Hello everyone,

The initial FAQ doc for the February 2023 Cal Bar Exam is located here.  Looks like no meaningful changes to the July 2022 doc, which only had one version of the doc (in the past the doc had multiple updates).  Check back periodically on the site with the FAQ document for latest updates if any.

Based on the docs on the website and the exam announcement, looks like an in-person exam.  Unless a serious, serious COVID outbreak occurs, I’d plan on an in person for February 2023.

Also, results for the February 2023 exam will publish on May 5, 6 pm.

February-2023-Bar-Exam-FAQs 10322

February-2023-Bar-Exam-Schedule

Hello everyone!

Cal Bar registration opened on October 1 for the February 2023 exam.  Relevant dates:

Timely filing is due by November 1.

$50 late fee runs from November 2 – November 30.

$250 late fee runs from December 1 – January 3.

The last day you can register to take the February 2023 Cal Bar Exam is January 3, 2023.

January 4… welcome to July 2023.

Accommodations petitions:  submit your petition as early as you can.  Deadline for petitions is the exam filing deadline, or January 3.  Filing close to January 3 could mean you won’t have time to appeal if you are denied.  Appeals are due by February 1, but that assumes you’ve received your initial decision by then.  File EARLY.

Mock Exam is available January 24 – February 17.  You MUST complete/upload the Mock Exam by February 17, or else you they won’t let you in the room.  January 31 is a great time to finish this requirement.

Hello everyone!

Whether you’re taking the Cal Bar or the UBE, I wanted to wish everyone good issue spotting, solid outlining, and analytical (and not conclusory!) analysis.  You can do it!

Arrive early.  Masks optional, but if you bring one, no writing on it.  Stay on time during the test.  Bring your admission ticket without writing on it.  NEVER USE YOUR CELL PHONE IN THE EXAM ROOM!  Good luck to everyone!

Steven

Hello y’all!

Friday before the Bar Exam, and today is all about the mock exam.  Today is the last day to get your mock exam done.  The first ability is availability!  They won’t let you in the room without it.  Triple-check that you’re in good shape.  Today’s the day!  The link to the mock exam is:  https://bar.examsoft.com/mock-exam/.  Remember the password is mock123.

Mask update:  The Cal Bar’s July 22 update indicates that you can bring a mask if you want.  It’s optional.  Final answer.  If you bring one, make sure it doesn’t have a valve.  I would recommend an N95 or KN95 (if you’re going to wear one, make sure you wear a good one).  And make sure there’s no writing on it.

One important update from the Cal Bar:

ExamSoft recently shared that new Windows laptops containing Intel 12th generation chipsets are not supported and may not be used to take the July 2022 bar exam.

Doublecheck your laptop!

Here’s the information from ExamSoft:

Hello everyone.  Happy July.  Just about two weeks to go until exam day!

This summer, the mask situation has evolved over time for the California Bar.  The April 14 FAQ indicated masks are optional.  COVID numbers have gotten worse over time, but hospitalizations and deaths numbers did not dramatically worsen.

Alameda County created reinstituted a mask mandate.  I’m shocked that the Cal Bar didn’t publicly react.  Mask mandate in one Cal Bar Exam site (the Oakland site is in Alameda County) would necessitate masks for every Cal Bar Exam site, unless the Cal Bar wants a class action lawsuit from a very litigious group (the entire Cal Bar applicant pool).  Publicly, they said nothing.  Remarkably, Alameda County gave 24 hours notice and rescinded its mask mandate a few weeks ago.  Crisis averted.

The other potential issue about a mask mandate is from LA County.  Public health officials indicated that the county would likely reach the high COVID tier, and that would result in a mask mandate.  That would trigger masks for Cal Bar Exam sites in LA, and again, that would necessitate masks for all bar takers.

But the date was a moving target.  First, it was mid-June, then late June, then early July, and around this time came the kicker:  the mask mandate wouldn’t immediately trigger.  Once LA County reached the high tier, it would have to stay there for 14 consecutive days for the mask mandate to trigger.

On July 8, the LA Times published an article titled, “With ultra-contagious BA.5 rising, how close is L.A. to an indoor COVID mask mandate?”  Buried in the lengthy article was this important assessment:

“Based on current trends, however, Ferrer estimated the L.A. County rate could surpass the high threshold as soon as next week.”

The only way that a mask mandate would occur for the Cal Bar would be ALL of the following:

1. LA County reaches the high tier Monday, 7/11.
2. LA County stays there 14 consecutive days.
3. On 7/25, the day before the Cal Bar Exam, LA County announces at 9 am that two consecutive weeks are met, and WHAM-O!, mask mandate.
4. The Cal Bar reacts at 10 am and announces masks are mandatory for the exam, and brings masks to all of its exam sites in case students don’t bring one.

Quite a needle for the Cal Bar to thread.  I don’t see it happening.

Officially, wait until Tuesday morning.  Check out latimes.com.  If you don’t read that LA County reaches the high tier on Monday, then you can take your mask off on exam day.

A student asked a great question:  fine, no masks on exam day, but should I be wearing a mask before then?  My recommendation is YES, if you go outside your house, for any reason, for any length of time, wear a mask.

You don’t want to get COVID just before the Cal Bar Exam!  Remember:  the first ability is availability!

Good luck to all as you finalize your preparations for the July 2022 Cal Bar Exam.

Hello friends.

Please note the following message from the NCBE regarding the July 2022 UBE exam, and regarding the MBE on the July 2022 Cal Bar Exam:

 JUN 24, 2022

NCBE Statement on SCOTUS Decisions

If you’re taking the Cal Bar, please know that the Cal Bar approved the questions for this exam in late April, even prior to the leak of the draft decision in Dobbs.  You could see an abortion issue in a Cal Bar Con Law essay.  Unlikely, but possible.  If you see this come up, mention that it was a fundamental right before June 24, and subject to rational basis review afterwards.  Maybe you get a bonus point as a result.

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.