Bar Examination FAQs

The February 2025 exam will be held at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel located at 50 N. 3^rd St., Columbus, Ohio 43215.

There are several hotel options at and within walking distance of the exam location. Additionally, examinees may consider hotel options within driving distance of the exam location and either drive to and park near the exam location or use ride share to commute to and from the exam location.

There are several parking options at and within walking distance of the exam location. These options include paid surface lots and covered garages. If driving to the exam morning of, identify your parking location of choice and an alternate parking option ahead of arrival and ensure plenty of time for parking morning of. Below is a map provided by the Renaissance.

Approximately 3 weeks before the exam, examinees who received final approval to sit for the examination will receive notice on the Bar Admissions Portal. This will include your admission ticket containing your exam identification number (Exam ID), assigned arrival time, and exam day instructions. It is imperative that examinees regularly check the email address that they have on file in order to receive the latest  notifications from our office.

Assigned entrance times will be included with your admission ticket. The one page ticket must be printed and brought with you on Tuesday, the first day of testing, to authorize you to enter the exam hall. Do NOT bring the entire packet with you on Tuesday.

The exam will be administered in a large ballroom and nearby meeting rooms. Exam tables will be aligned in rows, with two examinees seated on opposite sides of each table. Seating is assigned by Office of Bar Admissions staff. Proctored restrooms will be available for use throughout the exam.

You must check-in immediately upon arrival to the exam location. Check-in will occur on the second floor.  Following check-in, you must immediately find your assigned seat and remain at your assigned seat, except to use the restroom, before testing begins. Once testing begins, you may leave the testing room to use the restroom (no talking permitted). You may not leave your assigned testing area until all examinees are dismissed at the end of the session. Upon dismissal, you must leave the testing area.

The Renaissance will have a paid lunch option for examinees on-site. More information will be communicated about that lunch option at a later date. Additionally, there are several lunch options available at and within walking distance of the exam location.

Below is a list of permitted items:

• Pens- Black or Blue (Tuesday only)
• Highlighters (Tuesday only)
• Non mechanical, number 2 pencils (Wednesday only)
• Non-mechanical erasers
• Handheld manual pencil sharpeners – electric and battery powered sharpeners are not
• Water (clear plastic water bottle and clear water (no tint or color))
• Government issued ID, money, credit cards, hotel key card (no wallets)
• Keys
• Medication
• Eyeglasses, case, and cloth
• Menstrual products, including tampons, maxi pads, and liners
• Face mask
• Personal size hand sanitizer
• Disinfectant wipes
• Laptop charger (does not need to be in plastic bag)
• Parking pass

Each examinee is permitted to bring one clear plastic gallon bag in which they must keep their permitted items. You should have NO items in your pockets. Staff will visually inspect the clear plastic bag before you enter the testing room. Purses, other bags, and non-permitted items, including coats, must remain in the designated area for personal belongings. Examinees will not have access to those non-permitted items until they are dismissed by the exam administrator for lunch and the end of the day.

Exam day instructions, which will be emailed to examinees, will provide detailed information regarding the items that will be available at the exam location for examinee use. This includes:

• Tissues
• Hand sanitizer
• Earplugs
• Scrap paper

Generally, any item not expressly permitted in the exam hall may not be brought into the exam hall. However, the following items are expressly prohibited from the exam hall:

• Firearms or weapons of any kind
• Purses, wallets, book bags, or backpacks
• Hats
• Headphones and earplugs (each examinee will be provided a set of earplugs)
• Paper of any kind
• Food or liquids, except bottled water as described above
• Gum, mints, and cough drops
• Cellular telephones, pagers, or any wireless communication device
• Watches or clocks
• Mouse pads
• Ergonomic items (including, but not limited to, keyboard or laptop stands)
• Wireless mouse/keyboard
• Gaiters and bandanas
• Calculators, handheld computers, or any other electronic devices

Yes. Menstrual products including tampons, maxi pads, and liners may be brought into the exam hall in the examinee’s clear plastic bag of permitted items. To protect the sterility of menstrual products, examinees will not be required to open an original product for inspection unless the menstrual products are not visible in the clear plastic bag. An assortment of menstrual products will also be available in each restroom.

