Alaska Bar Exam: Requirements, Fees, Scoring, and UBE Transfers

The Alaska bar exam is the Uniform Bar Examination, administered twice a year, in February and July, at testing sites in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau. You need a combined scaled score of 270 to pass, and you must clear a character and fitness review before being sworn in.¹ Applications are due December 1 for the February sitting and May 1 for July, and the first-time application fee is $876.²

Who Can Sit for the Exam

Alaska Bar Rule 2 sets the baseline: a juris doctor degree from an ABA-accredited law school. Applicants who completed a law office study program under a qualified attorney’s supervision can qualify under Bar Rule 2, Section 3, but that path is uncommon and carries its own documentation requirements.¹

Every applicant goes through a character and fitness evaluation. You answer every question on the application completely, with names, dates, and supporting documents where requested. If you are licensed in another state, you need a certificate of good standing and a discipline history report from each bar, both issued within the prior three months.¹ Alaska law also requires fingerprinting and a Social Security number; the prints go to the Department of Public Safety for state and national criminal history checks.³

A passing Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination score is a separate prerequisite. Alaska requires a scaled MPRE score of at least 80, taken no more than eight years before you apply.⁴

What’s on the Exam

The UBE is a two-day test with three components. Day one is written: six Multistate Essay Examination questions in the morning, two Multistate Performance Test tasks in the afternoon. Day two is the Multistate Bar Examination, 200 multiple-choice questions.¹

Multistate Bar Examination

The MBE’s 200 questions cover seven subject areas: civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts (including UCC Article 2), criminal law and procedure, evidence, real property, and torts. The day splits into two three-hour sessions of 100 questions each. Subjects are mixed randomly rather than grouped, so you shift between a Fourth Amendment question and a negligence hypothetical without warning.

Multistate Essay Examination

The MEE is six 30-minute essays drawn from a wider pool than the MBE covers. Beyond the MBE topics, essays can test business associations, conflict of laws, family law, secured transactions, and trusts and estates. Each prompt gives a fact pattern and asks you to identify the issues, state the rules, and apply them. Graders want organized analysis, not everything you remember about a subject.

Multistate Performance Test

The MPT is the practical component. You receive a case file and a library of statutes and cases, then draft a document a real lawyer would produce: a memo, a brief, a client letter, or a contract clause. Each task runs 90 minutes. No outside legal knowledge is required because everything you need is in the materials.

Deadlines, Fees, and Documents

Applications run through the Alaska Bar Association’s online admissions portal. Every supporting document must arrive before the Bar will process your file.⁵ For 2026:

February 2026 exam: application due December 1, 2025
July 2026 exam: application due May 1, 2026
First-time applicant fee: $876 (includes a 3% transaction fee)
Repeater fee: $600
Laptop registration fee: $129

Alaska does not offer a late filing option. The NCBE lists no late deadline for the state, so missing the cutoff means waiting for the next cycle.⁶

Supporting materials you need to gather:

Official undergraduate and law school transcripts sent directly to the Bar Association
Fingerprint cards for the state and federal background check
MPRE score report showing a scaled score of 80 or higher, taken within the past eight years
Character references who can speak to your professional reputation and moral character
A copy of an IRS Form I-9, government-issued ID, or driver’s license (required as of October 1, 2025)

The character and fitness investigation takes at least three to four months, so filing early gives you buffer if the review turns up anything that needs explanation. The July 2026 exam is scheduled for July 28 and 29.² If you want to type your essay and MPT answers, you register separately to use a laptop; the fee is $129 and the computer runs secure exam software that locks down other functions during the test.

Passing Score and Results

You need a total combined scaled score of 270 or higher to pass. The Alaska Supreme Court lowered this threshold from 280 to 270 in February 2023 through Supreme Court Order 2002.⁷ The score combines MBE, MEE, and MPT performance into one number using NCBE’s standard scaling formula.

Results come out roughly 12 to 13 weeks after the exam. February sitters can expect results in early May; July sitters, late October. The Bar Association publishes a list of successful examinees on its website and sends formal letters to each person. If you don’t pass, you receive a performance breakdown to help target weak areas on a retake. Alaska places no limit on how many times you can retake the exam. The repeater application fee is $600, and each retake requires a new application by the standard deadline.

Transferring a UBE Score In or Out

If you already took the UBE in another state and scored 270 or higher, you can apply for admission to the Alaska Bar by transferring that score, without sitting again. The score must have been earned within five years of the date you apply.⁷

The reverse works too. If you pass in Alaska with a score above another UBE state’s minimum, you can apply to transfer your score to that state within its own transfer window. You still need to meet Alaska’s separate requirements for character and fitness, the MPRE, and any jurisdiction-specific admission steps wherever you transfer.

Admission on Motion for Experienced Attorneys

Attorneys already licensed and practicing in another state can seek Alaska admission without taking the bar exam at all. Admission on motion requires that you actively practiced law for at least three of the five years immediately before applying, logging at least 750 hours per year during those three years.⁸

To prove practice history, you need at least three notarized affidavits from employers, clients, colleagues, or judges whose statements together verify the required hours. You also need a law school graduation certificate on school letterhead, a certificate of good standing from every bar where you hold a license, and a discipline history from each. The application fee is $1,545, which includes the 3% transaction fee. An MPRE score of 80 or higher, taken within the past eight years, is required. The character and fitness investigation takes at least three to four months.⁸

After You Pass

Passing the exam doesn’t automatically make you a licensed attorney. You still need to be sworn in at a formal ceremony scheduled by the Bar Association after results are released. At the ceremony, new attorneys take an oath to uphold the laws of Alaska and the U.S. Constitution.

Before or shortly after the ceremony, you pay your initial bar dues. Active membership dues are $660 per year, with the option to split the payment into two installments: $350 (including a $25 service fee) and $335 due by July 1.⁹

Alaska requires every active bar member to complete 12 hours of continuing legal education each calendar year, with at least three of those hours in legal ethics. You can carry forward up to 12 excess credits from the previous year. All credits must be completed by December 31, and the reporting deadline is February 1 of the following year. These requirements took effect under Supreme Court Order 2016 on January 1, 2025.¹⁰ Falling behind on CLE credits can result in suspension of your license.

1
Alaska Bar Association. Admission by Bar Examination
2
Alaska Bar Association. Bar Exam Dates, Deadlines, Fees, and Locations
3
Justia Law. Alaska Statutes Title 8 – 08.08.137 Fingerprints; Social Security Number
4
Alaska Bar Association. Additional Admissions Requirements
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Alaska Bar Association. Alaska Bar Association Admissions Home
6
National Conference of Bar Examiners. Alaska Bar Examination Information
7
Alaska Bar Association. Alaska Bar Exam Minimum Passing Score Lowered to 270
8
Alaska Bar Association. Admission on Motion
9
Alaska Bar Association. 2026 Active Bar Dues
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Alaska Court System. Alaska Rules of Court – Alaska Bar Rules