Link:  https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/admissions/Examinations/July-2022-Bar-Exam-Admittance-Ticket-Bulletin.pdf

Of note:  in person exam.

Only the following items are allowed in the exam areas without prior approval. All items are subject to inspection at the test centers: 1. Government-issued ID 2. The admittance ticket with no writing on it 3. Silent analog watches 4. Prescription medications (does not include cough drops) 5. Cash (must not have extraneous writing on it) 6. Credit/debit cards that might be needed for the lunch breaks 7. Keys 8. Face masks without valves (with no patterns or extraneous writing on them) 9. Protective gloves (latex or rubber only) 10. Nondigital pens (standard blue or black ink), nonmechanical pencils (with eraser incorporated; no separate erasers), pen-style highlighters (must not be used on answers), rulers and paper clips 11. Nondigital timers and nondigital clocks measuring 4”x 4” or smaller. 12. Eyeglasses (no cases or sunglasses) 13. Foam earplugs (cannot be wireless and must not be connected to any mechanism or device) 14. Menstrual products 15. Inhalers 16. Diabetes-related items and equipment (does not include food or drinks) 17. Eyedrops in single-use vials 18. One back support (without a cover) 19. One orthopedic cushion (without a cover) 20. One standard-size pillow (without a case) 21. One bookstand 22. One footrest 23. Splints, braces, casts, crutches, wheelchair 24. Hearing aids 25. TENS units 26. Disability-related items that have been approved through the testing accommodations petition process 27. Separate keyboard, mouse (wired or wireless), laptop riser/stand no higher than 4 inches and a solid color mouse pad with no writing on it. During the MBE sessions, the items listed above are allowed in the exam room, except pens, highlighters, back supports, orthopedic cushions, pillows, bookstands or footrests, and laptops or laptop accessories. If you need any of these items due to a disability, you must request them through the timely filing of a Testing Accommodations Petition. 3 Applicants who will be handwriting their exam answers, or who are required to handwrite in the event of a laptop/software malfunction, must bring their own standard blue or black ink ballpoint pens. Applicants must also bring their own pencils for the MBE portion of the exam (several sharpened pencils are recommended). Mechanical pencils are not permitted. Pencil sharpeners and separate erasers will not be allowed into the exam room. Please note that applicants cannot bring wallets, tissues, lip balm, cough drops/throat lozenges, gum, candy, or other food or drinks in the exam room. Water and tissues will be available nearby at the test centers.

Hello everyone,

This morning, the FAQ document for the July 2022 exam was removed and in its place shows the following.  It is the Clear Health Pass App and mask mandatory information… copied/pasted from the February 2022 exam.  Yup, including the dates (as in, January/February 2022 – see below).

This APPEARS to indicate that you will need to download the Clear Health Pass app and that masks are mandatory for July 2022.  But let’s wait until the dates are updated to see how official this is.

Link:  https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions/Examinations/California-Bar-Examination/July-2022-Bar-Exam-FAQs

July 2022 Bar Exam FAQs

Hello everyone!  Happy June!

Graduation season has already begun.  I’ve heard from students who got COVID during this time.  And graduation season will continue for elementary school, middle school, high school, and undergrad levels, and even some law schools will have graduations.  And mask wearing will be spotty at best.

We’ve had Memorial Day – mask wearing isn’t at an all-time high.

Father’s Day?  I don’t know how many mass celebrations will be happening then.

But then, of course… July 4 – bad news for COVID positivity rates.

So the big question for Cal Bar Exam applicants:  will applicants be required to wear masks on July 26-27?  Sure seems like it.

Why?

UCLA and Cal Poly SLO have already reinstituted mask mandates.

Alameda County (home to the Oakland Cal Bar Exam testing site) reinstituted an indoor mask mandate on Thursday, June 2.  Per the San Francisco Chronicle:

On Thursday, Alameda County broke ranks by once again implementing an indoor mask mandate “to limit the impact of increasing COVID-19 cases on hospitalizations.” The mandate, which takes effect June 3, applies to most indoor settings, save K-12 schools and the city of Berkeley, which sets its own health protocols. The state lifted its school mask mandate earlier this year.

Indoor mask mandate.  Not indoor mask mandate for events with more than 500 people.  Indoor mask mandate.

There’s more.  Note what the Los Angeles Times said on June 2:

With coronavirus-positive hospitalizations in Los Angeles County continuing to rise, officials said the nation’s most populous county could be poised to see a new universal indoor mask mandate later this month if the upward trends continue.

