The NextGen Uniform Bar Exam

You have likely heard about the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam (NextGen UBE), the new bar exam by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which launches in July 2026. The NCBE designed the NextGen UBE to replace the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), which is currently administered as the licensing exam in the majority of states.

Over 45 jurisdictions plan to introduce the NextGen UBE between July 2026 and July 2028 and, beginning in July 2028, the current UBE and its components – the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), Multistate Essay Examination (MEE), and Multistate Performance Test (MPT) – will be discontinued.

Now that most jurisdictions have announced their intention to adopt the NextGen UBE, it is important to understand what will be tested and how, so that you can begin to build the skills and knowledge base needed to succeed on the bar exam. Let’s start with the high-level “need to know” facts about the NextGen UBE.

Content

First, here are the subjects you need to know. The good news is that there will be fewer subjects to study and less material to memorize on the NextGen UBE. The exam will cover the following subjects:

• Business Associations
• Civil Procedure
• Constitutional Law
• Contract Law
• Criminal Law and Constitutional Protections of Accused Persons
• Evidence
• Real Property
• Torts

Family Law will be added to this list in July 2028. Within these subjects, not all topics are created equal. You will be expected to know certain concepts at a deep level that requires memorization of elements, factors, and/or defenses, so that you can reason to a correct answer without the provision of any legal resources. The NCBE marks these topics with a star in the NextGen UBE Content Scope outline.

For other unstarred topics, you will need to identify when facts implicate a rule or recognize what topic is at issue, but if you’re asked an analytical question, you will be provided with a case, statute, or other source that outlines the specific law.

For certain lawyering skills, concepts related to Professional Responsibility will also be regularly tested on the NextGen UBE. To adequately prepare for these types of questions, the specific rules of professional ethics outlined in the Content Scope should be memorized as if they are starred topics.

Finally, the NCBE has also indicated that topics related to the subjects of Wills and Trusts will appear in the performance task section of the exam. It might be helpful to have a general understanding of this subject going into the exam, even though all relevant laws will be supplied within the Library of a performance task (more about this component explained below).

Skills

In addition to exhibiting knowledge of these subjects and applying that knowledge to facts, on the NextGen UBE, you will also need to demonstrate practical legal skills and appropriate legal strategies in hypothetical client situations, including:

• Client Counseling and Advising
• Client Relationship and Management
• Legal Research
• Legal Writing
• Issue Spotting and Analysis
• Investigation and Evaluation
• Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

Components

More good news – the NextGen UBE will also be shorter than most current bar exams. It will consist of nine hours of total testing broken down into three three-hour exam sessions over two days. Each exam session will consist of 40 multiple-choice questions (MCQ), two integrated question sets (IQS), and one performance task (PT). (Note: Your jurisdiction may include a state-specific exam segment on the afternoon of the second day of testing.) Let’s look at what each of these components entails.

Multiple-Choice Questions

The NextGen UBE multiple-choice questions look largely like the traditional multiple-choice questions you would see on the current MBE and may have experienced in law school. However, the NextGen UBE adds a new kind of MCQ: the issue-spotter. Unlike traditional MCQs, these questions are included not to test your analytical skills but to test your ability to spot the topic at issue in the fact pattern. Within each 40-question set of MCQs you will see both issue-spotter questions with four options and one correct answer, and questions with six options and two correct answers.

Integrated Question Sets

Integrated Question Sets are centered around a fact pattern that involves a fictional client matter. There are two types of Integrated Question Sets on the NextGen UBE – Counseling Sets and Drafting Sets.

Counseling Sets will take you through the progression of a case, asking a series of six multiple-choice and short-answer questions along the way. Counseling Sets are designed to assess certain skills (issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, client relationship and management) within two or three different subject areas.

Drafting Sets contain a question prompt with a medium length drafting or revision task designed to test your writing and editing skills in at least one subject area.

Performance Task

The performance task is similar in form but shorter in length than the performance test on the current UBE. It tests your skills in legal research, writing, and analysis. Similar to Integrated Question Sets, there are two types of Performance Tasks on the NextGen UBE: Traditional PTs and Legal Research PTs.

Traditional PTs begin with an Assignment Memo from a fictional supervisor and ask you to complete a long-form writing task – such as a persuasive brief or client letter. This is a closed universe assignment – meaning all the facts and rules that you need to complete the task are included in the PT’s File and Library.

Legal Research PTs are structured the same – closed universe with a Library and File – but these PTs, which focus more on legal research skills, include multiple-choice and short-answer questions as well as a medium-length writing assignment.

You can get better sense of what the NextGen UBE will look like with the NCBE’s sample questions.

Testing and Scoring

The NextGen UBE will be offered twice a year, on the last Tuesday and Wednesday in July and February. The exam is fully computer-based, which means that all components of the exam will be completed on your own laptop using NCBE software at an exam location selected by your jurisdiction. To practice with the software ahead of time, you can use the NCBE’s free preview of their exam software.

Each jurisdiction will determine their own passing score within the range set by the NCBE – from 500 to 750. The multiple-choice portion of the exam is worth 49% of the total score, the Integrated Question Sets are worth 21%, and the Performance Tasks are worth 30%. The NCBE will grade the multiple-choice questions, while the bar examiners in your jurisdiction will grade all other written components using a grading platform and rubrics created by the NCBE.

Like the UBE, there will be score portability within NextGen UBE jurisdictions (and, in many cases, UBE scores will also be portable to NextGen UBE jurisdictions, and vice versa, for a period). For updates on your jurisdiction’s passing score and score portability, consult your bar examiner’s website, which you can easily find through the NCBE’s Jurisdiction Information page.

Get NextGen Ready with Helix

Now that you have an idea of the big picture for the NextGen UBE, make sure to check back for future posts that dive deeper into the components of the NextGen UBE.

And when you’re ready to take serious steps toward passing, enroll in Helix NextGen. Developed by the bar success experts at AccessLex – the NCBE’s selected partner for NextGen UBE practice materials – Helix NextGen is built with unmatched alignment to the exam’s framework, focus areas, and integrated approach, providing exceptional curriculum, guidance, and strategies for success.