A February sitting returns results by late spring in both state calendars cited above; a July sitting doesn't return them until fall.
If your target court needs an admitted clerk on day one, February buys months of buffer.
If the start date lands later anyway, July works just as well and gives you a longer runway to prepare.
The application side — judges' hiring cycles, the OSCAR system, recommendation timing — is its own project, and our judicial clerkship guide covers it.
Pair its timeline with your state's results date and the sitting choice makes itself.
Career information, not legal advice. Exam dates, results schedules and admission requirements are set jurisdiction by jurisdiction — confirm current details with the authority that admits lawyers where you plan to practice, and with NCBE for the national exam components it writes.