What the NextGen bar exam is
The NextGen UBE replaces the current Uniform Bar Exam. It is 9 hours over a day and a half (down from 12 hours over two days), fully computer-based on your own laptop, and tests seven foundational lawyering skills, including legal research, legal writing, issue spotting, client counseling, and negotiation. Some questions provide the legal resources, statutes, or rules, the way real practice works, instead of demanding pure memorization.
The rollout waves
- July 2026 (10 jurisdictions): Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington.
- July 2027 (13): Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming.
- February 2028 (4): Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Montana.
- July 2028 (24): Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin.
- Date TBD: Mississippi. No adoption announced: Nevada, Arkansas, Louisiana, Puerto Rico (custom exams).
What changes on test day
Tested subjects drop from 14 to 8: Civil Procedure, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Evidence, Real Property, Torts, and Business Associations (Family Law joins in July 2028). Expect integrated question sets mixing multiple-choice with short answers, longer performance tasks, and a select-two multiple-choice format with no partial credit. Study priorities are not interchangeable with legacy UBE prep.
Score portability
Most adopting jurisdictions keep UBE-style score portability, but it is not automatic: some accept transferred NextGen scores before their own first administration (Ohio, Utah, West Virginia, South Dakota, Texas), while others, like Florida and New York, will not accept a transferred score from any administration before their own July 2028 adoption.
Studying constitutional law for the bar? Browse landmark Supreme Court cases, from Marbury to 2023.
Adoption dates can change. Always verify your jurisdiction's first NextGen administration directly with its board of bar examiners before building a study calendar.