The State Bar of California has issued a release announcing that its Board of Trustees has approved both the software vendor and proposed testing locations for the in-person July 2025 California Bar Exam. This decision forms part of the State Bar’s broader efforts to enhance the exam experience and address concerns raised by candidates who encountered difficulties during the February 2025 sitting.
The Board approved an agreement with ExamSoft to provide the examination software, pending final authorization by the Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) at its April 8 meeting. Proposed exam sites include cities across California, such as Anaheim, Oakland, Pasadena, San Diego, and San Francisco. The Board also heard public feedback from February test takers and acknowledged that their experiences had fallen short of expectations. In response, it postponed a decision on whether to expand the Provisional Licensure Program and committed to identifying fair remedies for affected candidates.
The Board will convene a special meeting to further discuss proposed remedial measures once the grading and score analysis for the February exam is complete. At the CBE’s April 18 meeting, psychometrician Dr. Chad Buckendahl is expected to present initial grading outcomes and scoring recommendations for both the November experimental group and those impacted in February.
In addition, the Board received updates on the development and performance of the bar exam’s multiple-choice questions. These were reviewed for content quality and fairness by panels of lawyers and psychometricians, with post-exam analysis confirming strong statistical reliability. The Board also revisited reforms initiated by the 2017 Governance in the Public Interest Task Force, which clarified the roles of State Bar subentities and shifted the CBE’s focus towards policy and oversight.