MPRE passing scores range from 75 to 86, depending on the jurisdiction. California and Utah require the highest score, 86. Twenty-one jurisdictions require 85, twenty require 80, Tennessee requires 82, New Hampshire 79, and South Carolina 77. Eight jurisdictions use 75. Wisconsin and Puerto Rico do not require the MPRE.
There are two important exceptions to the simple “take the MPRE and hit the number” rule: Connecticut and New Jersey accept qualifying law-school professional-responsibility coursework in lieu of a passing MPRE score. And even when two jurisdictions require the same score, they may impose different timing rules on when that score must be earned.
NCBE reports MPRE scores on a 50–150 scale. A required score of 85 does not mean 85% correct, and there is no fixed number of questions that always produces an 85. NCBE equates each administration for difficulty, so the raw-to-scaled conversion varies.
| Required MPRE score | Jurisdictions |
|---|---|
| 75 | Alabama, District of Columbia, Georgia, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Palau, Virgin Islands |
| 77 | South Carolina |
| 79 | New Hampshire |
| 80 | Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands |
| 82 | Tennessee |
| 85 | Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming |
| 86 | California, Utah |
| Not required | Wisconsin, Puerto Rico |
This grouping is based on NCBE’s latest nationwide MPRE score compilation and its current jurisdiction materials. NCBE’s current 2026 UBE-requirements table confirms the same scores for the UBE jurisdictions it covers. Jurisdictions control their own admission rules and can change them, so your jurisdiction’s current admissions page remains the final authority.
Twenty-one jurisdictions currently use 85: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
This is the largest “high-score” group, but do not overread the difference between 80 and 85. The MPRE is scaled and equated. A five-point difference in the required scaled score is not equivalent to “five more questions correct.”
Twenty jurisdictions use 80: Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Connecticut is unusual because it also permits qualifying professional-responsibility coursework as an alternative to the MPRE. Check the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee’s current requirements before relying on the course route.
Alabama, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Palau, and the Virgin Islands use 75.
New Jersey also permits qualifying law-school ethics coursework in lieu of the MPRE. That means a New Jersey applicant should not assume the 75 score is the only route to satisfying the professional-responsibility requirement.
California and Utah require 86, the highest current minimum. No jurisdiction requires a score above 86.
The next tier is 85, used by twenty-one jurisdictions. The unusual values worth remembering are South Carolina at 77, New Hampshire at 79, and Tennessee at 82.
Wisconsin and Puerto Rico are the two US jurisdictions that do not require the MPRE. NCBE’s current MPRE page states that all other US jurisdictions use the exam, subject to the Connecticut and New Jersey course-substitution rules.
Do not confuse “the MPRE is not required” with “there is no professional-responsibility requirement.” Admission rules can include other jurisdiction-specific requirements.
Your legal requirement is the minimum set by the jurisdiction where you are seeking admission. Your study target should include some cushion because you cannot know the exact raw-to-scaled conversion in advance.
For example, if your jurisdiction requires 85, there is little strategic value in aiming for an exact predicted 85 on practice material. The more sensible objective is to develop enough command of the tested rules and enough margin in practice that ordinary test-form variation does not place you on the edge.
There is also no admissions bonus for a dramatically higher MPRE score. Once you satisfy your jurisdiction’s requirement, law-firm hiring and bar admission generally do not reward a 120 instead of a 90. This is a minimum-competency licensing requirement, not a prestige score.
This is the most common misunderstanding about MPRE scores.
The exam has 60 multiple-choice questions: 50 scored questions and 10 unscored pretest questions. NCBE does not publish a universal raw-score conversion because it uses equating to adjust for differences in difficulty between administrations. The scaled score ranges from 50 to 150.
NCBE explicitly says it is not possible to determine in advance exactly how many questions must be answered correctly to earn a particular scaled score. So tables that say “you need exactly X out of 50 for an 85” should be treated as estimates, not official conversions.
There is no single national expiration period. Each jurisdiction decides how old an MPRE score can be when you seek admission.
That matters if you take the MPRE early in law school, delay the bar exam, transfer a score, seek admission years later, or change jurisdictions. NCBE’s score-service system can report MPRE scores earned in 1999 or later, but that does not mean every jurisdiction will accept a score that old.
Before relying on an old score, use NCBE’s jurisdiction directory and then confirm the timing rule with the admitting authority.
Your MPRE registration includes reporting the score to the jurisdiction you designate during registration. If you later need to send the score somewhere else—or did not designate a jurisdiction—you can request an additional MPRE Score Report through your NCBE Account.
NCBE currently charges $30 per additional MPRE Score Report, and says requests are ordinarily processed the next business day after payment once scores have been released.
Check the receiving jurisdiction’s maximum-age rule before paying for the report.
Use the highest requirement among the jurisdictions you realistically expect to pursue. If one target jurisdiction requires 86 and another requires 80, a score of 83 does not become “close enough” for the 86 jurisdiction.
Also compare timing rules, not only score numbers. A score can be high enough numerically and still be too old under a jurisdiction’s admission rule.
NCBE calculates a scaled score from 50 to 150 using equating. Equating adjusts for differences in difficulty from one test form to another so that the same scaled score is intended to represent comparable performance across administrations.
This has two practical consequences:
The best timing is a balance between preparation, your jurisdiction’s score-age rule, and the rest of your law-school calendar. Many students take it after Professional Responsibility because the course overlaps with the tested subject matter, but a course is not required nationally to sit for the exam.
For the current calendar, see our 2026–2027 MPRE dates and registration guide. If you are deciding among administrations rather than simply looking for dates, see our when to take the MPRE guide.
It depends on the jurisdiction. Current minimums range from 75 to 86. California and Utah require 86; many jurisdictions require 80 or 85.
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
No. MPRE scores are scaled from 50 to 150. NCBE equates each administration, so an 85 scaled score is not 85% correct and does not correspond to a fixed number of correct answers across all administrations.
Wisconsin and Puerto Rico. Connecticut and New Jersey still use the MPRE but permit qualifying professional-responsibility coursework as an alternative.
There is no national expiration rule. Each jurisdiction sets its own maximum-age or timing policy, so check the jurisdiction where you seek admission.
Passing-score groupings were checked against NCBE’s nationwide MPRE statistics and current jurisdiction materials, including the current UBE requirements table and current non-UBE requirements table. Exam structure and substitution rules come from NCBE’s MPRE overview. Score scale and equating come from NCBE’s MPRE scores page.
Jurisdictions control their own admission requirements. If a jurisdiction page and a general compilation ever conflict, use the admitting authority’s current rule and contact the authority if necessary.
Written by Ali Unar, Founder, Lovare Institut. Verified September 22, 2026.
September 20, 2026
September 20, 2026