· Bar Exam

NextGen Bar Exam Wave 1 Jurisdictions and Score Portability

The NextGen UBE launches July 2026 in 10 Wave 1 jurisdictions. This guide covers which jurisdictions sit NextGen first, what comes next in Wave 2 and Wave 3, how scores transfer during the transition, and why your jurisdiction sets the passing cut.

If you are taking the bar exam in Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Washington starting in July 2026, you are sitting for the NextGen UBE. These ten jurisdictions are Wave 1 — the first cohort to administer the redesigned exam.

If you are taking it anywhere else, you are still sitting for the legacy UBE (MBE + MEE + MPT) through February 2028. After that, jurisdictions either join NextGen on their announced timeline or stay on a non-UBE format entirely. This article explains exactly which jurisdictions are in Wave 1, what is coming in Wave 2 and Wave 3, how scores transfer during the transition window, and why your jurisdiction's passing score is set by your jurisdiction — not by the NCBE.

Whether you are a 3L picking a jurisdiction to sit in, a practicing lawyer thinking about admission in another state, or an examinee retaking and weighing the legacy-versus-NextGen calculus, you should know these rules before you commit to a study plan.

The 10 Wave 1 Jurisdictions

NCBE confirmed Wave 1 — the first administration of the NextGen UBE — for July 2026. The ten participating jurisdictions are, alphabetically:

  • Connecticut
  • Guam
  • Idaho
  • Maryland
  • Missouri
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • Oregon
  • Palau (administered at the Guam test site)
  • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Washington

A few important details about this list:

Test content is uniform across all Wave 1 jurisdictions. The same 120 standalone MCQs, the same 6 Integrated Question Sets, and the same 3 Performance Tasks are administered everywhere. You do not need jurisdiction-specific doctrinal knowledge to sit in Missouri rather than Maryland. The exam tests the same eight Foundational Concepts and the same 7 Foundational Skills regardless of where you take it.

What varies between jurisdictions is administrative, not substantive. Application deadlines, fees, character and fitness review, accommodations procedures, and any local-law supplemental requirements are set independently by each jurisdiction. None of those affect the questions on the exam.

Palau is administered at Guam. Palau is a Wave 1 jurisdiction in terms of admission and licensure, but examinees from Palau sit for the exam at the Guam test site. If you are applying to Palau, your administration logistics route through the Guam jurisdiction's testing infrastructure.

What About Wave 2 and Wave 3?

Beyond the 10 Wave 1 jurisdictions, more than 35 additional jurisdictions have publicly announced they will adopt the NextGen UBE on a rolling basis through 2027 and 2028. NCBE has confirmed that by July 2028, the NextGen UBE will be the sole format for participating jurisdictions — the legacy UBE retires after the February 2028 administration.

The exact adoption date for any specific jurisdiction outside Wave 1 is set by that jurisdiction's bar admission authority. Some will sit NextGen for the first time in February 2027, others in July 2027, others in February or July 2028. If you need a definitive date for your jurisdiction, check your state board of bar examiners website — it will publish the timeline before any new administration. NCBE also maintains a current list of announced adopters at ncbex.org.

One nuance that catches candidates: during the transition window (July 2026 through February 2028), each jurisdiction sits either the legacy UBE or the NextGen UBE — they cannot offer both. If your jurisdiction has announced a Wave 2 date of, say, July 2027, that means February 2027 in your jurisdiction is still legacy UBE and July 2027 is the first NextGen administration. You cannot choose which version to sit in your home jurisdiction; the jurisdiction's calendar makes that choice for you.

Jurisdictions That Are Not Adopting NextGen

Not every jurisdiction is adopting the NextGen UBE. A handful of jurisdictions are keeping their own bar exams instead of transitioning to NextGen — some administer a state-specific exam (for example, one reflecting a civil-law tradition), and others have simply chosen not to adopt the redesign.

For practical purposes, if you sit in one of these jurisdictions, you take that jurisdiction's own bar examination — which is independent of NCBE's NextGen redesign and, in some cases, of the UBE entirely. Any bar-exam reforms underway in a non-adopting jurisdiction are separate from the NextGen transition.

