The 2028 wave is the one that finishes the map. On February 22–23, 2028, four more jurisdictions give the NextGen bar exam for the first time; on July 25–26, 2028, twenty-four more join — California, New York, Texas and Florida among them — and the legacy Uniform Bar Examination, which NCBE lists as administered through February 2028, is gone. If you're a 2L today in one of those 28 jurisdictions, this is your bar exam.
Everything below is checked against NCBE's adoption table and the boards' own announcements as of September 20, 2026. Where a state hasn't decided something yet, the table says so instead of guessing.
The 2028 calendar
| Administration | Day 1 | Day 2 | Who sits the NextGen exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 2028 | February 22 | February 23 | 27 jurisdictions: the ten pioneers, the thirteen from July 2027, plus Delaware, DC, Illinois and Montana |
| July 2028 | July 25 | July 26 | 51 jurisdictions: the 24-state wave joins, California included |
Two things about that table decide people's plans. First, February 2028 is the final legacy UBE. In the 24 July states it's the last chance to sit the old exam, and a failed February means a NextGen retake five months later — the same February fork the 2027 wave is facing, one year on. Second, the calendar itself is fixed: every NextGen date so far has landed on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of February and July, and 2028 is no exception. Registration, by contrast, is your board's business — each jurisdiction sets its own deadlines and fees, and the 2028 windows aren't published yet.
The February four
| Jurisdiction | NextGen passing score | Accepts transferred NextGen scores | State-specific requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware | TBA | TBA | Yes |
| District of Columbia | 616 | Since July 2026 (616) | TBA |
| Illinois | 620 | Since July 2026 (620) | No |
| Montana | TBA | Since July 2026 (score TBA) | Yes |
For the February four, February 2028 is NextGen — there's no legacy option left in these jurisdictions once 2027 ends. DC's Committee on Admissions puts it plainly: effective February 2028, the NextGen bar exam replaces the UBE.
The July twenty-four
Scores are NCBE's published minimums; "transfers" is the date from which the jurisdiction accepts a NextGen score earned elsewhere, and the score it requires. "State-specific requirement" is NCBE's yes/no on whether the jurisdiction adds its own component or prerequisite — the details live on each state page.
| State | NextGen passing score | Accepts transferred NextGen scores | State-specific requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | TBA | Since July 2026 (varies) | Yes |
| Alaska | TBA | Since July 2026 (score TBA) | No |
| California | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Colorado | TBA | Since July 2026 (score TBA) | TBA |
| Florida | TBA | From July 2028 only | Yes |
| Georgia | TBA | TBA | Yes |
| Hawaii | TBA | Not accepting | Yes |
| Indiana | 614 | Since July 2026 (614) | TBA |
| Kansas | TBA | Since July 2026 (varies) | No |
| Maine | 620 | Since July 2026 (620) | TBA |
| Massachusetts | 620 | Since July 2026 (620) | Yes |
| Michigan | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| New Hampshire | 620 | Since July 2026 (620) | No |
| New Jersey | TBA | TBA | No |
| New York | TBA | From July 2028 only | TBA |
| North Carolina | 620 | Since July 2026 (620) | Yes |
| Ohio | 620 | From November 2026 (620) | TBA |
| Pennsylvania | 620 | Since July 2026 (620) | No |
| Rhode Island | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| South Carolina | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Texas | TBA | Planned from July 2026 (score TBA) | Yes |
| Utah | TBA | Since July 2026 (610) | No |
| Virginia | TBA | From 2028 (score TBA) | Yes |
| Wisconsin | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Where the score is TBA, plan against 620 — the top of NCBE's recommended band and the number most decided states have chosen — and let the announcement only ever be good news. Seven of the twenty-four have set a score so far; six of the seven picked 620.
The big four: California, New York, Texas, Florida
The four most populous states in the wave each have a wrinkle the table can't hold.
California. The California Supreme Court adopted the NextGen UBE by order on July 15, 2026, effective with the July 2028 California Bar Exam. The State Bar will develop a California component — which may test the California-law areas currently examined plus employment law and family law — to be administered no earlier than July 2029, so the July 2028 and February 2029 sittings are NextGen alone. Until then California keeps its own exam; the State Bar has encouraged out-of-state attorneys eligible for the one-day Attorneys' Exam to take it no later than February 2028 if they want a California license before 2029. Transfer policy: not yet announced.
New York. New York announced NextGen for July 2028 back in January 2025 and administers the legacy UBE through February 2028. It has said it will keep a New York-specific requirement — the Court of Appeals is studying options, including an in-person New York law component, alongside today's New York Law Course and New York Law Exam. NCBE's table carries a footnote that matters for anyone thinking about testing early elsewhere: New York will not accept NextGen transfer scores earned before July 2028.
Texas. The Supreme Court of Texas ordered the switch on June 25, 2024, with the first Texas NextGen administration in July 2028 and a graded Texas Law Component that the Court anticipates as a half-day exam; the Board of Law Examiners is still building it. On transfers, NCBE records that Texas plans to accept NextGen scores from July 2026 and will update the policy once a decision is made — treat that as provisional.
