Texas State Bar Exam: Dates, Eligibility, and Results

To be licensed to practice law in Texas, you must pass the Texas state bar exam with a Uniform Bar Examination score of at least 270, pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination with a score of at least 85, complete the Texas Law Component, and clear a character and fitness investigation run by the Texas Board of Law Examiners. The exam itself runs two days and is given twice a year, but the filing deadlines, background check, and ethics test all operate on their own clocks, and missing any of them can push your license back by months.

2026 Exam Dates and Filing Deadlines

The next Texas bar exams are February 24–25 and July 28–29, 2026. Texas generally gives the exam on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of February and July each year.¹

Applications go through the Board’s online ATLAS portal, and the Board will not accept any application after the final filing deadline for any reason.²

For the February exam:

Registration opens June 30
Timely filing deadline: September 1
Late filing deadline: November 1 ($150 late fee)
Final filing deadline: December 1 ($300 late fee)

For the July exam:

Registration opens December 4
Timely filing deadline: February 1
Late filing deadline: April 1 ($150 late fee)
Final filing deadline: May 1 ($300 late fee)

Beginning with the July 2026 exam, bar exam application fees increase by $150, and reapplication fees increase by an additional $75.³ If you intend to type the exam on a laptop, you also pay a $90 software fee for ILG Exam360, with a $75 late fee if you miss the laptop registration deadline.⁴

An application counts as timely if the Board receives a substantially completed form, your certification, an authorization and release, and all required fees by 11:59 p.m. Central Time on the deadline date. Materials sent through ATLAS are received at the time of transmission.²

Your admission ticket is delivered to your ATLAS account about three weeks before the exam, with an email notification. That ticket is your authorization to enter the testing site.⁵

What the Exam Covers and the Score You Need

Texas adopted the Uniform Bar Examination in February 2021.⁶ The test runs two days and has three components:

The Multistate Bar Examination is 200 multiple-choice questions across two three-hour sessions and counts for 50% of your score. It covers contracts, torts, constitutional law, criminal law, civil procedure, evidence, and real property.⁷
The Multistate Essay Examination is six essay questions in one three-hour session and counts for 30%.⁷
The Multistate Performance Test is two 90-minute practical tasks in a single three-hour session and counts for 20%. You might draft a memo, write a persuasive brief, or complete another lawyering task using a provided file and library.⁷

Texas requires a minimum total UBE score of 270 on a 400-point scale, and that threshold is the same for both the February and July sittings.⁷

The MPRE and the Texas Law Component

The bar exam is not the only test. Every Texas applicant must also pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, a 60-question multiple-choice test on legal ethics. Texas requires a minimum scaled score of 85.⁸ The MPRE is given three times a year, typically in March, August, and November, and can be taken any time during or after law school. Most candidates sit for it during their second or third year.

Because the UBE tests general legal principles rather than state-specific rules, Texas also requires the Texas Law Component. The TLC is a free, self-paced online course of roughly 12 hours of video lectures on areas like community property, oil and gas law, and state civil procedure. At the end of each segment you answer “hurdle questions” that confirm basic comprehension before the system lets you advance. The course is hosted through TexasBarCLE, and you need a free account there to access it.⁹ You can complete the TLC before or after sitting for the bar exam, but it must be finished before you are sworn in.

Who Can Sit for the Exam

Rule 2 of the Texas Rules Governing Admission to the Bar sets the baseline. You need a Juris Doctor from an ABA-approved law school, must be at least 18, must demonstrate good moral character and fitness, and must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or otherwise authorized to work in the United States.¹⁰

You can apply before graduating. Rule 3 allows applicants who have completed all degree requirements except up to four remaining semester hours to sit for the exam, though you cannot be licensed until you actually graduate.¹⁰

Attorneys already licensed in another U.S. jurisdiction may qualify for admission without examination under Rule 13 if they have actively practiced law as their primary occupation for at least three of the five years immediately before applying and hold a J.D. or equivalent from an accredited school.¹¹ Foreign-educated lawyers face additional requirements under Rule 13 that vary with the content and length of their foreign program, whether they hold a qualifying U.S. LL.M., and whether they are authorized to practice abroad. The LL.M. route under Rule 13 §9 requires at least 24 semester hours, and distance learning courses generally do not count toward that minimum.⁹

Declaration of Intent to Study Law

If you attend an ABA-approved law school in Texas and plan to seek a Texas license, you must file a Declaration of Intent to Study Law with the Board during your first semester. The Board calls first-semester filers “entrants,” and Rule 6(b) of the Texas Rules Governing Admission to the Bar sets the specific deadline. Miss that window and you face a late fee, though you can still file the declaration any time before or alongside your bar exam application.¹²

Filing early is not just a formality. It starts the Board’s background investigation sooner, giving the character and fitness review more time to finish before you sit for the exam. Students at law schools outside Texas are not required to file this form and follow a separate application track.

