For the third consecutive year, the percentage of law students passing the February Connecticut bar exam dropped below 50%—to a two-decade low of 34%—the latest sign of a downward trend both statewide and nationally.

The national average score on the Multistate Bar Exam fell 1.4 points from the previous year to 132.6, Connecticut Law Tribune affiliate Law.com reported, citing the National Conference of Bar Examiners, which develops the 200-question, multiple-choice portion of the test for candidates across the country.

In Connecticut, the February pass/fail numbers continued to drop.

In 2016, 63% of candidates in the state passed. That number fell to 50% in 2017, and 38% in 2018. There was a slight uptick to 40% in 2019; but then it fell to 34% this year.

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Here's the list of higher learning institutions that were represented in the February 2020 Bar Examination in Connecticut:

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See the pass/fail rate for the February 2020 Bar Examination in Connecticut:

The February numbers, released Friday, shows that 46 of 137 test-takers passed.

Only three institutions had double-digits pass rates for test-takers: the University of Connecticut School of Law, Quinnipiac University School of Law and Western New England Law School in Massachusetts.

The pass rate for the University of Connecticut School of Law jumped from 40% in February 2019 to 56%, as 14 of the 25 students who took the test passed in February 2020.

The pass rate for Quinnipiac University School of Law jumped from 31% in February 2019 to 41% in 2020, as 12 of the 29 candidates passed.

Western New England Law School did not fare well, as 41% passed in February 2019, but just 11% in 2020, when two of 19 students who took the test passed.

Connecticut Bar Examining Chairwoman Anne Dranginis, a Pullman & Comley member, is optimistic for next year.

"I think the low pass rate is due to a multitude of factors, some of them economic and some of them systematic," Dranginis said. "This may be an anomaly, but we will have to wait and see.  I am hopeful the numbers will go up next year as there are a lot of motivated young people in law school now."

University of Connecticut School of Law dean Tim Fisher said he was "satisfied with our numbers, but we can always do better."

"The February pass rates are lower than the July sittings everywhere around the country," Fisher said Monday. "February is often seen as having lower pass rates because many test-takers have children and/or day jobs or family obligations. Whereas, with the traditional exam in July people allow for weeks of intense preparation after graduation."

Fisher said the number he looks at are first-time test-takers, which has always hovered in February for the law school at about 75%. In February, six of eight test-takers—or 75%—for the university took the exam for the first time and passed.

"It's a small sample size," Fisher said of first-time test-takers, but, he said, "those numbers tell me the most on how well we are preparing our graduates."

Fisher said his university has implemented several initiatives in recent years to help law students on their bar exam. They include. Fisher said, two courses that were rolled out in 2019. One is a bar preparation  course, which focuses on the methodology of taking the bar exam. The second, he said, is a commercial bar prep course, which teaches the subject matter of the exams.

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