By Halie Turigliatti

At its January 31, 2020 meeting, the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) voted to receive and file its psychometric consultant’s Technical Report on the October 2019 First-Year Law Students’ Examination. The report includes detailed data about the test’s scoring processes and summarizes a range of statistics with regard to exam performance. The First-Year Law Students’ exam, also known as the “baby bar,” is a one-day test given in June and October to law students completing their first year of law study who do not attend a law school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), or the California State Bar. This includes students in a Juris Doctor degree program at a State Bar-unaccredited registered law school and those who are participating in a nontraditional Law Office Study Program. The exam is comprised of two parts: four essays and 100 multiple choice questions, and covers Contracts, Criminal Law, and Torts.

According to the technical report, 65 out of the total 294 test-takers passed the October 2019 administration of the exam—a 22% pass rate.