February 2022 MBE bar scores fall, match record lows
What had been a record low in February 2020, after a record low in February 2018, after a record low in February 2017, we see a match of the February 2022 score. The mean score was 132.6, down from 134.0 last year and matching the February 2020 low. (That’s off from the recent 2011 high of 138.6.) We would expect bar exam passing rates to drop in most jurisdictions (although results have been decidedly mixed, with wild swings depending on the jurisdiction—big improvements in Iowa and North Dakota, for instance, and a big decline in Oklahoma).
Given how small the February pool is in relation to the July pool, it's hard to draw too many conclusions from the February test-taker pool. The February cohort is historically much weaker than the July cohort, in part because it includes so many who failed in July and retook in February. The NCBE reports that more than two-thirds of test-takers were repeaters. There were significantly more repeaters than February 2021 (unsurprising given 2020 pushed many first-timers to February). Comparisons to February 2020 seem better, then.
As interest in law schools appears to be waning, law schools will need to ensure that class quality remains strong and that they find adequate interventions to assist at-risk student populations.