The California State Bar has launched an investigation of its problem-plagued February bar exam after the state Supreme Court expressed concern about “troubling reports of technical failures, delays and other irregularities” with the computer-based test.
In a March 4 statement, the state’s high court apologized to exam-takers for the anxiety and frustration that many experienced as a result of the technical issues. The court asked the State Bar to work with vendor Meazure Learning to produce a detailed report on the problems the applicants endured in an expedited manner.
“This information is crucial in informing how the court will provide appropriate remedies for affected applicants who deserved and expected better,” the court said in its statement. “In the interim, the court directs the State Bar to plan on administering the July 2025 California Bar Examination in the traditional in-person format.”
During the State Bar’s March 5 meeting, nearly 90 speakers told the Board of Directors about issues they faced either taking the exam remotely or at in-person testing centers. Many of the exam-takers urged the State Bar to immediately remedy the problems.
The board also heard a status report about the February exam and the Meazure Learning platform, which drew about 4,100 exam participants.
“Preliminary data indicates a disconnect between raw completions (content submitted in each section) – which were in the range of 98% for both written and multiple-choice portions of the exam – and what has been reported to the State Bar about test takers’ challenging experiences,” the Bar said in a news release.
Law school deans have voiced satisfaction that the next scheduled exam would be using the traditional in-person format.
“I applaud the State Bar's recommendation to return to fully in-person testing for the July 2025 bar exam,” Paul Caron, the dean of the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, said in a statement emailed to the Southern California Record. “I hope they will continue with in-person testing in 2026 and beyond.”
The State Bar’s board chairman, Brandon Stallings, expressed empathy for those who encountered problems taking last month’s bar exam.
“We understand the anger and sense of urgency commenters expressed,” Stallings said in a prepared statement. “At the same time, deciding on appropriate remediation and accountability measures requires that we take the time and do the work to understand what happened and why. That is why we are directing the hire of an independent investigator.”
The State Bar also reviewed input that it received during a November 2024 bar exam that tested the new exam’s platform and multiple-choice components. That exam seemed to draw fewer complaints than the February exam, with 6% of the exam-takers reporting that they failed to finish the exam as a result of technical glitches.
“Surveys showed a generally positive experience,” the State Bar reported. “Over 80% of survey participants expressed satisfaction with the vendor; 88% expressed satisfaction with their proctors and 72% indicated they were somewhat or very satisfied with the computer-based exam.”
But some issues that mirrored problems in the February exam were reported, including disconnections, disruptions and problems with proctors. The State Bar has also offered 85 test takers whose access to the February exam was disrupted the chance to retake the exam this week.