The Iowa bar exam is the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE), given over two days on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of February and July. You need a combined scaled score of 266 to pass, and your application and $800 fee must be in by November 1 for the February exam or April 1 for the July exam.1Iowa Judicial Branch. Bar Examination Registration
When and Where the Next Exam Is Given
The July 2026 exam runs July 28–29, 2026, at the Holiday Inn Des Moines Airport Conference Center. Day one (Tuesday) covers the Multistate Essay Examination and two Multistate Performance Test tasks. Day two (Wednesday) is the 200-question Multistate Bar Examination.2Iowa Judicial Branch. Admission by Examination
The MEE tests legal principles through essay questions across several subjects. The MPT hands you a simulated case file and asks you to produce a practical work product, such as a memo or a brief, using only the materials in the file. The MBE is multiple choice and covers constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, evidence, real property, torts, and civil procedure.1Iowa Judicial Branch. Bar Examination Registration
What Score You Need to Pass
Iowa’s passing cutoff is a combined scaled score of 266. The three components do not count equally. The MBE is 50% of your total, the MEE 30%, and the MPT 20%. A strong multiple-choice performance will not rescue weak essays, and strong essays will not rescue a weak MBE.3National Conference of Bar Examiners. UBE Minimum Scores
One safety net exists for borderline results. If your combined scaled score falls between 260 and 265, attorney members of the board automatically re-read your MEE and MPT answers on an anonymous basis before results are released. A re-score of 266 or above becomes a pass; 265 or below stays a failure. No review is done for scores below 260, and none is done after results have been released.4Iowa Judicial Branch. Iowa Court Rules Chapter 31 – Admission to the Bar
Who Is Eligible to Sit for the Exam
Your Law Degree
Under Iowa Court Rule 31.8, you need an LL.B. or J.D. from a law school that was fully or provisionally approved by the American Bar Association when you graduated. Your law school’s dean confirms the degree by affidavit.5Iowa Legislature. Iowa Court Rules Chapter 31 – Admission to the Bar
Current law students can sit for the exam if they expect to graduate within 45 days of the first day of testing, with the dean’s affidavit stating that expectation. Iowa will not issue the license until the degree is actually conferred. If the degree does not come through within that 45-day window, your exam results are voided.5Iowa Legislature. Iowa Court Rules Chapter 31 – Admission to the Bar
The MPRE
You also need a passing score of at least 80 on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, a separate ethics test administered several times a year by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Your passing MPRE score must be on file with the Iowa Board of Law Examiners by the same deadline as your bar application: April 1 for the July exam, November 1 for the February exam.6Iowa Legislature. Iowa Court Rules Chapter 31 – Admission to the Bar
If you cannot meet that deadline, you have to petition for permission to post your score later. A petition to post the score before the bar exam goes to the board. A petition to post it after the exam has to be decided by the Iowa Supreme Court.6Iowa Legislature. Iowa Court Rules Chapter 31 – Admission to the Bar
Character and Fitness
Rule 31.9 requires the Board of Law Examiners to investigate every applicant’s character and fitness. The board has broad discretion and can refuse to let you sit, or refuse to recommend you for admission after you pass. How forthcoming you were with the board during the process is itself one of the factors.5Iowa Legislature. Iowa Court Rules Chapter 31 – Admission to the Bar
The questionnaire covers criminal history, financial responsibility (overdue debts, unpaid taxes, bankruptcy filings), academic discipline at every college and law school you attended, and civil cases where you were a named party. You’ll disclose traffic violations from the past ten years (parking tickets excluded) and any alcohol- or drug-related driving offense no matter how old. The questionnaire also asks whether you currently have a condition, including substance use or a mental health issue, that affects your competent practice of law; if treatment or a support program manages it, you can explain. Omissions tend to hurt applicants more than disclosures do.
If the board decides you shouldn’t be admitted, you get written notice and 10 days to request a hearing before an attorney member of the board, where you can appear with counsel.5Iowa Legislature. Iowa Court Rules Chapter 31 – Admission to the Bar
How to Apply
Deadlines are hard. For the July exam, your materials must be in by April 1. For the February exam, by November 1 of the preceding year. Late applications are not accepted, and no late fee buys you extra time.1Iowa Judicial Branch. Bar Examination Registration
The application fee is $800 and non-refundable.1Iowa Judicial Branch. Bar Examination Registration
You start at ncbex.org by creating an NCBE account, selecting Iowa as your jurisdiction, and completing the character and fitness application through that portal. The same NCBE account tracks you across jurisdictions, so you’ll use it again if you ever apply in another state. Along with the character questionnaire, you need the dean’s affidavit, fingerprint cards for state and federal background checks, and your passing MPRE score on file. Applications are filed with the Iowa Office of Professional Regulation, not the Clerk of the Supreme Court. ADA testing accommodation requests, with supporting documentation, are due on the same deadline as the application itself.1Iowa Judicial Branch. Bar Examination Registration
Results, Swearing In, and Retakes
Results come out roughly six weeks after the exam. Passing candidates’ names are posted on the Iowa Judicial Branch website. Those who did not pass see their candidate numbers (not names) posted, and individual result letters go out by mail. Admission becomes official at a formal ceremony where new attorneys recite the Iowa Lawyers Oath; the September 2025 ceremony was held at the Scottish Rite Consistory in Des Moines.
If you fail, you can sit for the next administration without special permission for your first two attempts. After a second failure, you must petition the board for permission to try again, and the board decides at its discretion. The $800 fee applies every time you reapply.
Transferring a UBE Score From Another State
If you already passed the UBE elsewhere with a 266 or higher, you can seek Iowa admission by score transfer instead of retaking the exam. The transfer application is $900.7Iowa Judicial Branch. Admission by Transferred UBE Score
Your UBE score has to have been earned within two years of the transfer application filing date, extended to up to five years if you’ve been actively practicing law for at least two of the three years immediately before you apply. The certified score from your original jurisdiction must reach the board within three months of filing. Transfer applicants still need the ABA-approved J.D. or LL.B., a passing MPRE score of at least 80 (no date restriction on when it was taken), and clearance through the same character and fitness investigation. If any jurisdiction has ever denied you admission or permission to sit on character and fitness grounds, you cannot use the transfer route in Iowa.7Iowa Judicial Branch. Admission by Transferred UBE Score
The 2027 Switch to the NextGen Bar Exam
Iowa will adopt the NextGen bar exam starting with the July 2027 administration.8Iowa Judicial Branch. Iowa Supreme Court to Adopt NextGen Bar Exam in 2027 Anyone sitting in February or July 2026 will take the current UBE format. A few jurisdictions are moving to NextGen in July 2026; Iowa is not one of them.9National Conference of Bar Examiners. NextGen UBE The NextGen format replaces the MBE/MEE/MPT structure with a mix of multiple-choice questions, integrated question sets, and performance tasks intended to reflect current practice in both litigation and transactional work.10National Conference of Bar Examiners. NextGen Bar Exam If you’re a 1L or 2L now, your bar prep materials will look different from what current applicants are using.