Examinees will have access to restrooms during testing and are permitted to take menstrual products back and forth to the restroom as needed (an assortment of menstrual products will also be available in each restroom). Each restroom is proctored for exam security.

The Exam Administrator will dismiss examinees once all test materials are collected and accounted for. Examinees are not permitted to leave their testing room until instructed to do so by the Exam Administrator.

If an examinee has a medical condition or other circumstance that is not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act that requires them to have items that are not normally permitted, such as diabetic supplies, lumbar support, or a lactation pump, or requires special seating arrangements such as a wheelchair-accessible table or access to a lactation room, they must submit a Special Arrangement Form. The deadline to submit the Special Arrangement Form is Feb. 4, 2025. If the request is approved, the examinee will receive an email providing them with information regarding their specific request. Please note that a new Special Arrangement Form is required for each administration of the examination for which one applies.

Examination fees are not refundable or deferrable except when extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the applicant occur.

Examinees that wish to use their laptop for the MPT and MEE portions of the exam must register their laptop with ExamSoft. Registration opens on Jan. 7, 2025, at 10 a.m. and closes on Feb. 4, 2025, at 4 p.m. More information about laptop use can be found on the Ohio ExamSoft Registration website.

The deadline for uploading MEE and MPT answers is 10 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.

A list of successful examinees will be posted to the Supreme Court of Ohio’s website on April 25, 2025, at 8 a.m. Examinees’ individual scores will be available on the Bar Admissions Portal starting at that same time.

When exam results are released, the individual result letter and score report will be posted in the examinee’s Bar Admissions Portal account. The letter will indicate the result and eligibility for admission.

• Log into the Bar Admissions Portal.
• On the right side of the screen, under Application Submitted, select “View Status” for the February 2025 application.
• A new window will open, showing the letter and score report.

The result letter in the examinee’s Bar Admissions Portal account will provide details on eligibility. Those who are successful on the exam must also have a Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) score of 85 or higher and Ohio Law Component (OLC) of 80% or higher.

The OLC is not available until after the administration of the February bar exam. If you wish to be included in the bar admissions ceremony, you then must complete the OLC by the deadline set by the Office of Bar Admissions.

Examinees will receive an email about taking the OLC and registering with ExamSoft after completing the February bar exam. An examinee is only required to take and pass the OLC once. With that, an examinee who has already received a passing score of 80% or higher on the OLC following a prior, failed bar exam need not re-take the OLC; likewise, an examinee who does not receive a passing score on the February bar exam, but who passes the OLC following the February exam, will not be required to re-take the OLC again if re-taking the bar exam in the future. For more information regarding the OLC, please visit: Ohio Law Component.

You can verify this information in your Bar Admissions Portal account. If you find that the Office of Bar Admissions does not have your MPRE score, you can have your score sent to Ohio by completing the following steps:

1. Log in to your NCBE Account (https://auth.ncbex.org/login) and click on “Score Services.”  
2. Select “MPRE – Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination” from the drop-down menu and click “Next.”
3. Follow the steps to complete your request, which will be processed the next business day. You will receive a confirmation email when you make the request and again when your request has been processed.

Note that, failure to submit your MPRE score to Ohio by the deadline provided by the Office of Bar Admissions may preclude you from participating in the bar admissions ceremony.

You are not permitted to practice law until you have taken and passed the bar examination, MPRE and OLC; taken the oath of office; and registered as an attorney with the Office of Attorney Services. NOTE, you cannot take your oath of office before the scheduled bar admissions ceremony.

The admissions ceremonies for those eligible for admission to the practice of law will be May 12, 2025.

Tickets are not required. Seating for family and friends is open. The only assigned seats are for the admittees.

The session will be recorded by Ohio Government Telecommunications. Viewers may watch the ceremony live at: Supreme Court of Ohio LIVE | The Ohio Channel. Video of the session will also be permanently archived on the Supreme Court of Ohio’s website at: Supreme Court of Ohio | The Ohio Channel.