California Baby Bar Exam Information

The Baby Bar is a 1-day, 3-hour multiple-choice examination consisting of 100 questions:

• 75 scored questions (equally weighted)
• 25 new pretested items (unscored; included for future exam development)

The exam is administered at Prometric test centers. Out-of-state applicants and others without nearby test sites may request remote testing; remote applicants have access to virtual scratch paper, while in-person applicants have access to physical scratch paper.

Subjects tested:

• Contracts — formation, enforceability, breaches, defenses, third-party rights
• Criminal Law — assault, battery, theft, embezzlement, kidnapping, homicide, and other core offenses
• Torts — negligence, intentional torts, strict liability

The Baby Bar tests general legal principles, not California-specific distinctions.

The Baby Bar is scored on an 800-point scale. A passing score of 560 (70%) is required.

Non-pretest questions are equally weighted. Raw scores are converted to scaled scores to ensure fairness across administrations.

Results for the June exam are typically released in mid-August. Results for the October exam are typically released in mid-December.

An applicant required to pass the First-Year Law Students’ Examination will not receive credit for any law study until they pass the exam.

An applicant who passes the exam within three consecutive administrations of first becoming eligible to take the exam will receive credit for all law study completed to the date of the administration of the exam passed.

An applicant who does not pass within the first three consecutive eligible administrations, but who subsequently passes, will receive credit for the first year of law study only.

The Baby Bar has historically been a challenging exam with overall pass rates around 20%.

• October 2025: 12.2% overall (13.8% first-time, 11% repeat)
• June 2022: 19.6% overall (23.8% first-time, 15.7% repeat)

First-time takers historically pass at a higher rate than repeat takers.

State Bar of California Committee of Bar Examiners / Office of Admissions:

180 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-1639 — Phone: (415) 538-2300

845 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017-2515 — Phone: (213) 765-1500

Website: https://www.calbar.ca.gov/admissions/examinations/first-year-law-students-examination