The NCBE announced that it will again offer jurisdictions the option to administer the bar exam remotely in July 2021 to help address health concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and provide support for future legal professionals. The NCBE recognized that restrictions may still be in place this summer that would prevent jurisdictions from being able to offer an in-person exam in July.
As it did for the February 2021 exam, the NCBE will make a full set of bar exam materials available for remote administration in July on the same dates as the in-person administration (July 27–28, 2021). Each jurisdiction will select which delivery mode it will use for its administration.
In addition to supplying secure, high-quality exam content, the NCBE will equate the MBE, calculate scaled scores for the written components, and provide UBE and MBE score transfer services for both the in-person and the remote administrations.
Like this month’s upcoming bar exam—which is also being given in-person and remotely—the July remote exam will be a full-length Uniform Bar Exam, meaning that scores earned on that administration may be transferred within the 38 UBE jurisdictions. The National Conference also will score and scale the Multistate Bar Exam portion of the test,
Last summer, 30 states opted to give the bar exam in person in either July or September, with the remaining jurisdictions either giving the National Conference’s remote October test, designing their own online exam, or canceling the test altogether. Only 16 states are giving in-person exams on Feb. 23 and 24, and none of the 5 jurisdictions that adopted some form of emergency diploma privilege during the previous July bar exam cycle have opted to go that route again in February.