So you’re a licensed attorney. You have a blossoming life outside of California. And for some reason, you want to join an overcrowded state and tackle the hardest bar exam in the country (debate me, New Yorkers).
No judgment here! But the question on your mind is whether to take the one-day Attorneys’ Examination (essays and PT only) or the two-day General Bar Exam (GBX) that includes essays, PT, and MBE—the works—with the rest of them.
Is it smarter to take the full exam because of the higher pass rate? What about the possibility of boosting your score with the MBE questions?
It seems crazy that you would choose to take a longer test, but could it be easier to study for it?
How are other non-California attorneys making this decision? Do you even qualify to take the Attorneys’ Exam?
More details and a decision matrix below.
- Qualifications to take the California Attorneys’ Exam
- Can you take the California Attorneys’ Exam?
- When can you NOT take the California Attorneys’ Exam?
- What do you NOT need to have (yet) to take the Attorneys’ Exam?
- Is it easier to study for the two-day General Bar Exam?
- How should you decide whether to take the one-day Attorneys’ Exam or the two-day General Bar Exam?
- What have other out-of-state attorneys done?
Qualifications to take the California Attorneys’ Exam
Here’s who can and cannot take the Attorneys’ Exam, according to the California State Bar:
Can you take the California Attorneys’ Exam?
To take the Attorneys’ Exam, you need:
- An active law license in good standing (without discipline) in another U.S. jurisdiction for at least four (4) years immediately preceding (counting backward from) the first day of the exam.
That’s it. If you’re an out-of-state attorney who has been active for at least a few years, you’re probably good to go.
But check the below lists too.
When can you NOT take the California Attorneys’ Exam?
You can’t take the Attorneys’ Exam, and have to take the General Bar Exam, if you don’t meet the requirements above. In other words, you won’t be eligible if at least one of these applies to you:
- Foreign-licensed attorneys: If you don’t have a U.S. law license, you must take the General Bar Exam regardless of years practicing.
- Licensed for less than 4 years preceding the exam date.
- License that is not active or not in good standing.
- You already signed up for the General Bar Exam and missed the final deadline for switching between the Attorneys’ Exam and the General Bar Exam.
What do you NOT need to have (yet) to take the Attorneys’ Exam?
MPRE score: You need an 86 at some point as an admission requirement, but this isn’t an eligibility criterion for choosing the Attorneys’ Exam over the GBX
Moral character determination: This is another admission requirement that you can put off until later, but a positive moral character determination isn’t an eligibility criterion.
Reciprocity: California doesn’t accept transferred bar scores and has no admission on motion. So you’ll have to take some type of exam to practice in California, whether it’s the Attorneys’ Exam or the GBX.
Is it easier to study for the two-day General Bar Exam?
Not really.
Everyone pack up and go home! No, but of course it’s more nuanced than that. You should know that as a lawyer (whose decision-making ability has eroded from years of hedging your advice with multiple perspectives and allowing stiff professionalism to leak into your personal life and relationships until you resent your partner for not answering every one of your texts like an interrogatory).
Maybe doing multiple-choice questions brings a spark of joy to your day. Maybe you love the mini-drama in each MBE question and think it will motivate you to learn the MBE subjects better for the essays, making your bar preparation more enjoyable and thereby enhancing your overall score.
That might be a reason to lean toward the two-day exam.
But you’ll be preparing for the MBE as well, not just for the essays and performance tests. They all require different skills, approaches, supplements, and types of practice.
That’s extra time you need to find to prepare for an extra portion of the bar exam that you don’t need to prepare for as a busy licensed attorney (who probably spends most of the time working).
Also, the pass rates are not always lower for the written-only Attorneys’ Exam.
Check out the pass rates for the last several exams.
| Administration | Attorneys' Exam | General Bar Exam |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 19 | 46.60% | 31.40% |
| Jul 19 | 51.10% | 50.10% |
| Feb 20 | 39.10% | 26.80% |
| Oct 20 | 55.90% | 60.70% |
| Feb 21 | 57.20% | 37.20% |
| Jul 21 | 45.70% | 52.90% |
| Feb 22 | 61.80% | 33.90% |
| Jul 22 | 49.10% | 52.40% |
| Feb 23 | 56.90% | 32.50% |
| Jul 23 | 47.80% | 51.50% |
| Feb 24 | 52.70% | 33.90% |
| Jul 24 | 48.90% | 53.80% |
| Feb 25 | 84.10% | 63.60% |
| Jul 25 | 43.40% | 54.80% |
| Feb 26 | 57.00% | 30.80% |
Typically, February saw more attorney candidates pass than in July. Almost every July (and October) administration has favored the General Bar Exam. This doesn’t mean one exam is easier than the other. You can find more statistics here.
None of this changes how to choose whether and when to take the Attorneys’ Exam. If your written is stronger than your multiple choice, the Attorneys’ Exam still gives you a better shot because you don’t give the multiple-choice section an opportunity to drag your score down.
Most importantly, pass rates don’t dictate your OWN chances of passing. Also, the essay questions are the same for both the Attorneys’ Exam and the General Bar Exam.