“Our weekly case rate and the rate of increase in hospital admissions are of concern,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. “If we continue on the current trajectory … we’re likely to move into the CDC high [COVID-19] community level within a few weeks towards the end of June, indicating increased stress on the healthcare system.”

L.A. County health officials have already said once the county enters the high COVID-19 community level, that will trigger a local requirement to wear masks in indoor public settings.

Also note that several counties with Cal Bar Exam sites are already in the high community level:

Nearly 1 in 6 Californians live in a county with a high COVID-19 community level. The affected counties are Santa Clara, Sonoma, Solano, Marin and Napa in the San Francisco Bay Area; Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado in the Sacramento Valley area; and Monterey, Mendocino, San Benito and Del Norte counties elsewhere in Northern California.

As you are aware, Santa Clara and Sacramento counties have Cal Bar Exam sites.  San Diego and Orange County are already in the middle community level.

The Cal Bar has not updated its FAQ document (originally issued April 14).

The current momentum of this crisis strongly suggests that at least one county with a Bar Exam site will require masks on exam day.  Things could change, of course.  But you don’t know that.  And I don’t either.

So what to do?  Simple.  Assume that masks are required on exam day.  Wear a mask, EVERY SINGLE DAY, SEVEN DAYS PER WEEK, for 3- to 3-1/2 hours every day.  EVERY DAY, until the Cal Bar guarantees that you won’t have to wear a mask on exam day.

So, if the Cal Bar says on July 15 that you don’t have to wear a mask on exam day, you can laugh while taking off your mask.  But if you hear on July 15, July 20, even July 25 that you have to wear a mask on exam day.  How will you prepare for that?  You can’t.  Unless you start wearing masks.  NOW.

You’ve been warned.

Applicants will find this to be of interest:

The overall pass rate was 33.9%.

The Percentile Table shows us some relevant info:

45% scored higher than 1340.

40% scored over 1355.

35% scored higher than 1382.

30% scored higher than 1400.

The overall pass line is 1390, and you need more than 1350 to get a re-read.

So… roughly 32.5% passed on the first read.  About 10% of the applicant pool got a second read, and the second read appears to have increased the pass rate by roughly 1.4%.

Hello everyone!

The Cal Bar posted results for the February 2022 exam at 6 pm tonight.  The pass rate was 33.9% overall.  This represents a drop of 8.9% from February 2021’s 37.2% pass rate.  How February 2021 impacts things given that this was the exam right after the COVID-delayed October 2020 exam and less time to prep for February 2021 is unclear.

Considering February 2016-February 2020 pass rates, 33.9 is relatively normal for a February exam because those pass rates were 35.7, 34.5, 27.3, 31.4, and 26.8.  Today’s 33.9% fits neatly within that context.

The MBE score nationwide is worth considering from this exam.  The Cal Bar reports that the national average on the MBE dropped to 132.6, the lowest score all-time.  That could explain the lower overall pass rate for this exam.  It could also explain the 61.8% attorney exam pass rate, highest in 19 years!

At least 12 other states reported lower pass rates for February 2022, according to the Cal Bar.  Repeater pass rate was 24.0%.

Full press release appears below.

If you find that you need tutoring, please reach out ASAP as I only have a few spaces remaining.

State Bar of California Releases Results of February 2022 Bar Exam

Today the State Bar announced that 1,056 people (33.9 percent of applicants) passed the February 2022 California General Bar Exam—the first in-person exam since February 2020. If those who passed satisfy all other requirements for admission, they will be eligible to be licensed by the State Bar to practice law in California.

“This is a day of pure joy for the 1,056 applicants who passed the General Bar Exam, and their families, as well as the 209 candidates who passed the Attorney’s Exam,” said Leah Wilson, State Bar Executive Director. “We congratulate all those who successfully passed the exam and look forward to welcoming them to California’s legal profession very soon.”

This year’s 33.9 percent pass rate on the General Bar Exam was a drop of nearly 8.9 percent from the February 2021 pass rate of 37.2 percent, but higher than the February 2020 pass rate of 26.8 percent.

Nationally, at least a dozen other states saw their February 2022 pass rates drop from the previous year, including

• New York (45 percent compared to 49 percent in 2021),
• Florida (44 percent compared to 47 percent in 2021),
• North Carolina (50 percent compared to 60 percent in 2021), and
• Pennsylvania (37 percent compared to 51 percent in 2021).

The national average score on the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE) dropped to 132.6—the lowest all-time score—matching the low reached on the 2020 February exam.

Attendance at California’s February 2022 General Bar Exam was slightly higher (3,113) than during the remotely administered February 2021 exam (3,098) but still low compared to past years, when 4,000 to 5,000 typically took the exam.

