State Bar gears up for a large number of test-takers who need a lower score to pass

Gearing up for its first online bar exam, the Committee of State Bar Examiners voted Friday to add extra graders to prepare for what could be an especially large number of applicants taking the October test.

Meanwhile, a resolution introduced in the Legislature last week calls upon the state Supreme Court to retroactively apply the newly-lowered cut score of 1,390 to exam takers for the past five years. The resolution criticizes the court for deciding earlier this month to only apply the lowered score prospectively.

"California's historically high passing score has created an artificial barrier to entry into the legal profession that has disproportionately harmed law school graduates of color and harmed low- and middle-income Californians seeking access to justice," the resolution reads. HR 103 is authored by Assemblymember Mark Stone, D-Santa Cruz; with co-authors David Chiu, D-San Francisco; Cristina Garcia, D-Los Angeles; and Ash Kalra, D-San Jose.

The State Bar, meanwhile, is preparing for its first online exam and more than 12,000 applicants have applied to take it.

Audrey Ching, the bar's assistant director of admissions, said some applicants may drop out but told the committee. "People are not withdrawing at a high rate."

The committee's chair, Robert S. Brody -- an administrative law judge with the state's Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board -- took note of the predicted large numbers, asking if last summer's bar exam had about 9,000 applicants taking the test. Ching confirmed that.

According to State Bar records, 7,764 applicants completed the exam in July 2019. In February, 4,205 applicants finished the exam.

"There are a larger number of applicants with the new, lower score" needed to pass, Brody said.

As a result of the increase in applicants taking the exam in October, and the first-time online format, the committee approved the hiring of additional test graders, up to four per grading team. Because the cut rate is lower, the committee also reduced the score required for a regrade. The committee also reaffirmed an April decision to eliminate Phase III grading to resolve scoring discrepancies to speed up the time it takes to grade the exams.

The bar exam, scheduled for July, was postponed until October and moved online due to the COVID-19 virus.

But the decision to lower the cut score from 1,440 to 1,390 stirred anger among some longtime critics of the higher score. Stone's resolution points out that, over the past decade, an extra 3,741 people would have passed the exam under the new rules. It adds bar exam takers since 2009 who failed but scored 1,390 or higher "meet California's standard for minimum competency and exceed that standard for most states in the nation."