Oregon Bar Exam: NextGen Format, Passing Score, and Deadlines

The Oregon bar exam is shifting to the NextGen Uniform Bar Examination beginning with the July 2026 administration, and the Oregon Supreme Court has set the passing score at 615 on the new 500-to-750 scale.¹ The February 2026 exam on February 24–25 was the last Oregon sitting under the old UBE format; the July 2026 exam on July 28–29 is the first NextGen administration.² The Oregon Board of Bar Examiners, appointed by the Supreme Court, runs admissions and the character investigation.³

What the NextGen Exam Looks Like

The NextGen UBE runs a day and a half across two calendar days. Day one has two three-hour sessions; day two has one three-hour session.⁴ The old MBE, MEE, and MPT structure is gone. In its place are three question types:

Multiple-choice questions, worth 49% of your score. They test foundational law but in a more practice-oriented way than the old 200-question MBE.
Integrated question sets, worth 21%. You work through a set of materials and answer questions that build on each other.
Performance tasks, worth 30%. These simulate real lawyering work. Statutes, regulations, and case law are supplied, so you don’t memorize law for these.

Eight core subjects are tested: business associations, civil procedure, constitutional law, contract law, criminal law, evidence, real property, and torts.⁵ Family law and trusts and estates appear on every exam from July 2026 through February 2028, but only as context for testing lawyering skills; you won’t need deep substantive knowledge in those areas because the necessary resources are provided.

The exam also tests skills directly: legal research, legal writing, issue spotting, investigation and evaluation, client counseling, and negotiation.⁵ Memorizing black-letter law without practicing its application to realistic client scenarios is a harder path on this exam than on the last one.

The Passing Score

NextGen scores fall on a 500-to-750 scale, replacing the old 0-to-400 system.⁶ Oregon set its minimum passing scaled score at 615 in February 2026, using NCBE guidance that mapped prior passing scores to the new scale.¹

NCBE scores the multiple-choice questions centrally. Oregon-appointed graders score the written portions using standardized NCBE rubrics. NCBE then calculates final scores and reports them to you through Oregon’s admissions portal.⁶ Under the old UBE, results took roughly ten to twelve weeks. The timeline for July 2026 has not been confirmed.

Who Can Sit for the Exam

Under Rule 3.1 of Oregon’s Rules for Admission, you must be at least 18 and meet one of the education pathways.⁷ The standard route is a JD or LLB from an ABA-accredited law school. Two other routes exist with added conditions:

Graduates of non-ABA U.S. law schools must be admitted to practice in another U.S. jurisdiction with substantially equivalent admission requirements and must have actively practiced for at least three of the five years before taking the Oregon exam.
Foreign law school graduates must show that their school’s admission standards are substantially equivalent to Oregon’s, that they are admitted to practice in a common-law jurisdiction or have passed a U.S. bar exam, and that their legal education is equivalent to an ABA-accredited program. The Board may require a commercial credential evaluation at your expense.

Current students at ABA-accredited schools can sit for the exam if they expect to graduate within 120 days and have completed substantially all graduation requirements.⁷ Those students cannot be taking more than two semester hours of coursework (other than bar prep) during the month before the exam and the exam month itself.

Character and Fitness

Every applicant goes through a character and fitness investigation. The Board contacts employers and references, reviews your background, and evaluates honesty and reliability.³ Plan on several months. Disclose everything, including academic discipline, past legal issues, and minor incidents you think are irrelevant. Something surfacing later that you didn’t disclose causes more trouble than the underlying incident.

The MPRE

You also need a scaled score of at least 85 on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, a separate ethics test administered by NCBE.⁸ The MPRE runs three times a year and can be taken before or after the bar exam, but you need a passing score before Oregon will admit you.

