The Florida Bar Exam passage rate for the online exam given in July ticked downward compared to results prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, both for first-time test takers and all takers, the just-released results show.
The pass rate for all takers of the July exam was 44.4%, down from 47% for the in-person test administered in July 2019, according to data released Sept. 20 by the Florida Supreme Court. And among first-time test takers, the average passage rate in July was 71.6%, down from 73.9% in July 2019.
Among the first-time test takers, graduates from Florida International University College of Law had the highest July pass rate, 88.8%, among law schools in the state. The university’s July bar exam passage rate has been tops in the state for years, according to the law school’s dean, Antony Page.
“We’ve actually been doing very well on the bar for about seven years,” Page told the Florida Record. “... Essentially, we teach students how to be expert students. We use principles of cognitive learning science to help students to better study and better learn.”
Associate Dean Louis Schulze and Raul Ruiz, assistant dean of bar preparation, were instrumental in bringing the emphasis on cognitive science to the law school, according to Page.
“We have an optional course in the first semester,” he said. “It’s teaching them how to be good law students.
The school, which Page said also has a vigorous legal writing program, encourages students to become “self-regulated learners.” A majority of the law school’s students come from minority communities and are the first generation in their families to attend college, he said.
“We’ve consistently been 18 to 20 percentage points above state average for first-time takers,” Page said, noting that the school also provides mentors to graduates to help them pass the bar.
More than 80% of graduates from the University of Florida College of Law and University of Miami School of Law also passed the July bar exam, according to the released results.
The swearing in of those who passed the exam will take place on Oct. 13.