Bar exam passage rates vary dramatically across American states.

Evidence

The bar exam tests the prospective lawyer’s knowledge of the law of the state. Most jurisdictions also include a multistate component, which poses more general legal questions. Because so much rides on passing the bar exam, recent graduates of law school typically enroll in bar-preparation “cram” courses before taking the exam. Nationally, approximately 70 percent of those who take the bar exam pass it, although success rates vary dramatically from state to state. … Those who fail the bar exam are permitted to retake it, and roughly 90 percent of those who fail initially eventually pass. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 943