Results for July 2018 California Bar Exam have been released. Historically low overall pass rate.

[Progressive Law]

http://www.calbar.ca.gov/About-Us/News-Events/News-Releases/state-bar-releases-july-2018-bar-exam-results

"Today the State Bar of California released the results of the July 2018 California Bar Exam, and announced that 3,284 people (40.7 percent of applicants) passed the General Bar Exam. The pass rate for first-time applicants was 55 percent. If those applicants satisfy all other requirements for admission, they will be eligible to be licensed by the State Bar to practice law in California. The mean scaled Multistate Bar Examination score on the July 2018 Bar Exam in California was 1404 compared with the national average of 1395."

[PSPS]

1. They passed Orly Taitz in 2002, so maybe they've started testing seriously now.

[More_Cowbell]

2. You can take the CA bar exam without even going to law school

Or by attending a school that's accredited by the state bar association but not the ABA (so you must generally practice only in California). The ABA is pretty political, and its reasons for not accrediting schools aren't necessarily reasons that hurt students. For instance, you have to have a certain number of full-time faculty, whereas many of the Cal bar-accredited schools have teachers who are practicing lawyers.

But once you fail the first time, your odds are pretty bad; there's a 16% pass rate for people who are retaking the test, according to that story.