The patent bar exam is the registration examination of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) — the test behind registration to practice before the USPTO.
It is a 100-question, computer-based exam with 90 scored questions, given year-round at Prometric test centers, and passing takes 70 percent of the scored questions: 63 of 90.
A law degree is not required — passers who are not attorneys are registered as patent agents.
What is the patent bar exam?
The patent bar is the informal name for the registration examination the USPTO uses to qualify patent practitioners.
Passing it — along with the USPTO's application requirements and a moral character review — is what leads to registration to practice before the USPTO as a patent agent or, for attorneys in good standing, a patent attorney.
The exam itself is 100 multiple-choice questions with five answer choices each; 90 of them are scored and 10 are unscored beta questions.
Despite the nickname, it is not the bar exam that leads to a law license — that is a separate process, covered in the bar exam overview.
This page is about the USPTO's exam: who qualifies, how it runs, what passing takes and how the agent and attorney registrations differ.
Registration also carries obligations.
Practitioners before the USPTO are subject to the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct, 37 C.F.R. § 11.101 et seq.
Who is eligible to take the patent bar?
Eligibility runs on technical background, not legal education: a law degree is not required to sit for the exam.
The USPTO sorts applicants into four technical-qualification categories.
- Category A — a bachelor's, master's or PhD degree in a listed technical subject.
- Category B — a bachelor's degree in another subject, plus qualifying science or engineering coursework.
- Category C — practical experience shown by passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) test, plus a bachelor's degree. Category C applicants must submit an official transcript showing the award of the degree.
- Category D — a limited qualification for design patent practice only.
Applying carries its own costs: a $118 non-refundable application fee, a $226 registration examination fee and a $221 Prometric examination administration fee.
After passing, a $226 registration fee applies.
The application fee rises to $1,806 if moral character issues are disclosed.
Confirm the current requirements with the USPTO
What is the patent bar exam format?
The exam is administered by computer at Prometric test centers year-round, in two three-hour sessions of 50 questions each — 100 questions in total.
Each question offers five answer choices, and the MPEP is available on screen as a reference during the exam.
Results come quickly.
You receive an unofficial result at the test center, and official notice of results from the USPTO generally follows within 5 business days.
Retake rules are in an unusual state: for twelve months and until further notice, the USPTO has temporarily waived both the waiting period between attempts and the previous five-attempt limit.
The USPTO page our research reviewed carried no date, so confirm the current retake policy with the USPTO before you plan a second sitting.
What is the patent bar pass rate?
The passing standard is exact: to pass, you must correctly answer 70 percent of the scored questions — 63 of the 90.
Because 10 of the 100 questions are unscored beta questions, your result is computed on the 90 that count.
What our research did not capture is the exam's historical pass rate.
The USPTO's exam statistics were outside the material this page's research reviewed, so we won't quote a rate here.
If you come across a pass-rate figure for the patent bar, look for the dated USPTO source behind it, and check the current statistics with the USPTO before you sit.
How do you prepare for the patent bar exam?
Start from what the USPTO says the exam covers.
The USPTO updated the registration examination on September 23, 2026, and it draws on source materials including the MPEP Ninth Edition, Revision 01.2024 — so study from the edition the USPTO currently names, not an older copy.
The format shapes the prep too.
The MPEP is available on screen during the exam, so timed practice finding your way around it belongs in your preparation alongside content review.
Whether you use a prep course or self-study, anchor your practice questions to the source materials the USPTO names for the current exam rather than to a generic outline.
And check which eligibility category you fit before you schedule anything — the categories rest on documented credentials (degrees, coursework and, for Category C, the FE test result), which take time to assemble.
Patent agent vs patent attorney: what passing gets you
A law degree is not required to sit for the patent bar.
What your law status changes is the registration you receive after passing: candidates who pass and are not attorneys in good standing are registered as patent agents, not patent attorneys.
An attorney for whom no certificate of good standing is received is registered the same way, as a patent agent or design patent agent.
Both registrations rest on the same exam and the same technical qualification, and both put you under the same rulebook: practitioners before the USPTO are subject to the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct, 37 C.F.R. § 11.101 et seq.
Timing matters if you are coordinating a job search or a practice move: registration typically issues about 3 months after passing, after a moral character review.
Where each registration fits in an IP career — and how patent work differs from trademark and copyright — the IP attorney career guide maps the field.
Career information, not legal advice. The USPTO sets the registration requirements, fees and exam rules; confirm the current requirements with the USPTO before you apply.