Information, Bar Results and Statistics – California Summer 2009

Pass List and Statistics

The Pass List for the Summer (July) 2009 California Bar Exam can be found here.  Complete, detailed statistics for summer California Bar Exams are not normally available until roughly the first of the year (at which time they will be available through a link that will be found at  this page).  However, the Bar Examiner's website shows that the overall pass rate on the Summer 2009 Bar Exam was 56.4%, significantly lower than the 61.7% passage rate on the Summer 2008 Bar Exam.

The passage rate on the Winter (February) 2009 California Bar Exam was only 33.5%, but the passage rate for the state’s winter exams is always considerably lower than the passage rate on summer exams even though there is no discernable difference in the difficulty of the questions asked and there is no indication that the graders are applying tougher standards.  Mr. Josephson can and does explain why this is the case – and why it may be advantageous to take one exam or the other – to those who seek his help.

What Was Different about the California Summer (July) 2009 Bar Exam?

The essay questions and Performance Tests asked on the Summer (July) 2009 California Bar Exam can be found by clicking here. If the Committee of Bar Examiners follows its customary practice, two "good" answers to each essay question and Performance Test will be available sometime around the first of the year and can be read or downloaded by clicking on the link that normally appears on this page of the State Bar's website.

The basic instructions for answering the essay questions, and the basic format of the questions themselves, have not changed in many years (click here to read the instructions).  Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the questions asked on the Summer 2009 exam revealed a subtle, yet discernable shift in emphasis that will affect the way California bar applicants need to prepare for the essay portion of the exam and may have a substantial impact on the manner in which the answers need to be written.  Mr. Josephson's flexible, one-on-one approach to bar preparation allows him to seamlessly adapt to these changes.

Answers Published by the California Committee of Bar Examiners

The Committee of Bar Examiners does not publish official "model answers" to either the traditional essay questions or the Performance Tests.  Instead, the Bar Examiners provide two "applicant" (or "student") answers to each question.  This is how the Bar Examiners describe those answers:

The answers received good grades and were written by applicants who passed the examination.  The answers were prepared by their authors, and were transcribed as submitted, except that minor corrections in spelling and punctuation were made for ease in reading.  The answers are reproduced here with the consent of their authors.

Although reviewing these applicant answers can obviously very useful to bar applicants, doing so is not without risk.  Mr. Josephson explains the pros and cons of utilizing these applicant answers (and other types of so-called "model answers," as a part of his tutoring services.


Links to the California Committee of Bar Examiners' Website

• Click here for more information about the California Bar Exam.



• Click here for more information about the California Attorneys' Exam.



• Click here for more information about the California First-Year Law Students' Examination (the "FYLSX" or the "California Baby Bar").



• Click here for more information about the Multistate Bar Examination (the "MBE").



• Click here for more information about the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (the "MPRE").