New York Bar Exam Passage Rate Sees Slump, as 1 Famous Test Taker Finds Out
October 5, 2022

Bar exam passage rates in New York dropped this year to one of the lowest levels in more than two decades, as an actor best known for his role in Sex and the City failed the exam. The overall pass rate was 55%, which was down by 10 percentage points from 2015 when 65% of all candidates passed the bar. Actor Andrew Runnells, best known as Elijah in the HBO series Sex and the City, failed the bar exam twice before passing on his third try with at least one wrong answer to each question on his test.
The Bar Exam Passage Rate isn’t going away
The bar ehttps://lawscribd.com/a-closer-look-at-california-bar-exam-results/xam is a rite of passage for future lawyers and judges. It is an exciting time for those who are about to take the test, but it can also be an anxious time. In New York State this past year, over one-third of people who took the exam failed it on their first attempt. As a result, more than 1 in 10 (11%) of all people who have taken the exam in New England since 1972 have failed it at least once. But despite these statistics, the bar exam isn’t going away any time soon.
The New York Bar Exam Passage Rate is typically known to be one of if not the hardest in terms of first-time pass rates. For example, only 25% of people who took it in July 2018 passed on their first attempt. This was far below national averages for that month’s exams. It appears that those statistics were no different for one famous person taking it for a second time – Michael Jordan.
Just days before his big day, he posted a message to his Instagram account saying ‘I’m about to take my Bar Exam Passage Rate…again.’ Despite failing two previous attempts at passing and missing both times by just three questions, he stuck with it again and passed on his third attempt!
The state wants to make the test harder
The New York bar exam passage rate has seen a recent slump, from 86.7 percent in July of last year to 78.9 percent in July of this year. Governor Cuomo has stated that the state wants to make the test more difficult and require more preparation time for the state’s law students.
The governor hopes that this will result in an increase in passing rates to 90 percent or higher – which is consistent with other states’ passage rates on their bar exams. The increased rigor is expected to be phased in over the next three years and will include changes such as requiring two full-length essay questions instead of one, an increased focus on practical skills tests, and instituting a uniform pass score.
It is a lot more difficult than I expected
The Bar Exam Passage Rate is one of the hardest tests in the country, and many law school graduates fear it like their worst nightmare. But for Cynthia Bryant-Allen — who has a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree from Harvard University — it was just that. The New York bar exam is notoriously difficult; only 69 percent of test takers passed on July’s first try this year, down from 76 percent last year.
Bryant-Allen isn’t alone in feeling discouraged about her prospects either; she told the Wall Street Journal she had been studying for the exam for eight months. I’m beginning to think I may have made some mistakes along the way.
Why do we even have it?
The New York Bar Exam Passage Rate is among the toughest in the country and it’s not easy to pass. The passage rate for first-time takers has dropped by nearly 10% over the last decade, according to a recent report by Professor David Pardo at Emory University. Passing on your first try is difficult, said Professor Pardo. We’re seeing lower rates of passage.
Experts said that one reason for the decline could be because of how tough law school has become. Several law schools are lowering their admission standards to lure more students and generate more revenue. It’s too hard to get into law school now, said Professor Pardo.
Should we continue to have it?
The purpose of the Bar Exam Passage Rate is to test a person’s knowledge of the law and their ability to apply the law to specific fact patterns. Anyone who wants to practice law in New York must pass the exam. The bar exam consists of three sections: one essay section, and two multiple-choice sections covering legal analysis and factual scenarios respectively. The essay section is graded by an independent committee of New Yorkers; grades for this section are not released publicly.
A recent report found that Bar Exam Passage Rates for the July 2018 sitting of the New York State bar examination (which was taken by 1,112 people) were at an all-time low since 1983.