July 2014 Bar Exam results thread Forum

[alicrimson]

Somehow I'm more stressed now than I was when actually preparing for the bar/taking the bar.

Agreed. I go through periods of thinking I may have failed, and others of thinking "surely I worked hard enough." The wait is abysmal.

So much this. That, and I just read the wrong link. Some fun stats on how the the passage rates have gone for July 2014 so far. No bueno.

[sidhesadie]

Does Oregon release MBE scores?

Pretty sure they don't. I believe they only release scores to those who fail, and I'm not sure what extent they do that.

Yeah, I mis-quoted the pass rate, I used the first-time pass rate, which is on-par with past years over all...way way way down for a July exam.

This is correct, Oregon releases nothing but "you passed" to those who passed, they release, I believe, raw scores to those who failed.

The 65% overall rate is the lowest in at least the last 15 years.

[thedive]

My results came back better than I expected. I received a 155 MBE, and I did slightly better on the essays. I'm in a UBE jurisdiction. I didn't do Kaplan, Barbi, or Themis. I used Barmax. Basically, I read through Barmax outlines, did some practice essays that I graded myself, and went through about 800-900 prior MBE questions. Walking out of the MBE, I honestly felt like I got ten questions right. It was brutal. Terrible experience waiting, too.

[Dafaq]

Any data available of what states are releasing during the remainder of this month?

[AJS30]

Any data available of what states are releasing during the remainder of this month?

Florida comes out on Monday and then I think Kentucky is the only one left for September. There are a few states that come out the first week of October.

[hoppingabird]

The bar passage rates are, undeniably, down across the country. Although I do not think we can conclusively say it is because this year's "MBE" was more difficult or because of the ExamSoft debacle. However the numbers from the bar exams that I wm familiar with are interesting and are all down in terms of passing. It will be interesting to see some of the larger states (CA, PA, NY, NJ, FL) come out soon.

Here are some states that I know the numbers on.
WA -77% pass rate- down a few percentage points
iD -- 65% pass rate -- down over 20% for summer bar pass rate
IA- 81% pass rate- down about 14 percent for summer bar
UT -- high 70's -- about normal but heard it was down a few percent
ND- 56% pass rate- down over 30% for summer bar exams.


Really interesting stuff. Huge sigh of relief I passed! Good luck to all still waiting.

[sinkorswim818]

Long-time reader. Maybe I am a masochist, but this site really helped me the past few weeks waiting for results, so thought I would pay it forward. I passed in Oregon. I am so happy and so relieved, and quite frankly, a bit surprised given how I felt about it. The OR bar pass rate this year was the lowest it has been in 15 years or so. First time takers dropped from 81% last July to only 71% this year. OR doesn't release scores for passers, so I can't help with any MBE info besides the fact that I thought I failed, but apparently didn't.

Day one I felt pretty terrible (or so I thought before I had to endure day two). We had two contracts essays, corporations, evidence, crim, and ethics. I knew I nailed the evidence and ethics, but was pretty sure I bombed the others. MPTs went ok, but it is hard to really gage how those go. I felt better afterwards at dinner with some friends who all confirmed that the essays were hard.

Day two was awful. I honestly felt like I could have gotten 10 raw on that MBE. It didn't help that I had been pretty routinely below the mark for Barbri practice sets. I only got 102 on the SMBE, and couldn't even finish the final one because it launched me into a meltdown of "why am I still failing these, the test is in three days!!" I am pretty confident that my essays and MPTs probably made up for a lower MBE score, but that is just a guess.

Anyway, hang in there! The wait was hands down the worst part of the bar exam for me.

[Neidermeyer]

Any data available of what states are releasing during the remainder of this month?

Florida comes out on Monday and then I think Kentucky is the only one left for September. There are a few states that come out the first week of October.

Kentucky comes out next Friday, September 26th. Unfortunately, you only see your scores if you fail. Since Kentucky requires you to pass the essays and the MBE separately, you only get the score for the part you failed.I believe there is a minimum 75% on the essays and a 132 on the MBE.

[lalala21]

Any data available of what states are releasing during the remainder of this month?

Florida comes out on Monday and then I think Kentucky is the only one left for September. There are a few states that come out the first week of October.

Maine also usually comes out between the 20th and the 25th

[alicrimson]

Florida is out, and I passed. There weren't any stats on the site. Perhaps those will come with the letter? From what I saw in my applicant grouping, there were very few overall fails. If I get more information, I will update later.

[Seminole_305]

Pass, Pass, Pass!

[silky bruh]

PASSED THE BAR

[Neidermeyer]

Congrats to all of you!

[amk110]

Failed Oregon by 9 points.

Equally displeased with above sentiments about Oregon's pass rate being so ridiculously low as of late.

[plouis]

Passed FL. Good vibes to all u guys still waiting!

