The State Bar’s request to adjust California Bar Exam scores to account for February test chaos was approved Friday by California justices, paving the way for test-takers’ results to be released.
They also ordered the Bar to use the Multistate Bar Exam for the multiple choice section of the July exam.
“Although the State Bar’s petition indicates that the February 2025 examination contained a sufficient number of reliable multiple-choice questions, the Court remains concerned over the process used to draft those questions, including the previously undisclosed use of artificial intelligence, and will await the results of the impending audits of the examination,” the justices wrote.
The move will offer some relief to the 4,231 applicants who took the exam that glitched and crashed repeatedly, as it’s likely to raise the pass rate compared with prior February sittings. Applicants will need a raw score of 534 to pass the exam.
“The total raw score shall consist of the 700 possible raw points for the written portion plus the 171 points available for the multiple-choice components with each weighted equally (50 percent assigned to each),” the order said. “For applicants who took the February 2025 Attorneys’ Examination, the raw passing score shall be 420 points or higher.”
Justices also allowed exam graders to fill in missing data using psychometric imputation for test takers who answered at least 114 of 171 scored multiple-choice questions, and answered at least four of six written components.
The approval comes despite controversy over the State Bar’s reveal in an April 21 news release that some questions were written using artificial intelligence.
The Bar said Wednesday its psychometrician contractor, ACS Ventures Inc., used ChatGPT to write 29 of 200 exam questions. State Supreme Court justices had pressed for details after they said they weren’t warned about the use of AI.
The brand-new exam was the Bar’s attempt to stave off admissions fund insolvency by creating a California test that could be administered remotely, even out-of-state. Applicants as early as January raised concerns that infrastructure wasn’t equipped to handle the exam.
The matter is Proposed Raw Passing Score and Scoring Adjustments for the February 2025 California Bar Examination, Cal., No. S290627, 5/2/25.
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