If you’re graduating in the next few years, you might have a choice between taking the traditional UBE or waiting for the NextGen bar exam. But which one is right for you?
This isn’t a theoretical question anymore. The NextGen launch is in July 2026, less than a year away. And depending on where you want to practice and when you’re graduating, you may need to make this decision sooner than you think.
The Timeline You Need to Know
Let’s start with the facts. The first group of jurisdictions will administer the NextGen bar exam in July 2026. That includes Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington, along with some non-state jurisdictions outside the continental United States.
This means that if you’re a retaker or an attorney applicant who’s not about to graduate from law school, February 2026 the last time that the current UBE will be administered throughout the U.S. After that, things get more complicated.
The rollout continues in waves, with additional jurisdictions shifting to NextGen in July 2027, February 2028, and July 2028. That July 2028 date is the final deadline—after that, there will be no more standard UBE offered. At this time, only eight U.S. states have not announced that they will be using the NextGen exam, but half of those currently use the UBE.
Who Should Stick with the Legacy UBE?
If you’ve been killing it with memorization in law school, the legacy UBE might be your best bet. Were you the person who could memorize outlines and crush issue spotters? Your law school training has prepared you for exactly this type of exam.
Strong memorizers have a real advantage on the Legacy UBE
If you have something close to a photographic memory, or you’re just really good at cramming information and applying it under pressure, you’re probably going to be closer to the top of the curve on the traditional exam.
Retakers Should Usually Stay the Course
Already failed the UBE once? In most cases, stick with what you know. You’ve studied for this exam, you understand the format, you’ve had the experience, and you may have leftover study materials. Unless there’s a compelling reason to switch (discussed below), it makes sense to work with what you’ve already built.
Your law school curriculum was designed to prepare you for the Legacy UBE, not the NextGen. You have that foundation—use it. Besides, the Legacy UBE is going to come with fewer MEE subjects, which might really help you out.
Foreign-Trained Attorneys Face Extra Challenges
If you’re a foreign-trained attorney, the Legacy UBE is probably the safer choice right now. Yes, there’s more law to memorize, but the amount of reading on the NextGen is significant. If English isn’t your first language, that reading volume can be intimidating.
It can also be challenging to understand what some of the NextGen questions are even asking. So, if you completed an LLM program that didn’t specifically prepare you for this type of skills-based testing, the traditional format may feel more familiar.
The Predictability Problem
Here’s something most people don’t talk about enough: we really don’t know what the NextGen is going to look like in practice. We have decades of data on UBE pass rates, study strategies, timing, and what to expect. We have practice questions. We know exactly how it works.
The NextGen? It’s not a known entity. While bar prep companies are working as fast as they can, there are a limited number of practice questions available, and no one has taken this yet in a “regular” exam setting.
Time Management Gets Complicated
On the Legacy UBE, time management is straightforward. Every 30 minutes you move to another essay. Every 90 minutes you’re done with a performance test. Three-hour multiple-choice sessions. You can create clear strategies so you don’t lose track of time.
The NextGen’s integrated question sets don’t work like that. We can’t confidently tell you exactly how to divide your time on a 24-minute integrated question set. If you struggle with timing during tests, the clear structure of the Legacy UBE is a real advantage.
The Devil You Know
If you have anxiety around change (and, let’s be honest, that describes most lawyers), there’s something to be said for taking the exam you understand. The NextGen will be completely computer-based with no scratch paper. Your law school wasn’t designed to prep you for it. The transition could add unnecessary stress.
If you have a job offer contingent on passing by a certain date, and you have flexibility in choosing a jurisdiction, just get the Legacy UBE done. This is the more predictable path, and it gets you to your goal of being licensed as quickly as possible.
Who Should Plan for the NextGen?
That said, the NextGen isn’t necessarily harder—it’s just different. And for some people, it might actually be easier.
Practical, Skills-Oriented Students
If you’re someone who thinks like a practicing attorney rather than a law student, the NextGen could play to your strengths. Did you thrive in clinics and externships? Do you excel at practical legal writing? The NextGen emphasizes client counseling, research, and real-world application.
We all had friends in law school who didn’t excel academically but are now amazing practicing attorneys. They’re good at the practical skills part—they just didn’t thrive in traditional testing environments. If that’s you, lean into it.
