If you are sitting for the bar in July 2026 or later, there is a real chance the exam waiting for you is not the one your professors, older classmates, or most prep courses were built around. The NextGen bar exam — formally the NextGen UBE — is NCBE's first ground-up redesign of the bar exam in decades, and it debuts July 28–29, 2026 in ten jurisdictions.
This guide covers the whole exam: format, question types, subjects, scoring, who takes it when, and how to prepare for a test that has never been administered before. For the quick-reference version, see our NextGen bar exam overview; this post goes deeper on each piece.
What the NextGen bar exam is — and why it exists
The legacy Uniform Bar Exam is really three exams stapled together: the MBE (200 multiple-choice questions), the MEE (six essays), and the MPT (two performance tasks), spread across two days and scored on a 400-point scale. Doctrine lives in one part, writing in another, and "lawyering" in a third.
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) spent years studying what new lawyers actually do — the published result is a list of seven "Foundational Skills" — and concluded the exam should test knowledge and skills together, the way practice demands. The NextGen exam is the result: one integrated exam where a single question set might ask you to read a statute, answer a multiple-choice question about it, and then draft two sentences of client advice.
Everything about it is official and public: NCBE publishes the Content Scope Outline, sample questions, and study aids on ncbex.org, and those documents are the spine of any honest prep plan.
The format: 9 hours across 1.5 days
The exam runs three 3-hour sessions: two on day one, one on day two. You take it on your own laptop at an in-person, proctored test site.
Each session follows the same anatomy:
| Component | Count per session | Approximate time |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone multiple-choice questions | 40 | ~72 minutes (~1.8 min each) |
| Integrated question sets (IQS) | 2 | ~24 minutes each |
| Performance task (PT) | 1 | ~60 minutes |
Three sessions means roughly 120 standalone MCQs, 6 question sets, and 3 performance tasks across the full exam. That anatomy is not a guess — it is how NCBE describes the exam and how its own official practice materials are bundled.
Two consequences are worth internalizing early:
- Pacing is unforgiving. About 1.8 minutes per MCQ is tighter than most people's untimed practice habits. Timed reps matter from week one, not week ten.
- Writing shows up in every session. There is no "MBE day" where you can coast on multiple-choice strength. Every single session ends (or begins) with substantial written work.
The three item types
1. Standalone MCQs — in two formats
The classic 4-option single answer survives. New is the 6-option "select two" format: six choices, exactly two correct, and full credit only when both of your picks are right. Select-two questions punish the elimination-to-a-coin-flip strategy that worked on 4-option questions — you need affirmative reasons for two answers, not one.
We wrote a full breakdown of tactics for each format in the four NextGen question formats, with strategy.
2. Integrated question sets
An IQS opens with a client scenario and a small stack of provided materials — a statute, a contract, an email thread, a deposition excerpt. Then come several items about that one scenario: some multiple choice, some short written answers. Sets are themed around real lawyer tasks: client counseling, drafting, dispute resolution.
This is the item type with no real precedent on the legacy exam, and it is where "I know the rule" and "I can use the rule" get separated. Our IQS walkthrough steps through one end to end.
3. Performance tasks
If you know the MPT, the NextGen PT will feel familiar: a File of case documents, a Library of legal authorities, and about 60 minutes to produce a memo, letter, or brief. Everything you need is provided — it is a closed universe. A legal-research variant replaces the long draft with targeted research questions.
The method that works is boring and repeatable; we wrote it up in how to attack performance tasks.
The subjects: 8 tested, 2 provided-resource, 7 skills
From July 2026 through February 2028, the doctrinal scope is 8 Foundational Concepts & Principles:
- Business Associations
- Civil Procedure
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts
- Criminal Law & Constitutional Protections of Accused Persons
- Evidence
- Real Property
- Torts
Family Law and Trusts & Estates appear on every exam through February 2028 — but only in skills questions where the exam provides the legal resources. You read the supplied law and apply it; there is nothing to memorize. From July 2028, Family Law becomes a fully tested subject with its own published scope. The details are in our provided-resources explainer.
Running through every item type are NCBE's 7 Foundational Skills: legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management. Where each one actually surfaces — plus the twelve Model Rules tested from memory — is its own guide.
One more scope note: NCBE marks certain topics in the Content Scope Outline for memory-level knowledge, while others only ever appear with legal resources provided. Our subject pages mark the memorize-level topics with a ★ so you can spend memory work where it pays.
Scoring: one number, 500–750
The NextGen exam reports a single scaled score from 500 to 750 — no separate MBE/written subscores. The score is equated across administrations, and it is portable between NextGen jurisdictions the way UBE scores were.
