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The six-year slide in bar exam pass rates looks to be at an end.

All but a handful of jurisdictions have thus far announced their results for the July 2019 exam, and the vast majority posted modest gains in their overall pass rates while a smaller number saw pass rate increases of 7% or more. That's a welcome change for legal educators, who have been trying for years to reverse the decline in bar passers.

"Up is the right direction," said Kyle McEntee, executive director of Law School Transparency. "For any schools that have figured out how to increase bar pass rates for their students most at-risk of failing the bar, I hope they share their methods far and wide for study."

New York saw its pass rate climb two percentage points, to 65%. Illinois' overall pass rate ticked up one percentage point, to 71%. Virginia's pass rate increased nearly two percentage points to land at 75% for the most recent exam. Pennsylvania's overall pass rate rose from 71% last year to 73% this July, while 73% of Ohio bar takers passed—up from 70% the previous year. In Massachusetts, more than 71% of July bar takers passed, up from 69% last year.

Florida reported one of the largest jumps, moving from a pass rate of 67% in 2018 to 74% this July—a gain of seven percentage points. Similarly, New Jersey saw its pass rate rise seven points to 66%. North Dakota this far looks to have notched the largest increase, at 10%. Fully 73% of takers passed in July, which University of North Dakota Law Dean Michael McGinniss has partly attributed to his school's efforts to bolster its bar prep and academic support programming.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners predicted higher pass rates in early September, when it revealed that the national average score on the Multistate Bar Exam—the daylong, multiple-choice portion of the exam—had increased 1.6 points from the previous year, which represented a 34-year low.

It's too soon to tell whether July's relatively stronger results represent the start of a sustained turnaround in national bar pass rates, according to Pepperdine University law professor Derek Muller. But it's a positive sign.

"As incoming student quality has improved over the last few years, we should expect bar pass rates to continue to improve, too," he said.

It remains to be seen whether California's dismal bar pass rate will improve this year. Scores are not scheduled to come out until Nov. 15, and many are eagerly awaiting to see what happens in the state. Just 41% of bar takers there passed last July, and bar leaders have come under increasing pressure to lower its exam cut score, which is tied with Delaware as the highest in the nation. Texas on Oct. 25 released the list of those who passed the exam, but bar officials have not yet released the overall pass rate and other exam statistics.

Some smaller jurisdictions did not fare as well on the July exam, however. Vermont's pass rate fell nine percentage points to 61% while Maine also saw a decline of four percentage points, landing at 52%. Idaho's pass rate fell from 69% in 2018 to 64% in 2019. Relatively few people took the exams in those three jurisdictions, however.