Almost 65 percent of candidates who took the South Carolina bar exam in February passed, with the University of South Carolina School of Law rebounding from its less-than-stellar 2018 pass rate and the Charleston School of Law inching up over last year’s.
Of the 42 USC graduates who took the exam, 30 passed, a success rate of 71.4 percent. In 2018, when 43 USC grads took the exam, the pass rate was just 41.86 percent.
The candidates took the Uniform Bar Exam, a standardized bar exam that produces a score lawyers can show to apply for bar admission in other states. The best possible score is a 400. South Carolina, which began administering the UBE in February 2017, requires a score of 266 to pass.
“Obviously we are pleased by the improvement in the February passage rate,” said Robert Wilcox, dean of USC’s law school. “Not only did our first-time takers do well, as they usually do, but those who had failed the exam at least once before appear to have passed this time at a much higher rate than last year. I have to give the most credit for the passage rates to those who took the exam and were well prepared. We also offer bar preparation assistance to all of our graduates, and I think those efforts helped.”
Of the 50 CSOL graduates who took the exam, 17 passed, a success rate of 34 percent, slightly up from 32.8 percent in 2018. Test takers from out-of-state law schools had a 74 percent pass rate, with 127 candidates sitting for the exam and 94 passing.
In all, of the 219 candidates who took the exam, 141 (64.38 percent) passed, up from 55.08 percent last February.
“February has a much higher population of repeat takers, and unfortunately, repeat takers, statistically speaking, don’t pass the bar at a high rate,” said Dyann Margolis, assistant dean of academic and bar success at the CSOL. “We are working really hard to get the numbers up.”
That includes putting the law school’s academic and bar success programs under one umbrella. First-year orientation at the law school is more intensive, lasting four days and ending with a final exam. Those who don’t do well on the exam are given extra help, and students are paired with second- and third-year law students who act as mentors. The school also offers students a two-week-long bar “boot camp” just before they take the exam.
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