NextGen Bar Exam Dates & Registration: 2026–2028

The NextGen bar exam runs on a fixed national rhythm — every February and July, 1.5 days each — but your dates depend on one more variable: whether your state has switched yet. This post lays out the calendar through 2028, the day-by-day schedule, and the registration mechanics that trip people up — including what the first-wave boards are actually doing, verified against their own published notices as of July 17, 2026.

The administration calendar

Day 2 of each administration falls on the last Wednesday of February and July; Day 1 is the Tuesday before it.

The legacy UBE's final administration is February 2028 — from July 2028 there is no old exam to fall back on.

Which wave your state is in changes everything about this table's meaning for you: a New Yorker's "next administration" is July 2028 no matter how ready they are in 2026. Check your state's page on the jurisdictions hub — each one computes the state's actual next available date — or read the full adoption timeline.

The 1.5-day schedule

• Day 1: two 3-hour sessions (morning and afternoon).
• Day 2: one 3-hour session (morning), and you're done by midday.

Each session is the same shape — roughly 40 MCQs, 2 integrated question sets, 1 performance task (the full format guide breaks it down). Nine hours of total testing versus the legacy UBE's twelve, and you get half of day two back.

Two logistics facts with prep consequences:

1. You test on your own laptop at an in-person, proctored site, using NCBE's exam software. The free software preview shows the interface — highlighting, notes, bookmarks, and an answer-review screen. Spend an hour in it before exam week; interface fumbling is the cheapest possible thing to eliminate. (Our practice players deliberately mirror the flag-and-review workflow.) And note: laptop registration has its own deadline — Missouri's for July 2026 was July 24, four days before the exam.
2. The afternoon session is a stamina problem. Most candidates never practice two 3-hour blocks back to back. At least once before exam day, simulate a full Day 1.

What the first wave's boards are actually doing

The abstractions above become very concrete at the board level. Here is the July 2026 first wave, from each board's own notices:

Two structural lessons from that table:

• Seat caps are now a real registration risk. Connecticut capped its first NextGen sitting at 600 applications and Maryland at 1,000 seats — both with priority for first-time takers. "I'll file at the late deadline" now carries a new failure mode: the room can be full. File early not just to save the late fee, but to guarantee a seat.
• Fees vary by a factor of three or more, and late tiers bite hard — Missouri's first-timer fee climbs from $1,045 to $1,400 across its deadlines; Washington adds a flat $300.

February 2027: the filing calendar

The February 2027 administration (February 23–24) is the first one people register for after seeing real NextGen results — except the calendar barely allows it. As of July 17, 2026, here is what's published, with the source labeled honestly:

Now put results dates next to those deadlines: Missouri releases July results on October 2 — one day after its timely February deadline. Washington releases October 9 — four days after its first deadline. If a retake is even possible for you, file timely before results and treat the fee as insurance; Missouri explicitly discounts repeat filings for candidates who failed the immediately preceding exam. The results tracker pairs every announced release date with this calendar.

Rows marked with the NCBE chart or a prior-cycle pattern are planning guides, not commitments — your board's own notice, when it posts, is the only version that counts.

Registration: your board of bar examiners runs the show

NCBE builds and scores the exam; admission belongs to each jurisdiction. Your state's board of bar examiners (or Supreme Court equivalent) controls:

• Registration windows and deadlines — typically opening months before the administration, with late-fee tiers. There is no national deadline; "when is registration due" has 50+ answers.
• Fees — set per jurisdiction, as the table above shows.
• Character & fitness — its own application with its own (often earlier) timeline; in many states this is the real deadline that catches people.
• Laptop registration — registering your device for the exam software is usually a separate step with a separate deadline.
• State-specific components — some jurisdictions attach local requirements to admission: Missouri's educational component test, Maryland's state-law outlines with a confirmatory quiz, Washington's open-book state-law test, Texas's planned state-law component, and others. These are admission requirements alongside the uniform exam — your NextGen score travels; these don't.
• The MPRE — required nearly everywhere (Wisconsin and Puerto Rico are the exceptions), on its own separate schedule. Book it early; it's the easiest requirement to let slip.

Every state page on this site links NCBE's decisions page and names the board that owns your deadlines — find yours and put its dates in your calendar the same day you pick an administration.

Choosing your administration: February or July?

For candidates with a choice (graduation timing, retakes, career plans):

• July is the natural first attempt for May graduates — a summer of prep, results in the fall.
• February suits December graduates, retakers, and career-changers — but mind the compressed calendar: registration deadlines land in the fall before results even arrive, holiday weeks eat study time, and prep runway is short if you decide late.
• Crossing the switch: if your state changes exams between your first attempt and a possible retake, factor in that the retake is a different format — the arithmetic is in NextGen vs. legacy UBE.

Whichever date you pick, work backward from it in weeks, not vibes. Our free study plan generator only offers administrations your state actually holds — pick the date, get a week-by-week schedule keyed to it.

The checklist

1. Confirm your state's exam for your date on its page — NextGen, legacy UBE, or its own path
2. Note the registration window, the late-fee tiers, and the character & fitness deadline from your board — and whether your sitting has a seat cap
3. Register your laptop when the board opens device registration (it has its own deadline)
4. Book the MPRE on its separate calendar (unless you're in an exception state)
5. Try NCBE's software preview well before exam week
6. Build the study calendar backward from Day 1 — generate one free
7. Establish your baseline with the 10-question diagnostic

Dates are the one part of this exam with zero uncertainty. Lock them down in week one and spend your anxiety budget on something that actually moves your score.