Format, Content, & Grading of the California Bar Exam

All data provided below are subject to change by a decision at any time by the California bar examiners.  When any changes are made, they will be posted on this site.

The California Bar Exam is a three-day exam -- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday -- with the essays and performance questions on Tuesday and Thursday and the multiple-choice Multistate Bar Exam on Wednesday.

First Day (Tuesday) morning session:  
Three hours  
Three California Essay Questions

First Day (Tuesday) afternoon session: 
Three hours 
One California Performance Test problem

Second Day (Wednesday) morning session: 
Three hours 
Multistate Bar Examination (MBE)
100 Multiple-Choice questions.

Second Day (Wednesday) afternoon session: 
Three hours
Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) 
100 Multiple-Choice questions.

California requires that you sit for the MBE as part of the California bar exam. California does NOT accept your score from an MBE taken in another jurisdiction.

For further details on the MBE, click here.

Third Day (Thursday) morning session:  
Three hours  
Three California Essay Questions

Third Day (Thursday) afternoon session: 
Three hours 
One California Performance Test problem


Subjects Tested on the California Bar Exam:

MBE Subjects
Constitutional Law
Contracts/Sales
Criminal Law/Procedure
Evidence
Real Property
Torts

California Essay Subjects
Civil Procedure
Corporations
Community Property
Professional Responsibility
Remedies (Equity)
Trusts 
Wills & Succession 
plus the six MBE subjects. 

All subjects on the California essay portion are generic, based on general principles of law, except for three subjects -- 

Community Property, 
Professional Responsibility, and 
Wills  
are based on California law.

Grading of the California Bar Exam:

Your score on the MBE accounts for 35% of your total score.  Your score on the essay questions and performance tests accounts for 65% of your total score. 

California generally releases the results of the Summer exam in about 16-18 weeks and the results of the Winter exam in about 12-14 weeks.