Composition-wise, multiple choice carries about 49% of the score, integrated question sets about 21%, and performance tasks about 30%. Do the arithmetic: written work is 51% of your score. Prep habits imported from MBE-era study — grind MCQs, cram essays late — are miscalibrated for this exam.
NCBE recommends jurisdictions set the passing score between 610 and 620; each state announces its own. Connecticut set 616, Missouri 610, Washington 610, Oregon 615 for July 2026 (moving to 620 after). The full list, including every "TBA," lives on our passing scores by state post and the jurisdictions hub.
Who takes it, and when
Adoption rolls out in waves:
- July 2026 — 10 jurisdictions, including Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington
- July 2027 — 13 more, including Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Tennessee
- February 2028 — 4 more: Delaware, DC, Illinois, Montana
- July 2028 — 24 more, including California (adoption approved July 15, 2026), New York, Texas, and Florida
The legacy UBE's final administration is February 2028. A few jurisdictions run their own path entirely — Nevada's new plan, Louisiana's civil-law exam, Puerto Rico's reválida — and Arkansas is the last state still deciding, with a court-ordered study due at the end of 2026.
Which exam you take is a function of your state and your date. Look up your state for its first NextGen administration, announced passing score, and transition rules — and if your timeline could cross the switch (first attempt on the old exam, possible retake on the new one), read NextGen vs. the legacy UBE before you commit to a strategy.
How to prepare for an exam with no past papers
There are no decades of released exams to grind. Here is what actually exists, and how to use it:
- NCBE's free materials — the Content Scope Outline, official sample questions, and the exam-software preview. Start there; we catalogued them in studying with NCBE's free resources.
- Exam-format practice, not just any practice. Question banks built for the MBE don't have select-two questions, integrated sets, or NextGen-style PTs. Whatever tools you choose, insist on the real formats at the real pace.
- A plan keyed to your actual administration. Working backward from a real date beats a generic 10-week template. Our free study plan generator builds a week-by-week schedule from your state's actual NextGen dates.
- A baseline before a plan. Ten diagnostic questions tell you more than a week of re-reading outlines. The free diagnostic takes about fifteen minutes and shows your subject-by-subject readiness.
BARGO exists because the affordable, self-serve tier of NextGen prep was nearly empty — practice questions in both MCQ formats, playable question sets and performance tasks with self-grading rubrics, honest per-subject availability, one modest payment. If that is what you need, the pricing page explains everything, and most of the platform is free to try first.
The short version
- 9 hours over 1.5 days; three identical 3-hour sessions of 40 MCQs + 2 question sets + 1 performance task
- Two MCQ formats — 4-option single answer and 6-option select-two
- 8 tested subjects; Family Law and Trusts & Estates via provided resources until 2028
- One scaled score, 500–750; passing typically 610–620; written work is 51% of it
- First administration July 28–29, 2026; every state switched (or decided otherwise) by July 2028
The exam is new. The way to beat it is not: know the scope, practice the real formats, time everything, and review what you miss.
Frequently asked questions
- How long is the NextGen bar exam?
- Nine hours of testing across a day and a half: two three-hour sessions on day one and one three-hour session on day two. Every session has the same anatomy — roughly 40 standalone multiple-choice questions, two integrated question sets, and one performance task on a single 180-minute clock. Across the full exam that comes to about 120 standalone MCQs, six question sets and three performance tasks. The legacy UBE, by comparison, ran two full days and twelve hours.
- What subjects are on the NextGen bar exam?
- Eight foundational subjects from July 2026 through February 2028: Business Associations, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Constitutional Protections of Accused Persons, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts. Family Law and Trusts and Estates appear only in skills questions where the exam provides the governing law, with Family Law becoming a fully tested subject in July 2028. Seven foundational lawyering skills run through every item type.
- How is the NextGen bar exam scored?
- As one integrated exam reporting a single scaled score between 500 and 750 — no separate multiple-choice or written subscores. Multiple choice contributes roughly 49% of the score, integrated question sets about 21%, and performance tasks about 30%, which means written and applied work is around 51% of your result. NCBE recommends jurisdictions set a passing score between 610 and 620, and each state announces its own.
- Do I take the NextGen bar exam on my own laptop?
- Yes. It is delivered on your own laptop at an in-person proctored test site using NCBE’s secure exam software, and there are pre-exam readiness steps — a candidate agreement, a technology fee, downloading the secure browser, and completing the tutorial and system compatibility check — that must be finished well before exam day or you will not be seated.
- How do I prepare for an exam with no past papers?
- Use NCBE’s own materials as the spine: the Content Scope Outline defines what can be tested and marks which topics require memorisation, the official sample questions calibrate what exam-quality items look like in all four formats, and the software preview removes interface fumbling. Then add volume and feedback on top, and balance practice the way the score is balanced — roughly half multiple choice, half written work.