Last week the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) announced Next Gen Bar Exam updates. Here’s what you need to know.
The NCBE has extended the transition period for adopting the updated exam. The NCBE will continue to offer the uniform bar exam—the national component of the current bar—through February 2028. After that, the current bar exam will be retired and replaced with the Next Gen exam.
The NCBE will restore family law to the Next Gen exam, although it will not be incorporated until July 2028.
The Next Gen exam will make its debut in July 2026. To date, three states have announced that they will make the switch to the updated exam at that time: Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon. Two additional states (Wyoming and Connecticut) have announced their intention to transition to the new exam, although with longer timelines. Wyoming will adopt the updated test in July 2027 and Connecticut bar officials announced that the state will adopt the Next Gen, but have not released a date for implementation. Two states also announced that they would not adopt the Next Gen exam in July 2026, Florida and Pennsylvania.
The California State Bar recommended not adopting the Next Gen exam in favor of developing its own exam content. This recommendation now awaits approval by the Supreme Court of California.