Welcome to Personalized NextGen Bar Prep

The NextGen UBE is the National Conference of Bar Examiners' (NCBE) updated version of the Uniform Bar Exam, built to better reflect how lawyers actually practice today. It blends foundational legal knowledge with the skills new attorneys use on day one: legal analysis, client counseling, investigation, and written advocacy. Learn more about the NextGen bar exam. 

The NextGen UBE launches in July 2026, with additional administrations following each subsequent exam cycle. Jurisdictions are transitioning on staggered timelines, so the exact start date depends on where you plan to sit for the bar. 

A growing list of jurisdictions has committed to the NextGen UBE, with more announcing adoption dates regularly. Because timelines vary by state, check your jurisdiction's board of bar examiners for the most current adoption status before you plan your prep. 

The NextGen UBE eliminates the separate MBE, MEE, and MPT structure in favor of an integrated exam that tests doctrinal knowledge and lawyering skills together. Expect fewer tested subjects, more realistic fact patterns, and a heavier focus on applied judgment. Here's a closer look at what changes the NextGen bar exam introduces. 

The NCBE redesigned the bar exam to better measure the competencies entry-level lawyers actually need. Years of practice-analysis research showed the traditional format overemphasized memorization and underweighted the practical skills that define real legal work. The NextGen UBE is the NCBE's response. 

The NextGen UBE tests a streamlined set of foundational subjects, including civil procedure, contracts, evidence, torts, criminal law, constitutional law, real property, and business associations, integrated with core lawyering skills. Get the full breakdown of what's tested on the NextGen bar exam. 

Anyone sitting for the bar in a jurisdiction that has adopted the NextGen UBE, starting on that jurisdiction's transition date. If your state hasn't switched yet, you'll take the current UBE until it does. Alternatively, some states may choose to keep or opt for jurisdiction-specific exams rather than adopting the NextGen UBE. 

The NextGen UBE uses three integrated question types: multiple-choice, short-answer, and performance-based item sets built around realistic client scenarios. Every question is designed to test both legal knowledge and lawyering skills. 

Yes. Multiple-choice questions remain a core part of the NextGen UBE. The key difference is that they're written to test applied reasoning and issue-spotting in realistic contexts, not just rule recall. 

Yes. Performance-based items are central to the NextGen UBE, placing you in the role of a junior attorney asked to analyze facts, review documents, provide counsel to a client, or draft written work product. 

The NextGen UBE emphasizes seven foundational lawyering skills, including legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship management. 

Legal analysis is tested through integrated item sets that ask you to apply doctrinal rules to realistic facts and reach defensible conclusions. You'll be evaluated on how you reason through ambiguity, prioritize issues, and communicate sound legal judgment. 

Yes. While doctrinal knowledge still matters, the NextGen UBE places substantially more weight on how you apply that knowledge, analyzing facts, counseling clients, and producing useful written work. 

Not easier — just different. The reduced subject list is balanced by deeper skills testing and more complex, integrated fact patterns that demand applied reasoning. Here's an honest look at the difficulty of the NextGen UBE. 

Yes. Foundational subjects remain the backbone of the exam. The NextGen UBE simply tests them through more realistic scenarios that pair doctrine with lawyering skills. 

BARBRI's NextGen Bar Review is a purpose-built course for the NCBE's redesigned exam, combining foundational law, integrated skills practice, and exam-realistic item sets. Explore the full course on our NextGen bar prep page. 

BARBRI blends targeted doctrinal review with deliberate practice on the seven NextGen lawyering skills, using NCBE-licensed item sets, performance-based tasks, and personalized study planning. The goal is simple: get you exam-ready on both what you know and what you can do. 

Yes. Every element of the course (content, questions, pacing, and skills practice) is designed around the NCBE's NextGen specifications, not retrofitted from a legacy course. 

Traditional bar prep is built around isolated MBE, MEE, and MPT practice. BARBRI's NextGen course integrates doctrine and skills the way the exam does, so your studying mirrors the way you'll actually be tested. 

Yes. BARBRI incorporates NCBE-released NextGen sample items alongside BARBRI-authored practice built to the same specifications, so you train on the most authentic material available. 

Through guided practice on realistic client scenarios, written feedback on performance tasks, and skills-focused lessons that teach the reasoning moves behind every correct answer. You’ll build habits, not just knowledge. 

BARBRI continuously aligns its content, question styles, and skills coverage to the NCBE's published NextGen specifications and sample materials, updating the course as new guidance is released. 

Only if you're sitting for an exam cycle where your jurisdiction has adopted the NextGen UBE. If you'll take the current UBE, stick with traditional bar prep. BARBRI offers both, matched to the exam you'll actually take. 

Start by confirming your jurisdiction's adoption timeline against your planned exam date. BARBRI advisors can help you match the right course to your jurisdiction and timeline so you're never preparing for the wrong exam. 

Any candidate sitting for the bar in a jurisdiction that has adopted the NextGen UBE on or before their exam date. If that's you, NextGen-specific prep is the right fit. 

Yes — especially for 2Ls in NextGen-adopting jurisdictions. Early preparation gives you more time to build the skills the NextGen UBE emphasizes, and BARBRI's early-start options are designed for exactly that. 

Absolutely. From 1L foundations through final bar review, BARBRI offers a full pathway. See how BARBRI can prepare you for the NextGen UBE at every stage of law school.