The February 2020 Cal Bar Exam pass rate was 26.8% for General Bar Exam applicants and 39.1% for the Attorneys’ Exam.

According to the General Bar Exam Pass Rate Summary, the 26.8% result is the lowest pass rate in at least 69 years. The document reports back to the Fall 1951 exam, and today’s result is the lowest pass rate reported. The only other exams with a pass rate lower than 30% was February 2018 (27.3%), Spring 1986 (28.1%), Spring 1984 (29.5%), and Spring 1983 (27.7%).

For the MBE, the Cal Bar’s February 2020 Exam press release notes that “the mean scaled Multistate Bar Examination score on the February 2020 bar exam in California was 1357, down from 1370 last year. The national mean score was 1326, down from the previous year’s mean of 1328 and an all-time low.”

For the Attorneys’ Exam, the 39.1% for February 2020 appears to be the lowest pass rate for a February exam in the history of the Attorneys’ Exam. For a February exam, the only other pass rate lower than 40% was February 2008 (39.7%). There are several July exams that are lower than 40%, but again, for a February exam, this was the lowest recorded result.