Ask the lawyers you know, who ever sat for a bar exam, and most of them will agree that it was very anxiety creating, at worst, and just plain annoying, at best. The lead up study period schedule is grueling and requires memorization of enormous amounts of minutia. This can lead to exhaustion before you even take a seat in the exam hall. That certainly cuts against the need to reserve your energy for two or three long days of testing.
After replete complaints about the content of bar exams from a variety of sources, the National Conference of Bar Examiners has redesigned the bar exam — for the first time in 25 years. That revision is known as the NextGen Bar exam, and it has currently been accepted by 20 of the 56 jurisdictions which require passage of a bar exam for practice certification.
As we enter 2025, one of the most recent jurisdictions to accept the NextGen Bar is Virginia, one of two jurisdictions where I am barred. It gives me hope that future Virginia bar takers will not experience what I did in 1979. As an experienced practitioner, I can assure you that practicing law is about much more than memorizing minute details of civil procedure. Presumably, there will be less emphasis on minutia in the new version and more emphasis on substance and logic.
The first NextGen Bar exams will not be administered for several years, but this revision could affect today’s law students. Keep your eyes open for further updates.