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In good news for both Georgia Bar Exam applicants and the state's law schools, the pass rate for the July exam increased across the board, according to results released Tuesday by the Georgia Office of Bar Admissions.

The overall pass rate for all 1,283 test-takers jumped to 65.8%, a notable increase from 61.2% for the July 2018 exam. The pass rate for first-time test-takers was even higher at 79.6%, up from 72.9% the prior year, and the pass rates at all five Georgia law schools increased significantly. (Even the pass rate for repeaters increased 6.5 points to 25%.)

The University of Georgia School of Law led the pack for the sixth year in a row with a 93.7% pass rate for first-time test-takers. That's a 5.6 point jump from UGA Law's 88.1% first-timer pass rate in July 2018–and it's the first time since July 2015 that a Georgia law school's pass rate for initial exam-takers surpassed the 90th percentile for the summer bar exam.

The law schools at Georgia State University and Emory University were in a virtual tie for the No. 2 spot. GSU Law's pass rate for first-timers was 87.6% (up from 85.4% last year) and Emory Law was just behind at 87.4% (up from 84.8%).

Mercer University Law School achieved a significant increase in its first-timer pass rate, up to 81.3% from 73.3% the previous year.

John Marshall Law School and its affiliate, Savannah Law School, which have lower numbers of test-takers, scored the biggest percentage point gains for first-timers. The pass rate at John Marshall was 66.3%, up from 40.4% the year before, while at Savannah Law it was 50%, up from 35.7%.

"The [Georgia] schools have been working really hard. We are hopeful that this is now a new upward trend," said Heidi Faenza, the director of the Georgia Office of Bar Admissions, noting that bar exam pass rates also have increased nationally.

The overall increase in the pass rate at Georgia's ABA-approved schools was 84.1%, up a full nine points from 75.1% for the July 2018 exam.

Law School Efforts

Declines in bar exam pass rates have been a national issue for the past few years, and the overall pass rate for last summer's Georgia bar exam had dropped after a slight increase in July 2017. The pass rate before the declines started, for Georgia's July 2012 exam, was 79.7% overall and 85.3% for first-time test-takers.

In response to the declines, Georgia law schools have focused on spotting at-risk exam-takers as early as their first year and have been offering test preparation programs and coursework aimed at increasing their students' success in passing the exam.

UGA Law Dean Bo Rutledge recognized his law school's efforts toward that end. "I'd like to thank the law school's Bar Passage Working Group—led by Bar Exam Success Programming Director Tony Waller—and our Bar Exam Success Team (BEST) for their innovative work in this field," Rutledge said in an announcement. "Special thanks also go to the law school's generous alumni and alumnae who invested in a bar preparation stipend program, run by Tony and the BEST team, to support those in need."

For Georgia bar exam-takers, Faenza said, performance improved for both the MultiState Bar Examination, which counts for half the exam score, and the Georgia-specific essay questions.

The mean scaled MBE score for Georgia law schools was 141.9, a bit higher than the national mean of 141.1, according to a September report from the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The national figure increased 1.6 points from the July 2018 national mean score of 139.5, which Faenza said was a 34-year low.

"We're very pleased with the results, and we hope it's a trend not only in Georgia, but nationwide," Faenza said.