Bar Exam Success Guide

Admission to the practice of law in Georgia is under the jurisdiction of two separate and distinct boards: the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants and the Board of Bar Examiners. To become eligible for admission to the State Bar of Georgia, an applicant must:

1. Be certified by the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants
2. Take and pass the Bar Examination administered by the Board of Bar Examiners (except those applicants eligible for Admission on Motion without Examination, Reinstatement or Foreign Law Consultants)
3. Meet all requirements set forth in the Rules Governing Admission to the Practice of Law in Georgia

Applicants wishing to take the Georgia Bar must fill out two applications: (1) an Application for Certification of Fitness to Practice Law prior to filling out the (2) Bar Exam Application.

(1) Applications for Certification of Fitness to Practice Law

Applications for Certification of Fitness to Practice Law must be filed with the Office of Bar Admissions. Fitness applications are processed on a first come, first served basis.  Unless an applicant's fitness to practice law is called into question, he or she will be permitted to apply to the Board of Bar Examiners to take the bar examination as requested. Click here to obtain information on filing an Application for Certification of Fitness to Practice Law.

Upon being satisfied that an applicant possesses the integrity and character requisite to be a member of the Bar of Georgia, the [Fitness] Board shall certify the applicant as fit to practice law. Certifications may be in the form of a letter to the applicant which shall include the certification's expiration date, which shall be five (5) years after the date issued.

(2) The Bar Examination Application

The Bar Examination Application is available only to applicants who hold a valid Certification of Fitness to Practice Law in Georgia. If your Application for Certification of Fitness is pending, then you are not yet eligible to receive a Bar Examination Application. In order sit for the Georgia Bar Examination, you must submit a Bar Examination Application to the Board of Bar Examiners.

The Bar Examination Application is available on-line. You may click here to request a Bar Examination Application.  The original Bar Examination Application MUST be completed and returned along with the appropriate charges to the Office of Bar Admissions. No reproductions of any kind will be accepted.  In addition, a separate Bar Examination Application and fee(s) are required for each administration of the bar examination. An application filed for one examination will not carry forward to the next.

The Georgia Bar Examination is offered in February and July. Click here to obtain information on the Bar Examination.

The two-day Georgia Bar Examination consists of three parts:

1. The Multistate Performance Test (MPT) prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and graded by the Georgia Board of Bar Examiners
2. Four (4) essay questions prepared and graded by the Georgia Board of Bar Examiners
3. The Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) prepared and graded by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. (The MBE is administered in virtually every state.)

An applicant shall have passed the Georgia Bar Examination if he or she obtains a total score of 270 on the exam. This score shall be the sum of the scaled score achieved on the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), the scaled score achieved on the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) and the scaled score achieved on the essay questions prepared by the Board of Bar Examiners. However, if an applicant does not achieve a scaled score of at least a 115 on the MBE, he or she will be deemed to have failed the exam; the essay and MPT answers will not be graded by the Board of Bar Examiners.

MPRE

The Board of Bar Examiners also require each applicant to pass the separately administered Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) with a scaled score of 75 or greater.