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Welcome to Helix NextGen
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) – the organization responsible for development of the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE), Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), and Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) – is currently creating the NextGen bar exam, a new exam that will launch in July 2026.
But, Helix NextGen is NOW! The bar experts at Helix Bar Review are already at work creating Helix NextGen so that if (and if so, when) your jurisdiction adopts the NextGen bar exam, Helix will be there to help you prepare. Helix NextGen opens in March 2026.
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The NCBE Selects AccessLex Institute!
The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) has selected AccessLex Institute as its partner in the development of cutting-edge NextGen study aids.
Through this collaboration, official NextGen study aids — integrated question sets and multiple-choice questions crafted in the NextGen bar exam style — will be made available through NCBE’s licensing and direct-to-examinee programs. Read the NCBE’s press release.
With its expertise in the complexities of the NextGen bar exam, count on AccessLex to provide invaluable support to students preparing for the NextGen bar exam.
What You Need To Know About The NextGen Bar Exam
NextGen Focus Areas
The NextGen exam will focus on testing eight Foundational Concepts and Principles alongside seven Foundational Skills utilized by new lawyers in both litigation and transactional legal practice.
Foundational Concepts and Principles
NextGen will cover fewer subjects than are currently tested on the Uniform Bar Exam, which is comprised of the Multistate Essay Exam, the Multistate Performance Test, and the Multistate Bar Exam, and not all subjects will require rote memorization. For some questions, test takers will be provided legal resources (statutes, case law, etc.) that include the relevant rule needed to analyze the issue.
- Business Associations
- Civil Procedure
- Constitutional Law
- Contract Law
- Criminal Law
- Evidence
- Family Law
- Real Property
- Torts
For more detailed content outlines, including which topics will require an examinee to “rely solely on recalled knowledge” in order to answer questions, see the NextGen bar exam content scope.
Foundational Skills
The NextGen exam is also being designed to test a broader range of practical legal skills than the current Uniform Bar Exam.
In addition to assessing an examinee’s ability to apply fundamental legal principles and legal reasoning to a hypothetical set of facts and to competently complete legal writing or drafting tasks – skills that the UBE currently tests – the NextGen exam will also test an examinee’s ability to select appropriate lawyering strategies given a client’s particular circumstances, including weighing ethical implications of strategic choices, and their ability to identify and implement legal research strategies.
- Client Counseling and Advising
- Client Relationship and Management
- Investigation and Evaluation
- Issue Spotting and Analysis
- Legal Research
- Legal Writing
- Negotiation and Dispute Resolution
NextGen Exam Format
The NextGen exam will also be shorter than the UBE – nine hours of total testing instead of 12. The exam will be divided into three exam sessions lasting three hours each (six hours of testing on day one and a three-hour morning session on day two). During each session, examinees will answer integrated question sets, a performance task, and around 40 multiple-choice questions.
What You Need to Succeed
What You Need to Succeed
Trust Helix Bar Review and AccessLex to deliver what you need to succeed on the NextGen exam.
Helix NextGen will be there to help you prepare with:
Content Outlines
Videos
Live Skills Instruction and Webinars
Practice Questions
Skill-Building Assignments
Flashcards
The Helix Game Center
Flexible Study Schedules
And so much more!
Next Step for NextGen? Adoption by Jurisdictions.
The NextGen exam must be adopted by a jurisdiction before prospective attorneys will be tested in this format on the bar exam. And, at least for the first few administrations following the roll out of the NextGen exam, jurisdictions will continue to also administer the Uniform Bar Exam.
Keep an eye on the website for your jurisdiction’s bar admission agency for updates. Find the contact information for every state’s agency as well as a list of which NCBE-created exams have been adopted by each jurisdiction on the NCBE website.