This matters when you plan: do not assume "the bar exam is changing" means your bar exam is changing. If your jurisdiction is in this group, the NextGen redesign does not affect what you sit. If you ever change jurisdictions, your existing score from a non-UBE jurisdiction will not transfer into a NextGen jurisdiction as a UBE score — it was never a UBE score to begin with.

Score Portability During the Transition

This is where the rules get specific. There are three populations to track during the 2026 to 2028 transition window.

1. NextGen scores are portable across NextGen jurisdictions

NCBE's official position is that "a NextGen UBE score earned in any jurisdiction and at any administration will have the same meaning as any other NextGen UBE score." If you earn a NextGen score in Missouri in July 2026 and later seek admission in Washington, your Missouri score transfers under Washington's score transfer policy.

What counts as the "same meaning" is that the scaled score is on the same 500–750 scale and is calibrated against the same NCBE-administered exam. What varies is each jurisdiction's passing threshold and score transfer rules — those are set locally.

2. Legacy UBE scores can still transfer during the window

Most participating jurisdictions accept scores from both the legacy UBE and the NextGen UBE during the transition. If you took the legacy UBE in February 2026 in New York and seek admission in a Wave 1 jurisdiction in 2027, your legacy UBE score is still valid for transfer — subject to the receiving jurisdiction's score transfer rules and the score's age.

NCBE is generating a concordance table as a crosswalk between legacy UBE and NextGen UBE scores. The concordance is designed to make scores on the two formats comparable across the transition. Practically, this is mostly invisible to candidates: you do not need to convert your score yourself. Your receiving jurisdiction's bar admission authority handles the conversion if it applies.

3. Retake math during the transition

If you fail a NextGen administration in a Wave 1 jurisdiction, retakes in that jurisdiction are also NextGen administrations. You cannot fail NextGen in July 2026 and retake legacy UBE in February 2027 in the same jurisdiction. The jurisdiction's calendar is set: NextGen replaces legacy on the announced date and does not revert.

If you fail in your home jurisdiction and consider sitting elsewhere, you can sit in a different jurisdiction's administration — but the exam version is whatever that jurisdiction administers on that date. A February 2027 retake in a Wave 2 jurisdiction that has not yet adopted NextGen would be a legacy UBE administration. A retake in a Wave 1 jurisdiction would be NextGen.

Each Jurisdiction Sets Its Own Passing Score

This is the single most-misunderstood rule about NextGen. NCBE reports a single blended scaled score on the 500–750 scale. NCBE does not set the passing cut score. Each jurisdiction sets its own passing score within that range, and individual states retain final authority on where the line falls.

What this means for you:

  • The "passing score" depends on which jurisdiction you are seeking admission in.
  • NCBE has internally referenced a recommended range, but that recommendation is not binding on jurisdictions — and most jurisdictions have not yet publicly published their cut as of this writing.
  • Two examinees who earn the same scaled score (say, 615) can have different outcomes: one passes in a jurisdiction with a lower cut, the other fails in a jurisdiction with a higher cut.

This is consistent with how cut scores have always worked for the legacy UBE. Jurisdictional autonomy on the cut score is not new — it is just rendered visible by the format change.

What you should do: check your jurisdiction's bar admission rules for the cut score that applies to you. Do not rely on third-party reports of an "official" NCBE-recommended number — the number that matters for admission is the one your jurisdiction has actually published or, if it has not yet published, the one it used for legacy UBE administrations as the practical baseline.

