Official Name of NextGen Bar Exam Announced

The official name of the NextGen bar exam will be the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination (NextGen UBE). The name reflects NCBE’s commitment to ensuring a fair exam designed to support score portability.

The NextGen UBE, like the current UBE, will feature uniform content, administration, and scoring across jurisdictions. Jurisdictions administering the NextGen UBE, like those administering the current UBE, will set their own passing scores and establish and administer their own local law components, if any. Examinees earning a NextGen UBE score in any jurisdiction will have the ability to transfer their score to any other jurisdiction that accepts transferred NextGen UBE scores. Each jurisdiction will determine its own policies about accepting NextGen UBE score transfers.

A NextGen chart in the Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admissions provides information about each jurisdiction that has announced plans to adopt the exam, including the date of the jurisdiction’s first NextGen administration, the date it will first accept transferred NextGen scores, and whether it will require completion of a jurisdiction-specific component.

About the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam

Set to debut in July 2026, the NextGen UBE will test a broad range of foundational legal doctrine and lawyering skills in the context of the current practice of law. The skills and concepts to be tested were developed through a nationwide legal practice analysis and reflect the most important knowledge and skills for newly licensed lawyers in both litigation and transactional practice. For more information, visit  https://www.ncbex.org/exams/nextgen.