What to Bring to the New Jersey Bar Exam (July 2026)

If you're figuring out what to bring to the New Jersey bar exam, start here and keep it simple. The July 2026 exam runs two days, Tuesday July 28 and Wednesday July 29, and it's the Uniform Bar Exam. Day one is the MPT (two tasks) in the morning and the MEE (six essays) in the afternoon. Day two is the MBE, 100 multiple-choice questions in the morning and 100 in the afternoon. Pack the right things, leave the wrong things at home, and you remove one whole category of stress.

The Official New Jersey List: What You Must Bring

A few items are non-negotiable, and you need them each testing day:

• Your Admission Ticket or Seating Voucher, posted to your ILG User Home Page.
• An original, physical government-issued photo ID. Not a photocopy, not a picture on your phone.
• Your registered laptop (all stickers removed) with a fully charged battery and a power cord that runs 5 to 10 feet long.
• Writing tools for the day you're on. For the MPT and MEE (day one), black or blue ink pens and highlighters. For the MBE (day two), non-mechanical #2 pencils and a small handheld manual sharpener.

If you show up without your ticket or physical ID, you don't test. Set them somewhere you can't miss the night before.

Does New Jersey Provide Scratch Paper or Pencils?

Short answer: not much, and that's the point. The Board supplies ear plugs or headphones, which is exactly why they sit on the prohibited-to-bring list. Don't pack your own.

Beyond that, the current instructions do not say the Board provides scratch paper, note boards, or pencils. Scratch paper and paper of any kind are actually banned. You supply your own pens, highlighters, pencils, and sharpener. Assume nothing is waiting on your desk except the question and answer books and the items you're allowed to bring.

What You Can Bring

Here's what's permitted, with the details that trip people up:

• One clear plastic bottle of cold beverage per session, label removed, placed on the floor.
• Small unwrapped food items (cough drops, mints, candy, gum) and unwrapped tissues in a clear plastic bag smaller than 12 by 12 inches, on the floor.
• An external wired or wireless mouse and/or full-size keyboard.
• Layers of clothing. Sweaters and hoodies are fine as long as the hood is tucked in.
• Lunch in a labeled brown paper bag or sealed lunchbox, left outside the testing room.
• Hygiene products and unwrapped tissues.

One more thing on health. If you use a medical device like a glucometer or insulin pump, or you need special seating, that requires a Notice of Medical Alert / Site Seating Request form submitted no later than one week before the exam (email bar.mailbox@njcourts.gov or fax 609-815-2913). Don't wait on this.

What to Leave at Home

New Jersey's prohibited list is long, and some of it changed recently, so read it carefully:

• Cell phones and electronic devices, including AI or smart glasses and e-cigarettes. The ban covers the exam room, rest rooms, and hallways, and it applies even if the device is powered off. Violating it means removal, invalidation, and a referral to the Committee on Character. That's not a risk worth taking.
• Watches, timers, and fitness trackers of any kind. This is a change from older rules that allowed non-digital watches. Sites may have no wall clock, so rely on the proctors.
• Wallets, handbags, purses, tote bags, duffel bags, backpacks, and briefcases.
• Coats and jackets (layers and tucked-in hoodies are the workaround).
• Hats and hoods, except religious apparel.
• Mechanical pencils and mechanical erasers, liquid paper, erasable ink, and rulers.
• Laptop accessories like a stand, monitor, or mouse pad.
• Bar review study materials, written notes, scratch paper, and weapons of any kind.

Your laptop bag goes in a designated area labeled with your name, and you can't access it during testing. The Board isn't responsible for anything left outside the room, so travel light.

What Laptop Software Does the New Jersey Bar Exam Use?

New Jersey runs on ILG Exam360, not ExamSoft or Examplify. You register your laptop through the portal at newjersey.ilgexam360.com and you must complete and upload a Trial Exam as a "before exam task." The specific July 2026 Trial Exam deadline lives on your ILG account home page, so confirm the date there and knock it out early rather than the night before.

Key requirements from the ILG portal: Windows 10 or later (not S Mode) or macOS 13.0.0 or later, a processor from 2010 or newer, 4GB RAM, 500MB free storage, and a 1024x768 minimum resolution. Bring a laptop with an active USB port (a Type-C to USB 2.0 adaptor is allowed) for data recovery.

If your computer malfunctions mid-exam, you hand-write the MPT and MEE portions, so keep those pens ready no matter what. Answers upload after the exam from a secure offsite location following ILG's email instructions, with confirmation by email or SMS. Tech support is 833-454-7877, option 1. Save that number in a place you can reach it (not your banned phone).

What Should You Wear to the New Jersey Bar Exam?

Dress for a room whose thermostat you don't control. Official guidance says wear quiet, soft-soled shoes to keep noise down, and dress in layers because heating and cooling vary site to site. Sweaters and sweatshirts with hoods are allowed if the hood stays tucked in. Coats and jackets aren't permitted in the testing room, so a warm sweater beats a jacket every time.

Key Deadlines and Report Times

For July 2026, standard test sites open doors at 8:15 a.m. and begin check-in at 8:30 a.m. You need to be checked in and seated before instructions begin, and you can't leave your seat during the reading of instructions. If you're at a non-standard or accommodated site, use the time printed on your ticket. The current instructions don't publish a separate earlier arrival time for laptop users, so confirm the time on your admission ticket and plan to arrive early anyway, since lines happen.

A quick note on venue: 2026 test sites aren't posted publicly. Your assignment appears on your User Home Page and Admission Ticket, and the Board asks you not to call the site directly. You can read the full rules yourself in the official General Site Instructions and Information.

Want a broader, state-neutral packing rundown too? Bookmark the general exam day checklist alongside this one.

One Last Thing for the Final Week

Packing is the easy part. The MEE and MPT are where points get won and lost, and memorizing rules without writing under a clock won't move your scores. In your last week, run timed essays and get real feedback on your structure and analysis instead of just rereading model answers. That's where BarScore helps: paste a practice essay and get a score plus detailed feedback in seconds, on any prep course's questions and any U.S. jurisdiction, including New Jersey's MEE. Plans include a free trial, so you can pressure-test your writing before you ever pack that clear bag. Get the logistics right, then let BarScore show you where your essays actually stand.