The First-Year Law Students' Examination, or "baby bar," is a one-day test given in June and October in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.
Not all law students have to take the baby bar. Law students completing their first year of law study in a juris doctor degree program at a State Bar-unaccredited registered law school, through the Law Office Study Program and those without two years of college work attending a Committee of Bar Examiners- or an American Bar Association-accredited law school must take the First-Year Law Students' Examination after completing their first year of law study. Law students who have been advanced to their second year of law study at an ABA or California-accredited law school and completed a minimum of 60 semester or 90 quarter units of undergraduate work are generally exempt from the examination.
An applicant who is required to pass the First-Year Law Students’ Examination will not receive credit for any law study until the applicant passes the examination. Passage must be achieved within the first three consecutive administrations after the applicant becomes eligible to take the examination. If the applicant passes subsequent to that, credit will be received only for the first year of law study.
Register for the exam online.
Credit and debit card payments: For credit or debit card payments, a processing fee of 2.5 percent will be added to all charges. If your credit or debit card transaction is denied, you will not be able to submit your application until you provide another Mastercard, Visa, American Express or Discover card.
Check Payments: To pay by personal, cashier’s check or money order, you must mail the check to the Los Angeles Office of Admissions and it must be received within 14 calendar days of the application submittal date. If the payment is not received within 14 calendar days, your application will be placed into abandoned status on the 15th day from the application submittal date and you will be responsible for paying any outstanding fees at that time. If your application is withdrawn prior to the submission of payment, you will still be responsible for paying any outstanding fees depending on the deadline. If your payment is not received before the final filing deadline, your application will be abandoned and you will be responsible for paying all outstanding fees including late fees.
If the personal, cashier’s check or money order payment is returned for insufficient funds, your application will be considered incomplete until a valid payment is received. A $20 service charge will be assessed for insufficient funds and any late charges in effect will be applied. The application deadline will be enforced if the payment is not received within the published deadlines. There is no processing fee associated with personal or cashier’s check payments.