Four more pass exam after State Bar makes corrections

Four more people found out they passed the California State Bar exam on Wednesday, over a week after the results were released. The announcement represents the latest whack-a-mole attempt to address the myriad problems with the February exam.

"Since the May 5 release of the February 2025 Bar Exam results--including written essay and Performance Test (PT) responses--the State Bar has received inquiries regarding issues with some of those results, both directly from applicants and via social media," read the "Dear Applicant" letter shared by bar spokesman Rick Coca. "All issues raised to date have been carefully reviewed, and today we are able to report the resolution of three distinct categories of concern and the status of a pending review of another."

According to the letter, nine people had scores from essays or performance tests that failed to load, but just one moved from pass to fail. Three applicants received a score for an essay that should have been scored to a different test taker, but none saw their pass/fail status change.

Finally, there was a group of seven people who participated in an exam retake held on March 18 and 19 but had sections of their tests not scored because of "clerical error." Three of those people passed when their scores were adjusted.

The letter also said the bar is still reviewing a fourth classification of people who could have been affected. Some graders may have been sent an "incomplete transmission of the Performance Test (PT) Notes field." This may have affected how graders scored these tests, which measure skills like drafting various kinds of legal documents.

"The number of applicants impacted by incomplete Notes field transfers, and who would receive a higher PT score if all Notes field content was graded, is unknown at this time," the letter stated. "Once that information is available, applicants will be notified as soon as possible."

The additional passing scores will add to what was already the highest bar passage rate in decades. But it will not satisfy some people who say they were wrongfully denied passage.

The Bar's Audit Committee heard from several frustrated test takers during its regular meeting on Wednesday morning. This was despite committee Chair Mark W. Toney's limiting public comment to 25 minutes--and his warning to speakers that his committee could not do anything to help them.

"I'll just respond by saying because this is the audit committee and not the full board, we are not able to discuss this on our agenda today," Toney said after one speaker objected to the way the bar recalculated February scores.

He added, "The recommendations that we voted on at the Friday special board meeting, those are being forwarded to the Supreme Court, which has the authority to make the final decision."

Toney was referring to the State Bar Board of Trustees meeting where they voted to extend a provisional licensing program created during the COVID-19 pandemic that allows. This will allow people who failed or withdrew from the February exam to work under supervision for up to two years while preparing to retake the test. The California Supreme Court had already approved the board's earlier request to lower the passing score from the February exam.

But some speakers on Wednesday said the remedial steps did not help many people testing with accommodation or who are facing the expense of travelling to take the test again. A test taker who identified himself as Larry Tran asked how it could fail people whose tests were not recorded properly by Meazure Learning, the online proctoring company the bar has since sued.

"It's not fair to judge us on something that you allege Meazure of messing up, so how are we supposed to be treated fairly when the game was broken before we even played it?" Tran asked.