Florida. Florida adopted NextGen in July 2024 for July 2028 and will add a Florida Law Component; the format hasn't been finalized. Until then the two-day Florida Bar Examination continues — day one Florida law, day two the MBE — and, like New York, Florida accepts no NextGen transfer score earned before July 2028.
Which exam will you actually take?
The waves are announced by administration, not by graduating class, so translate:
- Class of 2028 (graduating May 2028) in any of the 28 jurisdictions: NextGen. Your first sitting is July 25–26, 2028 — or February 2028 if you're in the February four and finish early.
- Class of 2027 in a July 2028 state: the legacy UBE (or the state's own exam) in July 2027, with February 2028 as your only legacy retake. Fail twice and your third attempt is a different exam. Prepare for July 2027 as if it's the only shot, because the fallback is a one-time offer.
- December 2027 graduates in a July 2028 state: February 2028 is the last legacy administration — a compressed ten-week runway into a last-chance exam, the riskiest square on the board. Waiting for July 2028 and preparing for NextGen from the start is the calmer route for many.
- Anyone retaking after February 2028: NextGen, everywhere it's offered. Your retake analysis changes format mid-stream, so the decision is worth making before the last legacy sitting, not after it.
- Attorneys moving states: check the transfer column. More than half of the July 2028 states already accept a NextGen score earned in a 2026 or 2027 administration, which makes sitting early in a NextGen state and transferring in a real route — except into Florida and New York, which take nothing earned before July 2028, and Hawaii, which isn't accepting transfers at all.
What to do now, by cohort
If you're a 2L in a July 2028 state — the largest group reading this — the exam is 22 months away and almost nothing you'd buy today survives that long except knowledge. Three moves are worth making this year:
- Let the exam pick your electives. Through February 2028 NextGen tests eight doctrinal subjects — Business Associations, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Evidence, Real Property, Torts. From July 2028, your exam, Family Law becomes the ninth fully tested subject, while Trusts & Estates stays a provided-resource area. If you haven't taken Business Organizations, Evidence or Family Law, that's a bar-prep decision now, not a curriculum preference.
- Find out where you actually stand. A ten-question diagnostic in the real item formats takes ten minutes and tells you which of the eight subjects will need the most rebuilding when prep starts.
- Read the exam, not the rumors. NCBE's free materials — the content scope, sample questions in every item type — are the same for everyone, and the October 2026 first results plus two more administrations will have turned NextGen into a dataset by the time your prep starts.
One buying note, since we sell the cheap end of this market: if you spend money this early, spend it on things that don't expire. Course access is sold by exam window; a 2L who enrolls now is paying 2026 prices for a product built before the exam had been given, with an extension fee waiting if plans change. Lifetime tools — ours is $99 once, and the study guides are books — cost the same whether you sit in July 2028 or February 2029.
If you're a 3L graduating in 2027 in a July 2028 state: your exam is the legacy one, and our timeline by cohort covers it. Know two things about 2028 anyway: February 2028 is your only legacy retake, and a July 2028 retake means new formats, a new scale, and a shorter subject list.
If you're an attorney transferring: the table above is the whole decision. Ohio's November 2026 start and the many "since July 2026" entries mean a NextGen score from a 2027 sitting in a pioneer state can open a 2028 state the moment you have it — Florida, New York, Virginia and Hawaii excepted.
Registration in 2028: what's already known
Boards open their 2028 windows on their own schedules, and none has published yet. What's fixed is NCBE's side of the process, the same for every NextGen jurisdiction: you register with your board, then create an NCBE Account, pay NCBE's $149 technology fee, and install the secure testing browser on the same laptop you'll bring to the exam — every step completed no later than 72 hours before exam day, or you don't sit. The exam-day checklist walks through the device rules; each state page will carry the 2028 filing dates and fees as they appear.
The runway to July 25, 2028
Counting back from exam day:
- Now through spring 2027 (2L year). Electives chosen with the subject list in hand, the diagnostic taken, a 15-minute flashcard floor on the starred topics if you want a head start that costs nothing.
- Fall 2027 (3L year). Watch the July 2027 wave's results and the February 2028 four for pacing reports and any board announcements about your state's component. Sit the MPRE if you still owe one. Registration windows for July 2028 will start to publish; put yours on a calendar the day it appears.
- Winter 2027–28. File. Timely-versus-late fee tiers are real money in every state.
- April 2028 (16 weeks out). Part-time and working candidates start structured prep.
- Mid-May 2028 (10 weeks out). Full-time prep for graduating 3Ls: the 400–500 hour build on a week-by-week schedule, written formats weighted like the half of the score they are.
- July 25–26, 2028. Twenty-four new states, one exam.
What to do this week
Confirm your state's row on its page — score, component, transfer policy — and bookmark it, because the TBAs will resolve over the next year. Take the ten-question diagnostic so your electives and your eventual plan start from evidence. And when your runway begins, put your 2028 date into the free study plan generator: it already knows both 2028 administrations and builds the calendar backward from the one you pick.
