Babybar

The First Year Law Student Examination

The first year law student examination (the Baby Bar) takes place in June and October of each year. The test includes both essay and multiple-choice questions. The first part of the test is four hours and is designated to be used for the essay portion. The second part of the test (3 hours) is to be used for the multiple choice section (approximately one hundred questions). A student should be able to apply legal theories and principles of general applicanbility only. All law students who have successfully completed one year of law study are eligible to apply for the First-Year Law Students' Examination.

The following subjects are tested:

- Contracts
- Criminal Law
- Torts

GRADING

An applicant’s multiple-choice score will be the number of items answered correctly. Multiple-choice raw scores will be converted to a 400-point scale. This process adjusts for the possible differences between administrations of the examination in the average difficulty of their multiple-choice items. As a result, an applicant’s multiple-choice score will not be affected by the difficulty of the particular version of the examination that the applicant takes.

An applicant’s raw score on an essay question can range between 40 and 100. Total raw essay scores can therefore range between 160 and 400 points. Total raw essay scores will be converted to the same 400-point scale of measurement as that used for the multiple-choice portion.

An applicant’s total score on the examination is the sum of that applicant’s converted scores on the multiple-choice and essay sections. This step gives these sections equal weight in determining the total score. Applicants need a total scaled score of 560 or higher to pass the examination.

*All information about the grading process has been taken directly from the California Bar Examiners website.