Texas Sees Decline in Bar Pass Rates

Summary: Like much of the rest of the country, Texas has also suffered a drop in its bar pass rates.

The bar results are out for the state of Texas, and, unfortunately, like many other states, its overall scores have dropped. According to LawCrossing, 1,629 candidates sat for the exam for the first time in July 2014, and 1,317 of those candidates passed the exam. This was a pass rate of 80.85 percent. This may sound like a great pass rate, it’s actually down from last year’s rate of 88.74 percent. In 2013, 1,561 of 1,759 first-time testers passed the exam. In fact, the 2014 scores are a 5-year low for Texas.

Florida’s bar exam rates dropped as well.

However, many schools’ graduates did exceptionally well on the test. Baylor University School of Law’s students excelled with a 91.57 percent rate, and the University of Texas School of Law scored a 90.08 percent pass rate. The University of Houston Center of Law came in third, with a 86.29 percent pass rate.

Here’s an article about lower bar pass rates across the country.

Unfortunately, all nine law schools in the state suffered a decline in their pass rates, which ranged from 2 percent to 17 percent. Eight schools experienced their lowest scores of the past five years. Thurgood Marshall School of Law suffered a 17-percent decline, whereas the University of Houston Law Center and the University of Texas declined just two percent.

The dean of a New York law school fought back when the National Conference of Bar Examiners claimed his students were “less able.”

Photo credit: lawredhat.law.uiowa.edu