This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Winter 2025-2026 (Vol. 94, No. 4), pp. 4–5.By Judith A. Gundersen
Building the NextGen UBE: The Quietly Complex Work Behind the Future of the Bar Exam
Much of the public conversation surrounding the NextGen UBE has understandably centered on its content and framework: the redesigned skill-based structure, the integrated assessment approach, and the new question formats. These are, of course, critical components of the exam.
What is less visible—but every bit as essential—is the extensive systems work taking place behind the scenes to support this new generation of licensure testing. We have moved from the “this is what we need” phase to the “code complete” phase of NextGen systems development with the January Beta test just concluded. Approximately 1,500 candidates tested pre-exam systems from start to finish and then sat for a full-length administration.
NCBE has experience in transitioning an exam from a paper-based test to a computer-based test with the 2020 MPRE, albeit on a smaller scale. In 2018, we began preparing to shift the MPRE to digital delivery and administration at Pearson VUE test centers. On a weekend in March 2020—just days before most of the country shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic—we successfully launched the first MPRE administered via computer. Since that inaugural two-day administration, hundreds of thousands of examinees have taken MPRE exams in the past six years. Getting the MPRE to this point took just over two years’ work in close collaboration with Pearson VUE, which had experience making the same transition to digital with multiple other high-stakes testing clients.
As we prepare to launch the NextGen UBE, we have another strong technology partner: Internet Testing Systems. ITS tests millions of candidates a year, many of whom are taking high-stakes licensure exams like our examinees will.
The legal profession will experience the NextGen UBE primarily as an improved, modernized, and integrated doctrine and skills assessment. NCBE and ITS have been engaged in the meticulous, multifaceted, and often highly technical effort of building (and evolving) the digital ecosystem that will sustain it. Developing NextGen supporting systems is a project of unprecedented scope in the history of bar admissions.
The shift to the NextGen UBE requires a complete rethinking of how candidates and jurisdictions interact with NCBE. The new exam introduces new workflows, data structures, and operational needs. These cannot be handled through incremental updates to existing platforms; they require new, purpose-built systems that have been tested, refined, and retested again and again over the past year.
This transformation touches every point of the user journey. For candidates, this means redesigned ready-to-sit steps, secure content delivery, and updated score-reporting tools. For jurisdictions, it means modernized administrative dashboards, reporting functionality aligned with new exam components, and mechanisms for managing more dynamic interactions with candidates throughout the exam process.
The Challenge of Building Reliably for Thousands
NCBE’s mission to support the bar admissions process means building systems that must operate flawlessly under the most demanding conditions: high-volume traffic, fixed deadlines, and a zero-tolerance threshold for error. These systems must be intuitive enough for first-time candidates, robust enough for jurisdiction staff, and secure enough for all stakeholders involved.
That combination alone would be a significant challenge. The NextGen UBE adds layers of complexity:
- New data integrations and scoring models that require flexible and precise backend architectures; and
- Expanded need for real-time information sharing between NCBE and jurisdictions to support more dynamic exam and reporting processes.
What may look like a simple screen to a candidate or an administrator—a clean, clear dashboard or a score report—represents thousands of hours of development, review, correction, and revalidation.
Partnering with Jurisdictions Every Step of the Way
Jurisdictions are not simply end users of these systems; they are critical partners in their formation. Their needs and feedback provide the real-world perspective essential for creating or adapting tools to meet operational needs. Workshops, pilot groups, and regular meetings with administrators from each launch cohort and CBAA leadership have allowed us to incorporate practical insights early and often. There are multiple jurisdiction-focused NextGen webinars in the first quarter of 2026, with topics covering accommodations, exam-day logistics, grading and scoring, registration processes, and proctor responsibilities. We have dedicated July 2026 jurisdiction-only meetings as well to ensure a smooth launch. The Beta test was an excellent example of hands-on collaboration and will help us build on that success for the July 2026 launch and beyond.
This collaboration ensures that jurisdictions will be equipped not only with a new exam upon their first NextGen UBE administration but with a suite of tools built with their daily realities in mind.
Innovation at the Core, Stability as the Promise
Launching the NextGen UBE is a bold and forward-looking undertaking, a true evolution of the bar exam. Yet the systems work central to it is grounded in stability, reliability, and continuity of service. NCBE’s goal is not simply to modernize the technological side of the exam but to uphold the integrity, security, and fairness that are foundational to bar admissions.
Building these systems has required patience, creativity, and unwavering attention to detail. NCBE has invested countless hours of problem-solving and extensive cross-team collaboration in the effort, all undergirded by a steadfast commitment to excellence.
Much of this work will remain invisible to candidates and the broader public. Nevertheless, it is essential to delivering an exam that reflects the legal profession’s evolving expectations.
Looking Ahead
As jurisdictions prepare for the NextGen transition, NCBE continues to refine, test, and strengthen all the supporting systems that make the new exam experience possible. The challenges have been significant—but so have the successes. And the result will be a modern, secure, and thoughtfully designed infrastructure worthy of the exam it supports.
The NextGen UBE is not only a new exam. It is a comprehensive reinvention of NCBE’s systems within the bar admissions world—systems built to serve jurisdictions, candidates, and the profession for decades to come.
Until the next issue,
Judith A. Gundersen
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