Tennessee Bar Exam: Requirements, Format, and Passing Score

To become licensed in Tennessee, you must pass the Tennessee bar exam with a scaled Uniform Bar Examination score of at least 270, pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination with a score of 82 or higher, and clear a character and fitness investigation.¹ The exam is offered in February and July, and the entire process is governed by Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7.²

Who Can Sit for the Exam

You need a Juris Doctor or Bachelor of Laws degree from an ABA-accredited law school or a Tennessee law school approved by the Board of Law Examiners.³ A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college is also required, though the Board can waive that requirement if your law school was ABA-accredited or Board-approved and your undergraduate work was substantially equivalent.²

Attorneys trained outside the United States may still qualify. You must show that your foreign legal education is substantially equivalent to the training provided at an ABA-accredited school and meet the additional conditions set by the Board under Rule 7, Section 2.02(c).³

Character and Fitness

Every applicant goes through a character and fitness investigation conducted by the National Conference of Bar Examiners on behalf of the Tennessee Board. The investigation looks at honesty, financial responsibility, and overall fitness to practice. You will provide a detailed personal history covering residential addresses, employment records, and references who can speak to your integrity. A credit report is part of the review. If you are already licensed in another state, you need a certificate of good standing from each jurisdiction.

The applications that stall are usually the ones where something in the background check does not match what the applicant disclosed. Over-disclose. Omitting an item and hoping it will not surface is the slower route, not the faster one.

The MPRE

The MPRE is a separate ethics exam administered by NCBE several times a year, and Tennessee requires a score of 82 or higher.⁴ Your passing MPRE score must be earned no more than two years before you earn your qualifying UBE score.²

One exception to the two-year rule: if you are already licensed and in good standing in another U.S. jurisdiction and scored 82 or higher at any point, that older score still works.² Most applicants take the MPRE during their final year of law school so the score is on file well before UBE results post.

What the Exam Looks Like

The Tennessee bar exam is the Uniform Bar Examination, a two-day test with three components. Your scaled score combines all three: the multiple-choice portion counts 50 percent, the essays 30 percent, and the performance test 20 percent.⁵

The Multistate Bar Examination is 200 multiple-choice questions across two three-hour sessions, covering Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts.⁶

The Multistate Essay Examination gives you six essay questions. The subject pool includes everything on the MBE plus Business Associations, Conflict of Laws, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, and Secured Transactions under UCC Article 9.⁷ A single question often blends two or more subjects, so studying each topic in isolation is not enough.

The Multistate Performance Test hands you a file of documents and a law library, then asks you to complete a realistic legal task such as a memorandum, client letter, or brief. The MPT measures your ability to pull relevant facts, apply rules provided to you, and write clearly under a 90-minute clock. You get two MPT tasks on exam day.

Deadlines and Fees

Each exam administration has two deadlines. For the February exam, the application deadline is December 1 and the final deadline is December 20. For the July exam, the application deadline is May 1 and the final deadline is May 20.⁸ If any part of your application is still incomplete at the final deadline, you cannot sit, and your only option is to reapply for the next exam.⁹

Current fees:

Exam application, first-time or re-exam: $725
UBE score transfer application: $675
Tennessee Law Course: $15
License fee (paid with Board of Professional Responsibility registration): $150
Reactivation of a lapsed application: $500

These are received-by deadlines, not postmarked-by deadlines. The Board’s office closes at 4:30 p.m. Central Time, and payments arriving after that cutoff on the deadline date are late.¹⁰ Before you start the online application you need an NCBE account number, so create one through NCBE if you do not already have one; you are only permitted a single account.¹¹ You will also need official law school transcripts sent directly to the Board, a dean’s certificate confirming your degree status, and all character and fitness documentation. If the Board issues a deficiency notice, fix the problem well before the final deadline. Missing it means you sit out the cycle and forfeit the fees already paid.

