MPRE registration runs through NCBE and Pearson: you create an NCBE Account, register for one of the exam's three annual testing windows, pay the $185 fee and book an appointment at a Pearson testing center.
Nothing about the process is open-ended — registration, scheduling and payment all have to be complete by 11:59 p.m. (CT) on the window's registration deadline, or you cannot test in that window.
Here is each step, with the current dates and fees.
Start with an NCBE account
Every MPRE registration begins in the same place.
NCBE's registration page states it plainly: "You must have an NCBE Account to begin the registration process."
The account is the prerequisite NCBE names for the process, and registration is one of the three things a complete sign-up requires — NCBE registration, scheduling with Pearson and payment — all of which have to be finished by the window's deadline.
It is also where the result lands.
MPRE scores are typically released within five weeks of the exam, in the examinee's NCBE Account.
And the account shows your testing history: NCBE lists MPRE scores earned since 1999 and MBE scores from the last seven years, where the testing jurisdiction has authorized them.
Set the account up well before the window you are targeting — nothing else in the registration process can start without it.
Why any of this matters: the MPRE is required for bar admission in every U.S. jurisdiction except Wisconsin and Puerto Rico, and Connecticut and New Jersey also accept a law-school professional responsibility course in lieu of a passing score.
If you are still working out whether the exam fits your timeline, our guide to the MPRE covers the exam itself — what it tests and how jurisdictions use the score.
MPRE registration windows and deadlines
The MPRE is offered three times a year, and registration is handled per administration: each window has its own exam dates and its own registration deadline.
NCBE's registration page listed this schedule as of October 2026:
| Administration | Exam dates | Registration deadline |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | November 12–13, 2026 | September 17, 2026 |
| March 2027 | March 23–24, 2027 | January 21, 2027 |
| August 2027 | August 18–19, 2027 | June 17, 2027 |
| November 2027 | November 4–5, 2027 | September 21, 2027 |
The first of those deadlines has already passed — registration for the November 2026 administration closed on September 17, 2026 — so the next window open to a new registrant is March 2027, closing January 21, 2027.
The deadline is a wall, not a suggestion.
NCBE requires registration, scheduling and payment to be complete by 11:59 p.m. (CT) on the registration deadline; miss it and you cannot test in that window.
There is no separate late fee to reopen it — the next chance is the following administration.
One date on NCBE's schedule is easy to miss, because the table above leaves it out: NCBE lists a recommended date for applying for test accommodations, well ahead of the registration deadline — November 19, 2026 for the March 2027 administration, for example.
If you will request accommodations, that earlier date is the one to plan around.
The schedule is NCBE's to change
What the MPRE costs
The test fee is $185 for all 2026 and 2027 MPRE administrations — the fee to schedule your test appointment with Pearson, paid by debit or credit card.
Payment is one of the three things that must be complete by the 11:59 p.m. (CT) deadline, alongside NCBE registration and scheduling with Pearson.
There is no separate late fee on NCBE's registration page — but that is not a grace period.
Past the deadline there is no way into that window; the next opportunity is the following administration.
Two other costs sit near the test fee on NCBE's schedule.
Moving an appointment to a different slot within a window costs $25.
And if your score needs to reach a second jurisdiction, NCBE charges $30 for each MPRE Score Report.
Scheduling your MPRE at a Pearson testing center
Scheduling is where the exam becomes an actual seat.
The MPRE is administered on computers provided by Pearson at Pearson testing centers, and the center list reaches Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
You book the appointment with Pearson; the registration and scheduling steps the NCBE page describes run through NCBE and Pearson.
Payment completes the step.
The $185 fee goes to Pearson by debit or credit card, and NCBE requires registration, scheduling and payment all finished by 11:59 p.m. (CT) on the window's deadline — an appointment that is booked but unpaid is not a complete registration.
The appointment itself is for the two-hour, 60-question multiple-choice exam.
What the NCBE registration page we read does not cover is exam-day check-in — which ID to bring or when to arrive.
Those details come with your scheduling confirmation and NCBE's current instructions, so confirm them there rather than from this page.
Rescheduling or cancelling your MPRE appointment
Plans move; the window does not have to.
Rescheduling an appointment within a window costs a $25 fee, and NCBE's registration page describes it as non-refundable and non-transferable — pay to move the appointment and the $25 neither comes back nor carries over.
Cancelling outright is a different question, and an honest gap: the NCBE registration page we read prices the reschedule but does not spell out what happens to the $185 test fee when an appointment is cancelled rather than moved.
We cannot tell you it is refundable, and we cannot tell you it is not — check with NCBE before you count on either outcome.
Missing the deadline is the simplest scenario: there is no separate late fee that reopens it, so a missed deadline ends that window.
The current schedule puts administrations in November, March and August, with NCBE's list running through November 2027.
Career information, not legal advice. Whether you need the MPRE — and what score satisfies it — is set by the bar admission authority where you intend to practice; registration rules and deadlines are NCBE's, and the test fee is paid to Pearson. Confirm the current rules with both before you register.