Pass Rate Calculator: Share of Candidates Who Passed
Work out a pass rate — the share of candidates who passed an exam, from the number who passed and the total who took it.
Adjust the inputs and select Calculate for a full breakdown.
Compare Common Scenarios
How the numbers shift across typical situations for this calculator:
| Scenario | Pass rate | Fail rate |
|---|---|---|
| 184 of 230 | 80.00% | 20.00% |
| 45 of 60 | 75.00% | 25.00% |
| 920 of 1,150 | 80.00% | 20.00% |
| 12 of 20 | 60.00% | 40.00% |
How This Calculator Works
Enter the number of candidates who passed and the total who sat the exam. The calculator divides one by the other to give the pass rate as a percentage, and shows the fail rate alongside.
The Formula
Part as a Percentage of a Whole
Part is the portion, Whole is the total it belongs to
Worked Example
An exam where 184 of 230 candidates passed has an 80% pass rate and a 20% fail rate. Tracking this figure across cohorts shows whether teaching, the exam, or the candidates have shifted.
Key Insight
Pass rate measures outcome, not difficulty. A drop can mean the cohort was weaker, the exam was tougher, or the cutoff was set higher — three very different stories that need separate evidence to tell apart.
First-time vs eventual pass — the published rate convention
Pass rates can be calculated two ways. (1) FIRST-TIME PASS RATE — % of candidates passing on their first attempt. This is the cleaner measure of preparation quality and the standard metric for accreditation reporting. (2) EVENTUAL PASS RATE — % of candidates who eventually pass (after multiple attempts). Always higher than first-time rate; less informative about preparation quality.
Most published U.S. professional licensure rates use first-time pass rate. NCBE reports U.S. bar exam first-time pass rate ~75-80% nationally (varies by state: NY ~70%, CA ~50% historically, more recently ~55-58%). USMLE Step 1 first-time pass rate: ~95% for U.S. MD students, ~85% for U.S. DO students, ~75% for international medical graduates. CPA first-time pass rate: ~50-55%.
Eventual pass rates are higher because failing candidates often retake. U.S. bar exam eventual pass rate within 2 years of first attempt is ~90-93%. This is the more meaningful metric for career planning (you will likely eventually become a lawyer if you're persistent) but the less meaningful for evaluating law school preparation quality.
Why pass rates vary 30 percentage points by law school
Bar exam first-time pass rates vary enormously by law school. Top-ranked law schools (Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, NYU, Columbia, Penn, Berkeley) consistently produce 95%+ first-time pass rates. Mid-ranked schools 80-90%. Low-tier and unaccredited California schools (which allow non-ABA students to sit for the California bar) can show 30-50% first-time pass rates.
Drivers of the gap: (1) admitted student quality — top schools admit students with higher LSAT and undergraduate GPA, which correlate with bar exam performance; (2) curriculum rigor — bar-tested subjects are taught more intensively at top schools; (3) bar-prep culture — top schools' students typically invest 8-12 weeks of dedicated bar prep ($3,000-$5,000 commercial bar review courses); (4) demographic and socioeconomic factors — students at top schools have fewer outside obligations.
Implication for prospective law students: the published bar pass rate is a strong signal of law school quality. ABA accreditation standards require a 75% pass rate within 2 years of graduation — schools below this threshold are at risk of losing accreditation (multiple schools lost accreditation in 2018-2023 for this reason). Choose law school informed by bar pass rate alongside ranking and employment outcomes.
Major U.S. licensure exam pass rates — recent years
Reference first-time pass rates for major U.S. professional licensure examinations.
| Exam | First-time pass rate | Eventual pass rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Bar Exam (national avg) | ~75-80% | ~92% | State variation 50-90% |
| California Bar Exam | ~55-58% | ~85% | Historically lowest pass rate |
| USMLE Step 1 (US MD) | ~95% | ~99% | Pass/fail since 2022 |
| USMLE Step 2 CK (US MD) | ~98% | ~99.5% | |
| CPA Exam (any section) | ~55% | ~85% | 4 sections; eventual = all 4 |
| NCLEX-RN (nursing) | ~88% | ~95% | |
| FE Exam (engineering EIT) | ~70-75% | ~90% | |
| PE Exam (engineering license) | ~65-75% | ~85% | After 4+ yrs practice |
| Series 7 (FINRA) | ~65-70% | ~85% | Securities licensing |
| SHRM-CP (HR cert) | ~62% | ~80% |
Pass rates depend heavily on candidate preparation. Commercial review courses (Barbri / Kaplan / Themis for bar; UWorld for medical; Becker / Wiley for CPA) typically raise first-time pass rate by 15-30 percentage points relative to no-prep baseline. Most candidates use commercial prep for these high-stakes exams.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a pass rate calculated?
Divide the number of candidates who passed by the total number who sat the exam, then multiply by 100. The result is the pass rate.
What is the fail rate?
The fail rate is the complement of the pass rate — the share of candidates who did not pass. An 80% pass rate carries a 20% fail rate.
Should I include no-shows?
It depends on convention. Some pass rates count only candidates who actually sat the exam; others count everyone registered. Be clear which basis you use.
What does a pass rate not tell me?
It does not tell you how candidates scored, only whether they cleared the bar. A high pass rate with most candidates barely scraping through is different from one where most scored well.
How should pass rates be compared?
Compare across cohorts that took the same exam and cutoff. Comparing across different exams or grading standards mixes pass rates with difficulty.
When is this calculator unreliable?
When 'pass' is inconsistently defined (first-time pass vs eventual pass — these differ by 10-30 percentage points), when comparing across very different examinations (USMLE Step 1 95% pass rate does not mean it is 'easier' than CPA 55% — the score thresholds and content rigor are different), or for very small samples (a cohort with 5 candidates has unstable pass rate; ≥30 candidates is a reasonable lower bound for meaningful evaluation).
References & Authoritative Sources
- National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) — Statistics on Bar Examinations · consulted June 1, 2026 · Authoritative U.S. bar exam pass rate data by state and law school
- U.S. Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) — USMLE Step Score Reports and Pass Rates · consulted June 1, 2026 · Official USMLE pass rate data
- American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) — Uniform CPA Examination Pass Rates · consulted June 1, 2026 · Official CPA exam pass rate statistics
Related Calculators
Methodology & Review
Pass rate equals number passing / total candidates × 100. The calculator returns the pass rate as a percentage. The metric is used across U.S. professional certification (bar exam, CPA, medical licensure), graduation requirements (high school exit exams), state K-12 standardized testing (NAEP-equivalent state assessments), and corporate training certifications. Pass-rate publication is required for accredited programs in many fields — U.S. medical schools must publish residency match and licensure pass rates; ABA-accredited law schools must publish bar pass rates per state. RELIABILITY: Reliable for a specific cohort and specific test. Less reliable for cross-cohort or cross-test comparison without normalization — a higher pass rate may reflect easier test or better-prepared students. Also unreliable when 'pass' is inconsistently defined (first-attempt vs eventual pass — some published rates include only first-time test-takers; others include all attempts).
Updated