What This Means for Your Prep

The jurisdictional mechanics above lead to a small number of practical decisions:

  • If your jurisdiction is in Wave 1 (the 10 listed above) and you are sitting July 2026 or later: you are preparing for NextGen. Start with our complete NextGen Bar Exam guide and our complete NextGen study plan to anchor your prep.
  • If your jurisdiction is in Wave 2 or Wave 3: confirm your jurisdiction's first NextGen administration date. If you are sitting before that date, you are preparing for legacy UBE. If after, you are preparing for NextGen.
  • If you have an existing legacy UBE score and you are considering transfer into a Wave 1 jurisdiction: check the receiving jurisdiction's score transfer rules and the age of your score. You may not need to retest at all.
  • If you are flexible about jurisdiction (and some examinees genuinely are): the choice between sitting NextGen in a Wave 1 jurisdiction in July 2026 versus sitting legacy UBE in a different jurisdiction in February 2027 is a real strategic decision. They are different exams testing different skill profiles. Pick the one your prep aligns with.

What You Should Not Do

A few common misreadings of the transition rules that lead candidates astray:

Where to Go Next

If you have figured out which exam version applies to you, the next step is building your study plan around it. We have written extensively about how NextGen prep differs from legacy UBE prep — specifically, how to allocate your time across the 49% standalone MCQ, 21% IQS, and 30% PT score weights without over-investing in rote memorization.

Explore NextGen Bar Prep on JD Simplified

Frequently Asked Questions

Which jurisdictions are sitting the NextGen UBE in July 2026?

Ten jurisdictions make up Wave 1: Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau (administered at the Guam test site), U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington. Test content is uniform across all ten — the same 120 MCQs, 6 IQS, and 3 PTs are administered everywhere. Administrative items like fees and deadlines vary by jurisdiction.

Can I sit the legacy UBE in a Wave 1 jurisdiction after July 2026?

No. During the transition window, each jurisdiction administers either the legacy UBE or the NextGen UBE — not both. Once a jurisdiction is in Wave 1, all subsequent administrations are NextGen.

When does the legacy UBE retire?

February 2028 is the final administration of the legacy UBE (MBE, MEE, MPT). After that, only the NextGen UBE is offered. From July 2028 forward, NextGen is the sole format for participating jurisdictions.

Are my existing legacy UBE scores still valid in a NextGen jurisdiction?

Yes, in most cases. Most participating jurisdictions accept scores from both the legacy UBE and the NextGen UBE during the transition. NCBE has generated a concordance table to make scores comparable between the two formats. Your receiving jurisdiction's bar admission authority applies the concordance — you do not need to convert anything yourself. Check the specific score transfer rules in the jurisdiction you are seeking admission in for age limits and any transfer requirements.

What is the NextGen passing score?

There is no single passing score across jurisdictions. NCBE reports a single blended scaled score on the 500–750 scale, but each jurisdiction sets its own passing threshold within that range. Check your jurisdiction's bar admission rules for the cut score that applies to you. Most jurisdictions have not yet published their NextGen cut score as of this writing.

Is every jurisdiction adopting NextGen?

No. Not every jurisdiction is adopting the NextGen UBE — a handful are keeping their own jurisdiction-specific bar exams. The NextGen redesign does not affect candidates sitting in a non-adopting jurisdiction. Always check your jurisdiction's board of bar examiners for what applies to you.

If I fail the NextGen, can I retake the legacy UBE?

Not in a Wave 1 jurisdiction. Retakes follow the jurisdiction's exam calendar — if you sat NextGen in July 2026 in a Wave 1 jurisdiction, your February 2027 retake in that jurisdiction is also NextGen. You can sit a different jurisdiction's exam on its administration date, but the version is whatever that jurisdiction is administering at that time.

Is the NextGen score portable across jurisdictions?

Yes, between NextGen jurisdictions. NCBE's official position is that a NextGen UBE score earned in any jurisdiction has the same meaning as any other NextGen UBE score. The scaled score transfers; each receiving jurisdiction then applies its own passing threshold and score transfer rules (including any age limits on transferred scores).

JD Simplified publishes factual NextGen resources based on verified NCBE materials. This article reflects the exam structure and jurisdiction list as of May 2026. Wave 2 and Wave 3 adoption dates are confirmed by individual jurisdictions; check ncbex.org and your state board of bar examiners website for the most current official information.

  • #NextGen Bar Exam
  • #Bar Prep
  • #NCBE
  • #Wave 1 Jurisdictions
  • #Score Portability
  • #Bar Exam Strategy

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