Character and Fitness Investigation

Every applicant goes through a character and fitness review. You provide detailed personal history through ATLAS, including residential addresses, employment records, and references. Discrepancies or incomplete answers slow the review down.¹³

Fingerprinting is separate. Your prints are run against both the Texas Department of Public Safety and FBI criminal history databases, and the Board cannot complete its investigation without the FBI results.¹⁴ For applicants with complicated backgrounds, the review can take months. No license issues until the investigation is complete, regardless of your exam score.

Testing Accommodations

Requests for testing accommodations under Rule 12 must be submitted with your bar exam application and no later than the late filing deadline: November 1 for the February exam, April 1 for the July exam. Requests filed after those dates will not be accepted.²

One narrow exception: if you sat for the most recent Texas bar exam and are awaiting results, you may file a new application with an accommodation request by the special filing deadline (December 1 for February, June 1 for July) without a late fee.² Gather medical records and professional evaluations well before your deadline; the documentation takes time to assemble.

Results, Retakes, and Score Portability

February results are typically released in mid-April to early May. July results generally arrive in the fall. Scores are posted to your ATLAS account.

If you don’t pass, Texas allows up to five attempts. Sitting for any portion of the exam counts as one attempt. After five unsuccessful sittings, you need special permission from the Board to try again. Reapplicants who took the most recent exam and are awaiting results can file by the special deadline (December 1 for February, June 1 for July) without a late fee.²

Because Texas uses the UBE, a passing Texas score can be transferred to any other UBE jurisdiction without retaking the exam. Texas accepts transferred UBE scores up to five years old, and most other jurisdictions accept scores for three to five years.¹⁵ Each jurisdiction sets its own passing threshold, so a 270 that clears Texas may fall short elsewhere. Transferring a score to another state does not relieve you of that state’s own character and fitness process or any local law component it requires.

If you pass the Texas bar exam but do not complete all remaining licensing requirements within five years of receiving your passing notification, your score expires.¹⁰

After You Pass

Passing the exam does not automatically make you a lawyer. Within a few business days of score release, you can register with the State Bar of Texas and pay membership and license fees. Annual dues for attorneys licensed less than three years are $74, rising to $162 for those licensed three to five years and $258 after five years. Attorneys admitted after December 1 of a given fiscal year pay half the annual rate.¹⁶

Your license arrives by mail within six to eight weeks of ordering a wall certificate. Once you have the license in hand, you take the attorney’s oath, which can be administered by any judge, retired judge, clerk, or notary, including remotely by videoconference. The signed oath is then attached to the back of your license.¹⁷

Newly admitted attorneys must complete a four-hour course called “The Guide to the Basics of Law Practice” within the first year of licensure. After that, Texas lawyers must earn 15 CLE hours per year, including three hours of ethics. Your reporting deadline is the last day of your birth month.

Watch the dues cycle. State Bar membership dues are due June 1 each year. Payment arriving after August 31 lands you on administrative suspension and triggers a 50% late penalty to reinstate. After November 30, that penalty doubles to 100%.¹⁶

1
Texas Board of Law Examiners. Texas Bar Exam Dates
2
Texas Board of Law Examiners. Deadlines
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. News
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Laptop Information
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Bar Exam
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. UBE Transfer Information
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Scoring and Weighting the Texas Bar Exam
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National Conference of Bar Examiners. Texas
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Frequently Asked Questions
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Rules Governing Admission to the Bar of Texas
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Admission Without Examination
12
Texas Board of Law Examiners. Declaration of Intention to Study Law
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Character and Fitness
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Texas Board of Law Examiners. Fingerprinting Information
15
National Conference of Bar Examiners. UBE Maximum Score Age
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State Bar of Texas. Dues Schedule
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State Bar of Texas. New Lawyer Oath and Fees