Since February 2019, the Rhode Island Bar Exam has been using the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE®) format, which divides the exam into three components: the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE®), the Multistate Performance Test (MPT®), and the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE®).
Candidates who intend to practice law in different states will benefit from the increased score portability among the 41 participating UBE jurisdictions. This resource provides all the details on the RI Bar Exam results, dates, deadlines, fees, applications, and more.
The UBE is divided into two days, each with 6 testing hours. The MPT and MEE are administered on day one, and the MBE on day two.
You can't pass an exam that you don't take. Mark the dates and deadlines shown below on your calendar and review the eligibility requirements below. Save yourself some stress by collecting the proper documentation and submitting your application early.
| Filing Periods | February 27-28, 2024 | July 30-31, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Attorney Deadline | September 1, 2023 | February 1, 2024 |
| First-Time Taker Deadline | December 1, 2023 | May 1, 2024 |
*If you are an out-of-state lawyer who has been practicing law full-time in another jurisdiction for at least 5 of the past 10 years, you do not need to have graduated from an ABA-approved law school.
You must schedule your RI Bar Exam online. Any physical documents must be submitted to the address below:
| Address: | Licht Judicial Complex 250 Benefit Street Providence, RI 02903 |
Character and Fitness
UBE Transfer w/ NCBE character investigation
All fees are non-refundable. Payments must be made online through RISCAP when you electronically file your application.
The RI Bar Exam tests a candidate's legal knowledge, analytical skills, and competence to practice law. It covers a range of subjects, from Constitutional Law and Contracts to Criminal Law and Evidence. Candidates will be assessed by their ability to apply legal principles, draft legal documents, and effectively solve problems to ensure they can competently represent clients and complete entry-level legal tasks.
Some MEE subjects may be tested together. Others may not be tested at all. For example, Civil Procedure has been tested on almost every MEE for the past ten years, while Criminal Law has only appeared a few times.
The MBE contains 200 multiple-choice questions divided evenly over 7 subjects. You'll notice that 7 x 25 does not equal 200. That's because 25 MBE questions are unscored questions that act as field tests for future exams.
The MPT is designed to test an examinee's "lawyering skills" using only the materials provided. These tasks are conducted in a closed-universe, fictional jurisdiction called "Franklin." The laws of the real world do not apply, so your critical thinking skills and understanding of fundamental legal principles are key.
The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is a 2-hour, 60-multiple-choice question exam that assesses an examinee's knowledge of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Candidates must pass the MPRE before they can take the Rhode Island Bar Exam. You can register through the NCBE.
To apply for the RI Bar Exam, you need to have earned a score of at least 80 on an MPRE exam taken within the last five years*. Send your score to the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island before you file your Bar application.
*If you take the MPRE in November, you can send the score later but must pass to be eligible for the February bar exam.
The UBE employs scaled scoring to ensure fairness across exam versions. Scaled scoring accounts for the fact that one exam administration may be more or less difficult than another administration. For example, February's exam may be more difficult than July's. It wouldn't be fair if you failed because you just happened to receive a harder exam version.
To solve this, your raw scores are transformed into scaled scores through a statistical method called equating. Unfortunately, the NCBE does not release data on the calculations it uses to determine scaled scores.
Rhode Island's minimum passing score is 270*. Since the UBE is divided into two equally weighted sections—writing (MPT/MEE) and the MBE—you want to aim for a 135 on each section.
However, you do not need to score 270 on each section to pass the RI bar exam. For example, an exceptional MBE score can balance out a subpar score on the writing section. What's important is that the sum of your two scores is 270 or higher.
You'll notice that The Rhode Island Bar Exam's repeater pass rates are substantially lower than the first-timer pass rates, especially for the February 2023 exam. This discrepancy between first-timer and repeater pass rates is common across all jurisdictions and is likely because many who fail their first bar exam don't change how they study.
Results are typically released 10 weeks after an exam administration. Below are the pass rates for the past 6 years.
