Eighty-seven percent of UNLV Boyd School of Law graduates who took the Nevada Bar Exam for the first time passed the test, marking the highest pass rate since the school was founded in 1998. The Nevada Board of Bar Examiners released the results Oct. 6.

Seventy-eight out of 90 Boyd graduates who took the test for the first time passed. Statewide, 194 out of 245 people who took the exam for the first time passed. Boyd School of Law's academic success program is credited with helping students and alumni prepare for the bar exam through workshops, individual counseling sessions and mock exams.

"This kind of success is not accidental," said John Valery White, dean of the Boyd School of Law. "Our rigorous curriculum is intended to prepare students for diverse challenges in practice - and for success on the bar. We supplement our rigorous instruction with an academic success program aimed at ensuring students are equipped to succeed in law school and are confident about passing the bar."

Among the results:

• 87 percent of UNLV law school graduates who took the exam for the first time passed the exam - eight percentage points higher than Nevada's pass rate of 79 percent for first-time test takers.

• 50 percent of Boyd graduates who repeated the exam this year passed. Statewide, 26 percent who took the test again passed.

• 81 percent of all Boyd test takers passed the exam, including first-time test takers and repeaters. Boyd's overall pass rate was 15 percent percentage points higher than the state's overall pass rate of 66 percent for all test takers, which includes attorneys and students.

The Nevada bar is a three-day exam consisting of several Nevada essay questions, one Multistate Performance Test (MPT) problem, and a Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). The successful applicant must achieve a total scaled score of 75 on the exam as a whole, as well as passing at least three essays with a scaled score of 75.

The William S. Boyd School of Law has more than 450 students and offers three juris doctor degree programs: a full-time day program, a part-time day program, and a part-time evening program, and three dual degree programs: a J.D./MBA, a J.D./M.S.W. and a J.D./Ph.D. It is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and a member of the American Association of Law Schools, accomplishments it achieved in record time.