Bar Exam Prep

There have been recently been changes to the bar exam, which are currently under development and will be administered beginning with the July 2026 bar exam. Once it is available, it will be a 1.5 days exam, with two 3-hour sessions on day one and one 3-hour session on day two. If a jurisdiction has a separate component that tests their own local law, they may administer it during the afternoon of day two. Test takers can check the NCBE page for which jurisdictions will be administering the new exam and when they will begin implementing it. This new exam will test a broad range of foundational lawyering skills, which is designed to balance the skills and knowledge needed in litigation and transactional legal practice.

The new topics that will be tested include:

• Business Associations
• Civil Procedure
• Constitutional Law
• Contracts
• Criminal Law
• Evidence
• Real Property 
• Torts
• Family Law (this will be tested on every NextGen exam as a performance task from July 2026 - February 2028 and will begin to be tested in the same manner as the other topics in July 2028)
• Trusts and Estates (will be tested on every NextGen exam as a performance task from July 2026 - February 2028)
• Foundational Lawyering Skills (Legal Research and Writing, Issues Spotting and Analysis, Investigation and Evaluation, Client Counseling and Advising, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, Client Relationship and Management)

The NCBE page has more information about the exam, as well as a Content Scope Outline for the exams between July 2026 - February 2028, the New Family Law Outline that will come into affect July 2028, and Sample Questions. You can also find more information about the exam here.