February 2022 General Bar Exam preliminary statistics

• Completed the General Bar Exam: 3,113 applicants
• First-time applicants: 1,090 (35.0 percent of total)
• Pass rate for first-time applicants: 53.0 percent overall
• Repeat applicants: 2,023 (64.9 percent of total)
• Pass rate for repeat applicants: 24.0 percent overall

Pass rate for the General Bar Exam (rounded to whole numbers) by law school type:

General information about the structure and content of the General Bar Exam.

The Attorneys’ Examination is open to those who have been admitted to the active practice of law and are in good standing for at least four years in another U.S. jurisdiction, as well as disciplined lawyers who are ordered to take the examination as a condition of reinstatement. Of the 338 attorneys who completed the Attorneys’ Examination, 209 (61.8 percent) passed.

A pass list from the exam will be published on the State Bar website on May 8, 2022, at 6:00 a.m. More detailed statistics about exam results will be available in four to six weeks on the State Bar website.

Successful applicants who satisfy all requirements for admission may take the Attorney’s Oath individually or participate in admissions ceremonies held by their law school or others.  Applicants are eligible to practice law in California after taking the Attorney’s Oath and submitting their oath card to the State Bar. Once again, the State Bar is enabling digital signing and electronic processing of oath cards.

Hello June 2022 Baby Bar applicants!  You’re on deck!

And, surprisingly, the Baby Bar will be delivered remotely.  As of March 1, the exam announcement and the laptop announcement are consistent and refer to a remotely proctored exam.  As per the laptop announcement:

The First-Year Law Students’ Exam will be remotely proctored, and you must take the exam on a laptop computer with a functional internal webcam and microphone.

The June 2022 Baby Bar Announcement can be found here:

https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions/Examinations/First-Year-Law-Students-Examination/June-2022-First-Year-Exam

The Laptop announcement can be found here:

https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions/Examinations/First-Year-Law-Students-Examination/Laptops-for-First-Year-Exam

The deadline schedule is here:

On exam day, the Baby Bar Exam Schedule will be (NOTE you have a 20 minute window to get passwords):

Exam Day Schedule (all times Pacific Time)

Need a tutor?  Email me and let’s talk!  I have some spaces available for Baby Bar Exam tutoring.  Need budget friendly resources?  Books are available and a 10% discount coupon is available!  Check out the books tab on the site.

Hello July 2022 Cal Bar Exam takers!  You’re on deck!

Your exam will be in person.  As per the Announcement:

The next California Bar Exam is scheduled for July 26–27, 2022. The exam will be administered in person. 

Link to the announcement is here:

https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions/Examinations/California-Bar-Examination/July-2022-California-Bar-Exam

No info yet on whether you’ll need to wear a mask to the exam.  I’m guessing the new FAQ will publish that info.

Registration deadlines:

Remember, these people ARE NOT JOKING.  If you don’t register for the exam by June 1, welcome to February 2023.

If you’re interested in tutoring, please contact me ASAP.  I have a few spaces left for the July exam.  Need some budget-friendly resources?  Books available with a discount coupon!  Go to the books page and get your books today.

Hello everyone,

The Cal Bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners had its monthly meeting on Friday/Saturday of last week and one of its closed session items was to talk about contingency planning for the Feb. 2022 exam.  While no announcements have been made about a final plan for in-person v. remote exam, the Cal Bar’s Twitter feed may have provided an answer.  At 12:46 pm today, the Cal Bar announced that it was hiring proctors.  I’m guessing that doesn’t happen if we have a remote exam.  We shall see.  Announcement below:

Hello everyone!

The Cal Bar’s Committee on Examiners has its monthly meeting this week, on Jan. 28-29.  One item of interest is in closed session:

II. EXAMINATIONS

A.

Action on Pending Testing Accommodation Appeals. (Christina Doell) [Closed pursuant to Bus. & Prof. Code §6026.7(c)(3), §6026.7(c)(4), and Gov. Code §11126(c)(1).]

B.

Discussion of Contingency Planning for February 2022 Bar Examination. (Audrey Ching) [Closed pursuant to Bus. & Prof. Code §6026.7(c)(2) and Gov. Code §11126(c)(1).]

Link to the agenda for the full Friday-Saturday meeting here:

https://board.calbar.ca.gov/Agenda.aspx?id=16575&t=0&s=false

I strongly recommend that the Committee continue the front-facing comments it’s provided to everyone throughout this process:  in person testing, Feb. 22-23 exam date.

