NCBE Announces National Mean for February 2026 MBE
MADISON, WISCONSIN, March 25, 2026—The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) announced today that the national mean scaled score for the February 2026 Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) was 131.2. The MBE, one of three sections that make up the bar exam in most US jurisdictions, consists of 200 multiple-choice questions answered over six hours.
The February 2026 MBE mean was an increase of 0.4 points compared to the February 2025 mean of 130.8. In February 2025, California elected to administer its own multiple-choice questions in place of the MBE. Due to the absence of California examinees from the February 2025 national pool, comparability of 2026 to 2025 results is somewhat limited. The February 2024 mean, which included California examinees, was 131.8.
18,063 examinees took the February 2026 MBE, an increase of 2,713 compared to the 15,350 examinees who took the MBE in February 2025, but a decrease of 1,433 compared to the February 2024 administration, when 19,496 examinees took the MBE.
Approximately 71% of February 2026 examinees were likely repeat test takers and approximately 29% were likely taking the exam for the first time.1 Compared to February 2025, first-time takers’ performance declined slightly in February 2026 and repeat takers’ performance improved. Both groups of 2026 examinees saw performance decreases compared to February 2024.
To support meaningful comparisons across administrations, the MBE is equated to ensure that differences in exam difficulty or examinee performance do not affect scores.
“After accounting for the absence of California examinees in February 2025, the February 2026 results are broadly consistent with recent administrations,” said NCBE Managing Director of Psychometrics Bob Schwartz. “Upcoming pass rates in individual jurisdictions will depend on many factors, including the composition of the jurisdiction’s examinee pool and each jurisdiction’s minimum passing score.”
Jurisdictions are in the process of grading the written components of the bar exam; once this process is completed, bar exam scores will be calculated and passing decisions reported by those jurisdictions. Bar examination pass rates as reported are available on the NCBE website.
1. The first-time and repeat MBE-based test taker information calculated by NCBE is an approximation based on the NCBE Number and biographic data, which have not been used consistently in all jurisdictions across time and are not available for bar exam administrations that do not include the MBE. Prior to 2022, approximately 10% of examinees could not be tracked with certainty by NCBE as either first-time or repeat takers due to a lack of sufficient biographic information.
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About the National Conference of Bar Examiners
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1931. NCBE promotes fairness, integrity, and best practices in bar admissions for the benefit and protection of the public, in pursuit of its vision of a competent, ethical, and diverse legal profession. Best known for developing bar exam content used by 54 US jurisdictions, NCBE serves admission authorities, courts, the legal education community, and candidates by providing high-quality assessment products, services, and research; character investigations; and informational and educational resources and programs. In 2026, NCBE will launch the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination, ensuring that the exam continues to test the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for competent entry-level legal practice in a changing profession. For more information, visit the NCBE website at https://www.ncbex.org.
About the Multistate Bar Examination
The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) is a six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice examination developed by NCBE and administered by user jurisdictions as part of the bar examination, typically given twice each year. The purpose of the MBE is to assess the extent to which an examinee can apply fundamental legal principles and legal reasoning to analyze given fact patterns. The subjects tested on the MBE are Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. In addition to assessing examinee knowledge and skills, the MBE is used to equate the bar exam. Equating is a statistical procedure used for most large-scale standardized tests to ensure that exam scores retain the same meaning across administrations and over time. More information about the MBE is available on the NCBE website at https://www.ncbex.org/exams/mbe/.