Laptop or Handwriting

Tennessee lets you type the essay and performance test answers on a personal laptop, and submitting your exam application automatically opts you into laptop testing unless you choose to handwrite.¹² You must register with the secure exam software provider, pay a separate non-refundable software license fee to that provider, and download the software within the registration windows set before each exam.

Miss the software registration period and you handwrite. If your laptop fails during the exam and tech support cannot fix it, you handwrite the rest with no additional time. Bring your power cord and a long extension cord. If you registered for laptop testing but want to switch to handwriting, notify the Board in writing by the 15th of the exam month.¹²

Passing Score and Results

The passing score is a total scaled UBE score of 270.¹ That number combines all three components at their weights. There is no separate minimum on the MBE, MEE, or MPT; only the combined score counts.

February results typically post in early April, and July results follow roughly nine to ten weeks after the exam.¹³ The Board publishes a list of successful candidates online and sends individual notifications through the applicant portal.

If You Do Not Pass

You can reapply by filing a new application and paying the $725 fee again. Tennessee does not cap attempts, but Rule 7 gives the Board discretion to decide whether a repeat failer may sit again, and after multiple unsuccessful attempts the Board may require evidence of additional legal study before approving a new application.⁹

If you were practicing under Rule 7 supervised practice and you fail, you can continue practicing under supervision only if you submit your re-examination application within ten days of receiving your results. Miss that ten-day window and the supervised practice privilege expires immediately.⁹

Getting Licensed After You Pass

Passing the exam does not make you a lawyer. Once you have met every requirement, the Board issues a Certificate of Eligibility for Admission.² The certificate is valid for 90 days. Within that window you must comply with Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 6, which covers registration with the Board of Professional Responsibility, and either attend a swearing-in ceremony or submit an affidavit to be sworn in separately.¹⁴ The $150 license fee is paid during that registration.¹⁰

If you cannot finish within the 90-day window, the Board may grant a one-time extension for good cause. The outer limit is two years from the date you were notified of your passing score. After that, your exam results expire.²

Transferring a UBE Score In or Out

Because Tennessee is a UBE jurisdiction, a qualifying score of 270 or above earned in another UBE state can be transferred to Tennessee without retaking the exam.¹ The transfer application costs $675.¹⁰ Transferred scores have a maximum age; NCBE lists Tennessee’s limit at three to five years from the exam date, depending on circumstances.¹⁵ A score of 270 or higher earned in Tennessee can likewise be transferred out to other UBE states, each of which sets its own minimum score and maximum age.

A score transfer does not waive Tennessee’s other requirements. You still need the MPRE, the character and fitness clearance, and the educational prerequisites.

Admission Without the Exam

If you are already licensed and in good standing in another state and have actively practiced law for at least five of the past seven years, you may qualify for admission by comity and skip the exam entirely.¹⁶ Rule 7’s education and character and fitness standards still apply. The comity application fee is $1,400.¹⁷

1
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Transferred UBE Score – How to Apply
2
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 7 – Licensing of Attorneys
3
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Tennessee Board of Law Examiners Statement of Policies and Procedures
4
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Examination Locations and Schedule
5
National Conference of Bar Examiners. The Uniform Bar Examination
6
National Conference of Bar Examiners. MBE Subject Matter Outline
7
National Conference of Bar Examiners. MEE Subject Matter Outline
8
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Checklist – Complete First-Time Examination Application
9
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Rule 7 – Licensing of Attorneys
10
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Fees for Admission by Examination Score
11
National Conference of Bar Examiners. NCBE Account Information
12
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Terms, Conditions and Release of Liability for Laptop Testing
13
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Success List
14
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Instructions for Successful Bar Applicants
15
National Conference of Bar Examiners. UBE Maximum Score Age
16
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Admission Without Examination – Comity, In-House Counsel
17
Tennessee Board of Law Examiners. Tennessee Board of Law Examiners Fee Schedule