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This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Spring 2026 (Vol. 95, No. 1), pp. 4–5.

By Judith A. Gundersen

Springing Forward

As I write this column, daylight saving time looms ahead of us. Losing an hour over the weekend isn’t ideal, but I do look forward to gaining an extra hour of evening sunshine. After a long Wisconsin winter, that sign of spring feels especially welcome.

While all of us at NCBE are keeping abreast of the near-constant stream of news in the legal education and bar admissions spaces, our focus remains steady: analyzing the results of the January NextGen UBE Beta exam, scoring the February bar exam, and making final preparations for the July launch of the new exam in ten jurisdictions. Here is a recap of some of NCBE’s activities in 2026 so far.

AALS Annual Meeting

NCBE Chair-Elect Augustin Rivera, Jr. (Texas) and I attended the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting in New Orleans early in January. Kudos to AALS for an excellent conference.

We attended a session on the NextGen UBE featuring Professor Jon Lee, NCBE Distinguished Scholar in Residence (University of Oklahoma); Professor Hemanth Gundavaram (Northeastern University); and Susan Landrum, Executive Director of Academic Success and Bar Programs at Fordham University. The session was well attended, and we were pleased to engage with participants and answer their thoughtful questions about the exam.

NCBE also hosted a booth at the meeting. An outstanding team represented us: Ellen Embertson, Director of Education; Sonja Olson, Associate Director of Assessment Development; Dan Capogna, Director of Marketing; Graeme Gallagher, Marketing Administrative Assistant; and Sadie Boss, Senior Testing Accommodations Implementation Specialist. All were excellent ambassadors for NCBE. Their conversations with law school faculty and staff provided valuable insights that will help us better serve these crucial stakeholders and their students.

NextGen Beta Administration

Augie and I left AALS a bit early to observe one of the NextGen Beta test sites at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas, with more than 300 individuals who sat for the July 2025 exam participating. We are grateful to Dean Jason P. Nance and the SMU team for giving us the opportunity to use their facilities.

We also invited administrators from all jurisdictions to observe Beta sites across participating law schools. At SMU, admissions office staff from 15 jurisdictions attended. Many assisted with proctoring and supervising exam rooms; others observed the Beta exam in action.

Danielle Moreau, NCBE’s Director of Project Management, led this Dallas administration in partnership with Nahdiah Hoang, Executive Director of the Texas Board of Law Examiners, and her capable staff. Their leadership and preparation were instrumental to the successful event.

As you’ll read elsewhere in this issue—and in both the published and forthcoming Beta reports—the administration was an unqualified achievement. The quality of the content, the scoring process, the administration logistics, and the candidate experience all met or exceeded our expectations. Jurisdiction graders have now completed grading the constructed-response portions of the exam. We look forward to publicly releasing the full Beta technical results in early May; a first report highlighting the candidate experience and system performance is available at www.ncbex.org/news-resources/nextgen-ube-beta-test-demonstrates-strong-performance.

February Bar Exam

The major story surrounding the February bar exam was the once-in-a-generation snowstorm that blanketed much of the East Coast just days before the exam was scheduled to begin.

Under the current national administration model, postponing the exam or offering a retake presents significant challenges. Any postponement must occur on the same day nationwide, and securing alternate sites on short notice—particularly for large jurisdictions—is extraordinarily difficult.

Thanks to extensive contingency planning, hard work, and clear communication with candidates, most jurisdictions were able to proceed as scheduled. Only two sites in two states needed to make adjustments. Instead of beginning on Tuesday, these sites administered the MBE on Wednesday and the MEE and MPT on Thursday. Although not ideal, this was far preferable to canceling those administrations and denying candidates the opportunity to test.

As always, NCBE will conduct appropriate research and analysis to ensure that the integrity of the exam was not compromised by these pivots.

Looking ahead, as the NextGen UBE matures, we are actively preparing to offer jurisdictions greater flexibility via testing windows. This approach will help ensure that significant weather events or other emergencies do not derail applicants’ opportunities to sit for the exam on their planned timeline. We already use a similar model for the MPRE, where candidates affected by emergencies are routinely offered the opportunity to take a makeup test within days of their originally scheduled date.

NextGen UBE Study Resources and Launch

As we approach the inaugural NextGen UBE administration, NCBE is pleased to expand our catalog of study resources available to examinees and legal educators.

We now offer 12 hours of NextGen UBE practice sets, representing four 3-hour blocks of content. In addition, we have released three supplemental study aids focused specifically on multiple-choice questions and integrated question sets. Examinees who purchase these materials will engage with them on the same platform that will deliver the actual exam, allowing candidates to become more familiar and comfortable with the testing environment.

We also continue to provide numerous free resources on our website, including sample questions and answers, a NextGen UBE Constructed Response Guide, and other reference materials designed to support both candidates and law school faculty during this transition. These materials can be found at ncbex.org/exams/nextgen/preparing-nextgen-ube.

As we spring forward, we remain focused on thoughtful preparation, careful analysis, and clear communication. The months ahead will be busy but also energizing. With the Beta results in hand and the launch approaching, we are confident that the groundwork laid over the past several years is positioning the NextGen UBE for a strong, successful debut.

Until the next issue,

Signature of Judy Gundersen