Despite all this, should you opt to take the full California Bar Exam anyway, as an attorney candidate?
That is to say, can we ignore pass rates and decide which exam will increase your chances of passing and getting licensed in California? That’s a different question…
How should you decide whether to take the one-day Attorneys’ Exam or the two-day General Bar Exam?
Ultimately, whether to take the full two-day General Exam or the one-day Attorneys’ Exam in California is a decision that depends on a case-by-case basis.
(How does it feel being on the other end of “it depends”? But bar prep is personal.)
If you take the full General Bar Exam, 50% of your score will depend on five essays and one performance test, and the other 50% will depend on the MBE. You will pass if your overall composite (average) score is 1390 or higher.
If you take the Attorneys’ Exam, 100% of your score will depend on the five essays and one performance test. Each essay/PT weighs on you twice as much.
If you can’t hit 1390 scaled on the written portion (at least an average raw score of 60-63), you can balance it out with a higher MBE score.
So the big questions are your expectations around multiple choice:
- How proficient and confident are you with multiple choice (as a form of testing) and the MBE subjects?
- How proficient and confident do you think you will become with multiple choice (as a form of testing) and the MBE subjects by exam time?
You may have a sense of this from a prior bar exam you took, any studies you’re doing now, or from your student days.
Most experienced attorneys tend to overestimate their writing ability on the essays and especially the performance test, for good reason. They come to find (sometimes too late) that writing like a bar taker is different from writing like a lawyer. Take that into consideration when you make your decision.
That means taking the MBE can only hurt your chances UNLESS you excel at it enough to make up for any deficiencies in essays and performance tests (PTs).
If you aren’t better at multiple choice, your limited time may be better spent focusing on writing solid essays (by being able to identify relevant issues and recall the rules in IRAC format) and performance tests.
So, if you are very strong in multiple choice or the MBE subjects, then yes, taking the full exam may work out better for you. Again, by strong, I mean you should expect to score at the very least 1390 scaled on the MBE. Here are some examples of past score reports to get a sense of what that looks like.
On the other hand, if you aren’t that strong in multiple choice or the MBE subjects, taking the full exam won’t help you out much.
In fact, you’re less likely to pass either type of exam if you are weak in the MBE subjects.
Why?
Regardless of whether or not you choose to include the second day (MBE), you will still need to be solid on the MBE subjects because you will see at least 3, if not 4, MBE subjects tested across the 5 essays (and sometimes PT), including crossovers.
These are the big considerations. Don’t get caught up in small questions like predictions and pass rates.
I summarized the above recommendation in this handy decision matrix 🖼️
| MBE good | MBE bad | |
| Essays/PT good | Consider full General Bar Exam only if you have time and want to hedge one portion with the other | Take Attorneys’ Exam |
| Essays/PT bad | Take full General Bar Exam | Maybe this question is the least of your concerns |
Otherwise, stick to the one-day Attorneys’ Exam and focus on writing solid bar essays and PTs.
I also recommend grabbing Approsheets so you can make sure that you can identify all the relevant issues in an essay because, on bar essays, issues are king and you don’t have time to stare at a blank page.
What have other out-of-state attorneys done?
So you know what I would do in your shoes. What about people who actually had to make this decision?
Answers from the MTYLT community regarding their experience with the California Attorneys’ Exam:
It mainly depends on your relative strength on the MBE versus the written portions (essays and performance test).
If you’re confident in your essay and PT skills but weak on multiple choice, go for the Attorneys’ Exam. You can remove the MBE from consideration entirely. Adding the second day will only hurt you.
If you’re strong on multiple choice and weak on written, take the General Bar Exam.
If you’re strong on both, taking the General Bar Exam could make sense if you have the extra prep time and want to hedge one section with the other.
The MBE and the written portions are each worth half your total score, so adding the MBE helps if you expect to score higher on it than on your essays and PT, and hurts when the reverse is true (take the Attorneys’ Exam in this case).
You qualify for the one-day Attorneys’ Exam if your law license in another U.S. jurisdiction has been active and in good standing, without discipline, for at least four years immediately preceding the first day of the exam. That’s the only eligibility requirement.
Foreign-trained attorneys do not qualify.
You cannot take the Attorneys’ Exam, and must take the General Bar Exam instead, if you hold only a foreign law license, you have been licensed for less than four years, your license is not active or not in good standing, or you missed the final filing deadline for switching between the two exams.
No. A scaled score of 86 or higher on the MPRE is a California admission requirement for every applicant, but it is not an eligibility requirement for the Attorneys’ Exam itself. You can take the exam first and submit your MPRE score later.
Same with a positive moral character determination. You can put this off until later.
Pass rates don’t predict any individual applicant’s odds. But historically, February administrations have favored the Attorneys’ Exam and July administrations have favored the General Bar Exam, a pattern that appears tied to differences in the applicant pools rather than the exams themselves.
The Attorneys’ Exam has less material to prepare since you won’t need to practice with MBE questions. But the essays will still cover MBE subjects.
So now you have a framework to decide whether to take the California Attorneys’ Exam or the General Bar Exam. You also have perspectives of others who actually took the Attorneys’ Exam.
What will YOU do?
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