The Bar Council has warned that plans to raise the pass mark for the newly introduced bar aptitude test are an ‘inadequate measure’ to filter out those who have no hope of practising as a barrister.

Yesterday the Bar Standards Board said it would raise the pass mark for the Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT) to exclude students who are not likely to succeed on the bar training course. In its first year only 13 candidates failed – 0.6% of those taking the test. 

The pass mark for the test will rise from 37 to 45 from 2017. Students will also be provided with their actual BCAT score together with an indication of what their score means in terms of their potential success on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) from 2016 onwards.

Previously students were just told whether they had passed or failed the test.

The aptitude test was introduced in 2013, but was put on hold at the end of last year while the BSB conducted a review. The test will be reopened in April.

Meanwhile providers of the BPTC said the test was ‘too easy’ to use in their selection criteria.

The bar regulator said the review showed that a student’s BCAT score strongly predicts how they will preform on the BPTC, and said raising the pass mark will not have an adverse impact on students from non-traditional backgrounds.

But the Bar Council said that a pass mark of 45 applied to the 2013/14 BCAT cohort would have reduced the number of students taking the BPTC by 16.6%, which it said was not sufficient to address the problem properly.

Alex Cisneros, policy analyst at the Bar Council, said: ‘If the BCAT is to serve a gatekeeping function, it must filter out students who have no reasonable prospect of obtaining pupillage or practising as a barrister, not just those who have no prospect of passing the BPTC.’

Previously the Bar Council has advocated splitting the bar training course in two, and favours applicants being able to secure a pupillage before committing to the BPTC.

Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC (pictured), chairman of the bar, said the system is producing a large number of applicants who have no prospect of obtaining pupillage or practising.

She said: ‘Over 1,500 students enrol in the BPTC each year which costs between £12,000 and £19,000 in tuition fees alone, and each one of those students is chasing one of only 400 pupillages. […] These arrangements build false hope for too many students at too high a cost.’