The California Supreme Court has given the green light to the State Bar’s request to adjust scores for the February 2025 California Bar Exam, paving the way for the release of test-takers’ results. The court also ordered the State Bar to use the Multistate Bar Exam for the multiple-choice section of the July exam.
The decision comes after a tumultuous February exam that was plagued by glitches and crashes, affecting 4,231 applicants. The court’s order is likely to raise the pass rate compared to previous February sittings. To pass the exam, applicants will need a raw score of 534.
Scoring Adjustments
The court approved the State Bar’s proposal to calculate the total raw score by combining the 700 possible raw points for the written portion and the 171 points available for the multiple-choice components, with each section weighted equally (50% each). For applicants who took the February 2025 Attorneys’ Examination, the raw passing score will be 420 points or higher.
Addressing Missing Data
The justices also allowed exam graders to use psychometric imputation to fill in missing data for test-takers who answered at least 114 of 171 scored multiple-choice questions and at least four of six written components.
Controversy Over AI-Generated Questions
The approval comes amid controversy over the State Bar’s revelation that some exam questions were written using artificial intelligence. The Bar disclosed on April 21 that its psychometrician contractor, ACS Ventures Inc., used ChatGPT to write 29 of 200 exam questions. State Supreme Court justices had pressed for details after they said they weren’t warned about the use of AI.
The court’s decision is a significant development in the matter, which has been closely watched by law graduates and legal professionals. The case is Proposed Raw Passing Score and Scoring Adjustments for the February 2025 California Bar Examination, Cal., No. S290627, 5/2/25.