Deadlines and Fees for July 2026

Key dates for the July 2026 exam:

Timely filing deadline: April 15, 2026
Late filing deadline: May 15, 2026
ADA accommodation requests: May 15, 2026 (later requests are considered, but resources are not guaranteed)

Applications go through the Oregon State Bar’s online admissions portal. You create a personal profile, upload documents, list references, and disclose your full employment and residential history. The Board needs complete addresses for employers and references to run the character investigation; missing information can stall or block your application.⁹

Fees:

Application fee for first-time applicants never admitted anywhere: $1,000, paid before you submit.⁸
Investigation fee for applicants previously admitted elsewhere: $600 in addition to the application fee. Applicants who applied within the prior 12 months and already paid an investigation fee pay a reduced $300 instead.¹⁰
Laptop registration through NCBE, if you want to type written responses: $149, owed even if you paid it for a previous exam.¹¹

If you register your laptop, NCBE emails installation instructions after the application window closes. Handle the software setup well in advance. Troubleshooting on exam week is a stress you don’t need.

Withdrawals are possible. Fees themselves are non-refundable, but you can request a one-time transfer of a portion of the application fee as a credit toward a different admission pathway. The transferable percentage steps down over time: 100% by April 15, 75% by May 15, and 50% by June 30, 2026.¹² The credit cannot be applied to a future bar exam application.

Testing Day Rules

Personal items must fit inside a one-gallon or smaller clear plastic bag. You can bring unwrapped food, a lidded beverage, and the writing instruments required for that day’s session. Foam earplugs are provided at the site.

Prohibited: all electronic devices (phones, watches, media players, headphones), any written material (books, notes, Post-its), bags and backpacks, hats or hoods except religious headwear, and firearms regardless of concealed-carry permits. Outside earplugs and earmuffs are also banned. Check the admissions portal for the most current testing-day instructions before your exam.

After You Pass

The Oregon State Bar posts a list of passing candidates on its website and sends individual notifications through the admissions portal. Passing is not the last step. You must attend a swearing-in ceremony and take the oath of office before the Oregon Supreme Court enters an order admitting you to practice.¹³ Your bar number arrives about a week after the ceremony.¹⁴

Oregon then sends a prorated license fee statement based on your admission month. It’s due within 90 days. Miss it and your license is suspended.

Two Paths That Aren’t the Exam

Oregon offers admission by comity for experienced attorneys already licensed elsewhere. You must have been licensed in at least one U.S. jurisdiction for at least 24 consecutive months and have actively practiced full-time for at least 24 of the 48 months immediately before applying.¹⁵ “Full-time” means an average of at least 30 hours per week of authorized legal work. You also need to have passed a bar exam somewhere in the United States and hold current active membership in at least one other U.S. jurisdiction. Comity applicants still complete the full character investigation and pay the $600 investigation fee on top of the application fee. This route is for attorneys relocating, not recent graduates hoping to skip the exam.

The Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination is a separate route to licensure without sitting for the bar. It requires 675 hours of supervised legal practice under a licensed Oregon attorney, working at least 20 hours per week as a provisional licensee and building a portfolio the Board evaluates at the halfway point and at completion.¹⁶ You need a JD from an ABA-accredited school (or the alternative education criteria similar to the bar exam pathways), a commitment of employment from a qualified employer and supervising attorney, and coursework in eight core subjects: business associations, civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, evidence, torts, and real property. The SPPE isn’t easier; it’s a different measure of competence.

Accommodations

Applicants seeking ADA testing accommodations file a request with the bar exam application. The July 2026 deadline is May 15, 2026.¹² Later requests are considered, but the Board warns it may not have resources to accommodate them. Accommodation requests won’t be reviewed unless you’ve also filed a bar exam application, so submit both together rather than waiting on paperwork.

1
Oregon State Bar. Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners – News
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Oregon State Bar. Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners – Latest News
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Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 9.210 – Board of Bar Examiners; Fees of Applicants for Admission to Bar
4
National Conference of Bar Examiners. About the NextGen Bar Exam
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National Conference of Bar Examiners. NextGen UBE Content Scope
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National Conference of Bar Examiners. NextGen UBE Scores and Score Portability
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Oregon State Bar. Rules for Admission of Attorneys
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Oregon State Bar. Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners – General Information
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Oregon State Bar. Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners – General Information
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Oregon State Bar. Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners – Other Application Fees
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Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners. Laptop Registration
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Oregon State Bar. Oregon State Bar Admissions
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Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 9.250 – Order for Admission; Oath of Qualified Applicant
14
Oregon State Bar. New Licensee FAQ
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Oregon State Bar. Admission Based on Comity
16
Oregon State Bar. Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination