Oregon Bar Exam
Oregon Bar Examiners
Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners
16037 SW Upper Boones Ferry Rd.
Tigard, OR 97224
(503) 620-0222
Bar Exam Format
The Oregon bar exam has the written portions on Tuesday and the multiple choice portion on Wednesday.
Day 1
On the first day, the bar examiners administer 6, 30-minute MEE essay questions in the 3-hour morning session and 2, 90-minute MPT questions in the 3-hour afternoon session.
Day 2
On the second day, the bar examiners administer 100 MBE questions in the 3-hour morning session, and 100 more in the 3-hour afternoon session.
Reciprocity
Subject to certain requirements, Oregon permits admission on motion of an attorney: 1) from a jurisdiction having reciprocity; and 2) who has practiced law for five of the past seven years. Oregon has reciprocity based on a UBE score of 274 attained in another UBE jurisdiction in or after July, 2017, within the previous 3 years.
Subjects/Topics
The Oregon Uniform Bar Exam (“UBE”) essay questions may test the subjects of:
- Agency;
- Conflict of Laws (will not be the main subject of an essay question);
- Constitutional Law;
- Contracts;
- Corporations;
- Criminal Law and Procedure;
- Decedents’ Estates;
- Evidence Law;
- Family Law;
- Federal Civil Procedure;
- Limited Liability Companies;
- Partnerships;
- Real Property;
- Sales (U.C.C. Article 2);
- Secured Transactions (U.C.C. Article 9);
- Torts; and
- Trusts and Future Interests.
Bar Exam Dates
The Oregon bar exam is held in February and July. The exam is usually on the last Wednesday and prior Tuesday of each month.
2024
- February 27-28, 2024
- July 30-31, 2024
Exam Results
Usually, the bar examiners release the Oregon bar exam results about six weeks after the exam. The bar examiners will send each exam taker a letter informing them whether they passed or failed the exam. The bar examiners will post a list of the exam passers on their website.
Scoring/Grading
A passing score on the Oregon UBE is 274 on a 400-point scale. The Multistate Essay Exam (“MEE”) is weighted 30%, the Multistate Performance Test (“MPT”) is weighted 20%, and the Multistate Bar Exam (“MBE”) is weighted 50%. Traditionally, prior to releasing exam results, the Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners automatically reviews and regrades the top 15% of the unsuccessful taker’s essay answers.
Pass Rate/Stats
The traditional Oregon bar exam pass rates commonly range from 60% to 75% for total takers, 71% to 82% for the first-time takers, and 23% to 68% for the repeat takers.