Mercifully, it appears that the Omicron variant is retreating/plateauing/cresting.  The LA Times indicated as much in an article on January 19.  But in today’s LA Times, we have an even STRONGER indication of such a pattern in the location centers of Bar Exam testing.   As noted in today’s article:

The improvement is most pronounced in places like Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area, where health officials have voiced increased confidence in recent days that the coronavirus test positivity rate, as well as daily new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, have either stabilized or begun to convincingly decline.

“This downward trend is encouraging, and it signals that we’re likely to have passed the peak of Omicron transmission and are beginning to see a real decline in the number of newly infected individuals,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

Candidly, any positive comment from LA County Public Health Director Ferrer is GREAT news for the status quo argument of Feb. 22-23 exam testing.  If LA County had an overwhelming Omicron problem, she’d put up the red flag, and if LA County forces LA testing for the Cal Bar to go remote, then the whole state would.

More evidence from the article of a receding trend:

California’s Omicron surge appears to have peaked in the week of Jan. 10-16, when the state was recording about 122,000 new coronavirus cases a day. That figure has since dropped to 96,000 cases a day, according to state data released Tuesday that reflects cases reported through Monday.

Here’s the most compelling evidence we need:

Compared with their Omicron peaks, daily coronavirus case rates have dropped by 39% in L.A. County, 33% in Orange County, 25% in San Bernardino County and 21% in Ventura County, according to a Times analysis of state data released Tuesday.

Regionally, Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Greater Sacramento area have also observed declines of 25% to 28%.

“We are past the peak,” said Cody, the Santa Clara County health officer. “And we’re just beginning to see early signs that that our hospitals may be seeing a little bit of a reprieve.”

So let’s be clear:  from this article, LA County is down 39%, Bay Area is down 25%, and Sacramento is down 28%.  The article mentions San Diego, the fourth site, and says:

Yet the San Joaquin Valley and rural Northern California have yet to begin a persistent drop. In Southern California, San Diego and Riverside counties have also yet to observe the same.

No, San Diego hasn’t gone down 25-39%, but it hasn’t increased, either.  So if 3 sites are down 25-39%, and one is unchanged/has a much less drop, none of that is evidence that there’s going to be a massive flareup in four weeks.

My sincere hope is that the Cal Bar internalizes this data and decides this weekend that there’s nothing to see here, and no reason to go remote.  The consequences of going remote are severe:  candidates are rumored to need several weeks to find locations to take the test that aren’t at home (due to too many people/animals at home to take the test in a quiet, solitary setting or internet reliability is a problem), plus the NCBE extorted all jurisdictions by saying that due to the spat with Examsoft, MBEs will be available in “late March” (March 23 or 30, probably).  That means exam administration is delayed a month, that means grading gets pushed back, and that means results get pushed back to June, and that crimps the study schedules for those who fail the February exam.

Let’s NOT go there, Cal Bar and Cal Supreme Court.  The Omicron is receding.  Let’s mask up, be vaccinated or prove negative, and let’s get this exam in.

Finally, a note from our friends in Washington:  a recently published “Exam Health Safety Plan for COVID-19”:  in-person exam, while taking proper precautions.

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According to the ABA Journal, the 1st, 2d, 5th, 7th, and Federal Circuits are conducting oral arguments by Zoom or teleconference.

The ABA Journal also reports:

The Northern District of California said it would delay all criminal and civil jury trials through Jan. 26, impacting proceedings at its courthouses in San Francisco; Oakland, California; and San Jose, California.

The Central District of California announced that it would delay all civil and criminal trials for three weeks through Jan. 24.

“Given the increased rate of transmission of COVID-19 in the Central District of California due to the omicron variant, conducting jury trials would place court personnel, attorneys, parties and prospective jurors at undue risk,” the court’s statement said. “Accordingly, a temporary suspension of jury trials is necessary to protect public health and safety, as well as ensure the continuous performance of essential functions and operations of the court.”

The federal court in Connecticut announced Monday that it will delay trials set to begin before Feb. 1. The court’s order cited the risks of seating jurors close to each other and the “reduced ability to obtain an adequate spectrum of prospective jurors due to the public’s perceptions of the risks associated with jury service.”

Reuters reported Tuesday that an increasing number of federal courts are delaying trials, including in Washington, D.C., New Jersey and Maryland. State courts in Ohio, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland and Hawaii had also announced delays.

In some jurisdictions, trials are still going ahead. In New York, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore of the New York State Court of Appeals said in-person proceedings will continue, but the state courts will be “monitoring the metrics very closely, assessing the situation in each courthouse and staying ready to pivot quickly to make any and all appropriate adjustments necessary to respond to problem areas or new public health guidance.”