Why Bar Passage Rates Vary: What the 25-Percent Spread Actually Measures
Schools with first-time passage below 60% report a median LSAT of 149 and admit 51 percent of applicants. Passage tracks selectivity, cost, and GPA across every band.
Which data year this uses
The passage rates are the 2025 ABA Standard 509 reporting cycle, covering first-time attempts in 2025 and the two-year rate for the class of 2024. These are recalculated each cycle, so for a fall 2027 application, read the pattern rather than the individual percentages.
Bar passage rates across ABA schools range from 44.9 percent to 99.4 percent — a spread of more than fifty points. The instinctive reading is that some schools simply teach law better. The data suggests something more structural: passage tracks almost everything else about a school, including how selective it is and what it charges.
What a first-time passage rate is
The share of first-time takers from a given sitting who pass that administration. It is not the same as ultimate passage, which counts later attempts by the same graduates and typically runs much higher. A low first-time rate can reflect a difficult bar jurisdiction as much as weak preparation, which is why the numbers below are grouped by school characteristics rather than treated as a quality ranking.
The distribution
Grouping schools by first-time passage shows how wide the spread actually is.
| First-time passage | Schools | Median LSAT | Median tuition | Median GPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90–100% | 52 | 168 | $59,084 | 3.88 |
| 80–89% | 67 | 160 | $55,328 | 3.71 |
| 70–79% | 50 | 155 | $42,000 | 3.53 |
| 60–69% | 17 | 152 | $45,333 | 3.36 |
| Below 60% | 8 | 149 | $33,900 | 3.31 |
ABA Standard 509, 2025 cycle, 194 schools reporting a first-time passage rate. Medians computed within each passage band.
The gradient is consistent
Median LSAT rises from 149 in the lowest band to 168 in the highest. Median GPA rises from 3.31 to 3.88. Median tuition rises from $33,900 to $59,084. Every measure moves in the same direction, which is the finding: low passage rates cluster at schools that are less selective, cheaper, and admit a larger share of their applicants.
The two ends compared directly
Comparing the extremes makes the pattern concrete.
| Measure | Below 70% passage | 90%+ passage |
|---|---|---|
| Schools | 25 | 52 |
| Median LSAT | 150 | 167 |
| Median acceptance rate | 51.0% | 21.7% |
ABA Standard 509, 2025 cycle. Acceptance rate is the median of each group's school-level rates.
Schools below 70 percent passage admit roughly half of their applicants and enroll students with a median LSAT of 150. Schools at 90 percent or better admit 21.7 percent and enroll a median 167. These are not schools that failed to teach law well despite good students. They are schools that admit a wider range of students.
Which states produce the low numbers
Bar difficulty varies substantially by jurisdiction, and a school's reported rate depends on where its graduates sit. Several of the lowest reported rates belong to schools in Puerto Rico and Ohio, where the bar exams are among the more demanding.
| School | First-time passage | Median LSAT |
|---|---|---|
| Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | 44.9% | 139 |
| Cooley Law School | 51.5% | 147 |
| Appalachian School of Law | 54.8% | 146 |
| Inter American University of Puerto Rico | 56.0% | 144 |
| Ohio Northern University | 56.4% | 149 |
| District of Columbia, University of | 57.9% | 151 |
| Barry University | 58.9% | 150 |
| North Carolina Central University | 59.4% | 151 |
ABA Standard 509, 2025 cycle. The eight schools reporting first-time passage below 60 percent.
Read the rate with its jurisdiction in mind
A 44.9 percent rate in Puerto Rico is not comparable to a 44.9 percent rate in a state with an easier exam. When comparing schools, the comparison that matters is the rate against the state average for the same sitting, not against the national average. Our bar passage guide covers this in more detail.
What actually drives it
- Preparation and academic support
The clearest mechanism. Schools with higher entering credentials generally provide more structured preparation, more clinicals, and more academic support. This part is a real instructional difference, not just a selection effect.
- Jurisdiction
Which bar exam graduates take changes the denominator substantially. Two schools with identical preparation can report rates twenty points apart because their graduates sit in different states.
- Who gets admitted
The dominant factor in the aggregate data. A school admitting 51 percent of applicants is admitting students it would otherwise not admit, and some of those students will not pass on the first attempt.
- Screening out near-misses
Schools with strong academic support often identify students unlikely to pass on the first sitting and advise them on timing. Those students take the exam later, which moves the failure out of this cycle's numerator rather than reducing it.
The honest summary is that the variation reflects a mix of instruction, jurisdiction, and intake — with the intake effect large enough to show up clearly in aggregate data. An applicant using this as a school-selection criterion should weight it accordingly: it is a real risk indicator, but a risk about jurisdiction and cohort rather than a measure of instructional quality.
Questions we get asked
What is the highest bar passage rate among law schools?
The highest first-time passage rates in the 2025 disclosures reach 99.4 percent. Fifty-two schools report a first-time rate of 90 percent or higher, with a median LSAT of 168 and a median acceptance rate of 21.7 percent. Each school's jurisdiction matters when comparing figures, since the national average reflects a mix of exam difficulty levels.
What is the lowest bar passage rate?
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico reports the lowest first-time rate in the dataset at 44.9 percent, at a school with a 139 median LSAT. Eight schools report below 60 percent, and their median LSAT is 149 against a national median of 155–159.
Do low passage rates mean a school is not worth attending?
It is a risk signal, but not a quality judgment. The lowest-passage schools admit roughly half their applicants, which means the cohort includes students admitted on academic profile alone. The figure describes that intake and its outcome, not the instruction. Judge a school on curriculum, clinics, and the specific programs you intend to use.
How is this different from ultimate passage rate?
First-time passage counts only the first sitting. Ultimate passage counts all attempts by the same graduates, including later ones, and typically runs substantially higher. A school with a 60 percent first-time rate may have an ultimate rate in the seventies. The two measure different things, and schools with strong academic support often look better on ultimate than first-time because they advise borderline students on timing.
How much does the LSAT cost, and can I take it more than once?
Registration is $253 for the 2026–2027 testing year and includes LSAT Argumentative Writing. LSAC limits sittings to five within the current reportable score period and seven over a lifetime, with no per-year cap; cancelled scores count toward both limits. Need-based fee waivers cover registration for eligible applicants, and a Tier 1 waiver can cover up to two LSATs within the waiver period.
All figures come from the ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosures for the 2025 reporting cycle and describe the fall 2025 entering class. First-time passage rates are institution-reported and correspond to specific bar sittings; 194 of 196 schools report a figure. Rates are not directly comparable across jurisdictions, and medians within each band are computed from the schools reporting that band. This article is educational and is not admissions advice.
Sources
- ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosures, 2025 reporting cycle — bar passage, LSAT/GPA percentiles, tuition, and acceptance rates for 196 ABA-approved law schools
Figures reflect the most recent published data available as of October 27, 2026. Always confirm current policy on lsat.lsac.org.