When Memorization Is Your Weakness
Career-changers who went back to law school often tell us memorizing volumes of information is challenging because they’re out of practice. Law school itself is hard for that reason. If you really struggle with memorization, a bar exam that’s less memorization-heavy could be a relief.
Now, it’s unclear exactly what “less memorization” means, but it should be somewhere around 60-70% of the Legacy UBE’s memorization requirement. That’s still less than 100%.
If you didn’t take many bar classes in law school—maybe you focused on child advocacy work and took electives to feed into that—you might prefer a test that doesn’t require tons of information on subjects you have no interest in learning.
Early Adopter Jurisdictions
If you’re graduating in spring 2026 and you know you want to practice in Washington, Oregon, or Connecticut, this decision is simple: take the NextGen. That’s your test.
You know that if you get a high enough score, you’ll be admitted in that state. That’s what you need. Don’t overthink it.
The Portability Question Nobody Can Answer
One of the UBE’s biggest advantages has always been portability—you pass it, you get a score, and you can use that score in any UBE jurisdiction for years. Clean and simple.
What happens when some jurisdictions use the NextGen and others still use the Legacy UBE? We don’t know. The NCBE has been saying things like “We hope” or “We expect” these scores will be portable, but they haven’t confirmed exactly how this will work.
The new scoring system ranges from 500 to 750 (yes, like a credit score), and NextGen states haven’t announced their cutoffs yet. If you’ve been planning to forum-shop for a friendly jurisdiction with a lower cutoff, this transition complicates that strategy significantly.
Real-World Scenarios: What Should You Do?
Let’s walk through some actual situations.
Sarah is a 2L. She wants to practice corporate law in Manhattan. New York isn’t in the first wave of NextGen adopters. She’s always been a strong memorizer but struggled with practical skills courses.
Sarah should take the Legacy UBE in New York as soon as possible. She plays to her strengths (memorization), sits in the state where she wants to be licensed, avoids the uncertainty of being in an early wave, and can get licensed as quickly as possible. Easy decision.
Mike is a 3L graduating this spring. He wants to practice in Washington, which is adopting the NextGen in July 2026. He has lots of clinic experience, did well in legal writing, and has worked in client services.
Mike should take the NextGen in Washington. He’s likely to do well on skill-based components, he’ll have less to memorize, his practical skills give him an advantage, and most importantly—this is the test in the state where he wants to practice. He should talk to his law school and bar prep company about preparation, but he shouldn’t look back.
Jessica is a retaker who failed July 2025 UBE. Her target jurisdiction adopts the NextGen in February 2027. Should she retake the UBE in 2026 or wait for the NextGen?
Jessica should take the Legacy UBE. She can evaluate what went wrong, she has study materials, she understands the format. Don’t change too much. Work with what you’ve already done. If that doesn’t go well the second time, then reevaluate—but for the first retake, stick with the UBE.
Don’t Get Lost in the Reddit Rabbit Hole
It’s tempting to dive into Reddit threads where people speak with authority about the NextGen. But there are still many open questions, and much of that “authority” is speculation.
Be cautious about feedback from people who took practice tests and said they were easy—they never got their scores. They also typically took those tests after full Legacy UBE prep, so they didn’t experience the actual NextGen preparation process.
If you’re nervous, speak to trusted experts. Utilize your law school resources instead of getting lost in online speculation.
The Bottom Line
Here’s what you need to remember: people are going to pass both tests. It’s probably going to be about the same percentage of people. If you’re someone who’s always done fine on standardized tests, you’ll probably do fine on either one.
But if you’re in an edge case—if memorization is a real struggle, or if timing issues have plagued you, or if you’re exceptionally practical-minded—then there may be real pros and cons to one exam versus the other.
Focus on where you want to be licensed. Look at the timeline for your target jurisdiction. Evaluate your personal strengths honestly. Consider whether you need the predictability of the Legacy UBE or whether the NextGen’s different approach might actually help you.
And, whatever you decide, commit to it. Don’t second-guess yourself based on internet chatter. Make an informed decision based on your specific situation, then put your energy into preparing as well as you possibly can.
The bar exam is hard no matter which version you take. But with the right strategy for your circumstances, you can absolutely pass.
Want more on this topic? Check out our podcast episode discussing the Legacy UBE vs. NextGen.
Ready to pass the bar exam? Get the support and accountability you need with personalized one-on-one bar exam tutoring or one of our economical courses and workshops. We’re here to help!
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