July bar exam pass rate nearly 80%

Just under 80% of test takers who sat for the July Virginia Bar Exam passed the test, according to data released Oct. 10 from the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners.

Of the 611 total candidates who sat for the exam, 467 passed the test and have met all requirements for bar admission and are licensed effective Oct. 10. An additional 19 candidates passed the test but appeared on the “blue list” due to outstanding requirements for admission to the bar.

The 79.54% overall passage rate is five and a half percentage points higher than the July 2024 exam, which saw a 73.9% pass rate. Aside from the July 2020 exam – where the 87.47% pass rate was the highest pass rate since 1999 – July bar exams have generally ranged between 71% and 76% since 2016.

Aside from the 2020 outlier score, the July 2025 exam saw the highest July exam pass rate since 2008, where 79.7% of candidates passed the exam.

Of first-time test takers, 84.85% passed the exam, up sharply from the 77.33% passage rate of first-time test takers from 2024 and the 77.24% rate from 2023.

The University of Virginia School of Law led the commonwealth’s law schools with a 95% overall passage rate and a perfect passage rate among first-time test takers. The VBBE does not share how many candidates each school had sit for the exam.

Washington and Lee University joined U.Va. with an overall passage rate of over 90%, while most of Virginia’s law schools had a first-time test taker passage rate of 85% or greater.

An admission and orientation ceremony for July 2025 bar passers will be held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Dec. 3. The ceremony will be hosted by the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia State Bar Young Lawyers Section.

The February 2026 bar exam will be held on Feb. 24 and 25 at a to-be-determined location. The filing deadline for the exam is Dec. 15.