Texas Bar Exam

Texas Bar Examiners

Texas Board of Law Examiners
205 W. 14th St., #500
P.O. Box 13486
Austin, TX 78711-3486
(512) 463-1621

Bar Exam Format

Texas administers the Uniform Bar Exam (“UBE”). The exam includes the MPT, the MEE, and the MBE.

Day 1

Day one if the Texas bar exam requires answering two MPT questions in the three-hour morning session and six MEE questions in the three-hour afternoon session.

Day 2

Day two of the exam requires answering 100 MBE questions in the 3-hour morning session and 100 more MBE questions in the 3-hour afternoon session.

Reciprocity

If you are an attorney from the United States (“U.S.”), then you may qualify for admission without examination when you fulfill all of the requirements, including that:

  • You have not failed the Texas Bar Exam;
  • You have a Juris Doctor degree from an approved law school;
  • You have been engaged in the lawful practice of law in the U.S. jurisdiction for five of the past seven years; and
  • You have fulfilled the general eligibility requirements for admission to the Texas Bar.

Subjects/Topics

The Texas essay questions can examine these subjects:

  • Bankruptcy (a cross-over topic that essay questions in other subjects may test);
  • Business Associations (including Agency, Corporations, Limited Liability Companies, Professional Associations, and Partnerships);
  • Consumer Law consisting of: Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Texas statutes that tie-in to it, Texas Debt Collection Practices Act and Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Insurance Law;
  • Family Law;
  • Real Property (including Oil and Gas Law);
  • Taxation (a cross-over topic that essay question in other subjects may test);
  • Trusts and Guardianship;
  • Uniform Commercial Code (including Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions); and
  • Wills and Administration.

The Texas Procedure and Evidence (“P&E”) questions test the subjects of (1) Federal and Texas Criminal Procedure and Evidence and (2) Texas Civil Procedure and Evidence (including jurisdiction).

Bar Exam Dates

The Texas 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

Typically, the Texas law examiners release the February Texas bar exam results in the first week of May, and the July exam results in the first week of November.  The Texas law examiners will mail results letters providing grades, post online a list of who passed the exam, and release results over the telephone.

Scoring/Grading

To pass the Texas bar exam, you have to score 675 of 1,000 points based on your combined scaled scores from the:

  • Multistate Bar Exam (“MBE”),
  • Texas essay questions,
  • P&E questions,and
  • Multistate Performance Test (“MPT”).

The Texas law examiners weigh the combined scaled scores of the MBE at 40% and the written exam at 60%, which consists of the essay questions at 40%, the P&E questions at 10%, and the MPT at 10%.

Pass Rate/Stats

While each Texas bar exam pass rates can vary, some of those exams’ pass rates range:

  • for first-time takers, between 75% and 88%;
  • for repeat takers, between 39% and 64%; and
  • for total takers, between 65% and 83%.