[akili]

Congrats to all who passed!!!

[OhScalia]

Repost

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

[sherpaorlawschool]

Repost

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

You're confusing Florida's first time passage rate with its overall passage rate. Last year's first time passage rate was 77%, and the overall passage rate was 71%. You may well be right that the passage rate is down in Florida (my own rough estimation is about 67%), and that we are experiencing a trend of lower bar passage scores, but don't overstate your case and scare the folks who are waiting for their results in other states. Congrats on passing, btw.

[Saddle Up]

My sis (newly minted GA associate) was freaking out last night when she saw that the GA ‘Feb 14 pass rate dropped to 75% from 86% (Feb ’13 first time takers). No one can blame the Feb drop on the software meltdown, right? Given Florida’s gigantic drop, and notable drops from other states, what the hell is happening?

[LSATmakesMeNeurotic]

Repost

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

You're confusing Florida's first time passage rate with its overall passage rate. Last year's first time passage rate was 77%, and the overall passage rate was 71%. You may well be right that the passage rate is down in Florida (my own rough estimation is about 67%), and that we are experiencing a trend of lower bar passage scores, but don't overstate your case and scare the folks who are waiting for their results in other states. Congrats on passing, btw.

First time pass rate this year in Florida is 71.8%. Last year it was 77.2%. There was definitely a decrease.

[sherpaorlawschool]

Repost

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

You're confusing Florida's first time passage rate with its overall passage rate. Last year's first time passage rate was 77%, and the overall passage rate was 71%. You may well be right that the passage rate is down in Florida (my own rough estimation is about 67%), and that we are experiencing a trend of lower bar passage scores, but don't overstate your case and scare the folks who are waiting for their results in other states. Congrats on passing, btw.

First time pass rate this year in Florida is 71.8%. Last year it was 77.2%. There was definitely a decrease.

I acknowledged that there likely was a decrease based on my own quick count. The OP was implying that Florida historically has a 79% overall pass rate and then did a quick count to say it dropped by 15%. I merely pointed out that (s)he was making the wrong comparison. A 6% drop is notable, but it's not what the OP was saying. Since everyone insists on reading the tea leaves as bar exam results come out, it's important to have the correct information. Posting incorrect pass rates and implying that there is a larger drop than there is may create more anxiety for those still waiting. By all means spread the information. Just get it right. That's all I was trying to point out.

[MSPLaw]

Florida is out, and I passed. There weren't any stats on the site. Perhaps those will come with the letter? From what I saw in my applicant grouping, there were very few overall fails. If I get more information, I will update later.

My grouping was quite different. I passed (my husband passed), but over a third in my grouping failed.

[OhScalia]

Repost

Passed!!

It seems that FL bar passage rate, which is normally around 79%, is down significantly. Assuming a random sample, my four page pdf had 218 test takers, but 80 of those test takers failed. That's a 64% passage rate. I calculate the margin of error to be 6.4%. Thus, FL bar passage rate will be between 57% and 72% (assuming a random sample in the pdf that contained my result). That would be a huge decrease from the historical 79% passage rate. Maybe my sample is not random. I can't believe this.

You're confusing Florida's first time passage rate with its overall passage rate. Last year's first time passage rate was 77%, and the overall passage rate was 71%. You may well be right that the passage rate is down in Florida (my own rough estimation is about 67%), and that we are experiencing a trend of lower bar passage scores, but don't overstate your case and scare the folks who are waiting for their results in other states. Congrats on passing, btw.

First time pass rate this year in Florida is 71.8%. Last year it was 77.2%. There was definitely a decrease.

I acknowledged that there likely was a decrease based on my own quick count. The OP was implying that Florida historically has a 79% overall pass rate and then did a quick count to say it dropped by 15%. I merely pointed out that (s)he was making the wrong comparison. A 6% drop is notable, but it's not what the OP was saying. Since everyone insists on reading the tea leaves as bar exam results come out, it's important to have the correct information. Posting incorrect pass rates and implying that there is a larger drop than there is may create more anxiety for those still waiting. By all means spread the information. Just get it right. That's all I was trying to point out.

You exaggerated what I said. I said this year's passage rate is likely to be between 57% and 72%. That's why I included the margin of error. I did not say the pass rate declined by 15%. Lo and behold, the pass rate rate is 71%, well within my prediction. A drop of about 8% is significant in Florida with more than 3000 test takers, with most of them first timers. In any case, bar pass rate is down across the board from the results we have gotten so far.

[vandalvideo]

I wouldn't say that the pass rates are necessarily down across the board based on the information that we have. It is worrying information, but it could be a self selecting sample. Looking over the MBE statistics from the past 12 years, they have always scaled the July MBE at median of 145 +/-3. It could be that a majority of the median has self selected the states that are not out yet. Let us hope that the non-released states went up by equal measure.

[brazleton]

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