Bar Exam pass rate rises to 3-year high -- but Kim Kardashian falls short

Kim Kardashian failed the California Bar Exam.

But more than half of the candidates who sat for the July 2025 exam passed, the State Bar announced Friday. It was the highest summer pass rate in three years.

The test also marked California's return to the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) for the multiple-choice section. In February, the bar rolled out a California-specific test with disastrous results. Test takers complained about poorly written questions and dropped connections from the remote proctoring company.

In response, the California Supreme Court ordered the bar to return to the MBE. The February exam also prompted a major shakeup at the bar. Executive Director Leah Wilson announced in May that she was stepping down. Laura Enderton-Speed, an adjunct professor at McGeorge School of Law who has taught strategies for passing the bar, took over the job on Nov. 3.

"The State Bar commends all those who passed the July 2025 bar exam," Enderton-Speed said in a news release. "This achievement is the result of your tremendous effort, determination, and perseverance, marking a significant step forward in your professional journey."

According to the agency, 54.8% of those who took the General Bar Examination earned passing scores. That was up from 53.8% on the July 2024 test and 51.5% a year before that.

Kardashian was not one of them. The longtime reality star, who made headlines in 2021 for passing the First-Year Law Students' Examination, wrote on Instagram on Saturday that she was "so close" to having passed.

The mean adjusted scaled MBE score for California test takers was 1,405, compared with a national mean of 1,424. As with previous tests, first-time takers and graduates of American Bar Association-accredited schools passed at far higher rates than repeat takers and those from California-accredited schools.

Of the 7,362 applicants who completed the exam, nearly 74% were first-time takers, with a 69.7% pass rate. Repeat test takers had a pass rate of 12.4%, a sharp decline from previous years.

These numbers may have been influenced by the February results. After a series of scoring adjustments to compensate for problems with that exam, nearly 56% of people passed--the highest February pass rate since 1965. That may have taken some repeat takers out of the July pool and contributed to the higher overall pass rate. The percentage of repeat test takers dropped to 26%, compared with 33% one year earlier, when 23.5% of repeaters passed.