MPJE and UMPJE by state: which exam your board requires

§ 1 The jurisdiction table: which law exam each board uses

NABP says 45 boards require a law exam it administers, for initial licensure or licensure by examination. Inside those 45 the choice is per board: adopt the UMPJE or keep a state-specific MPJE. The table sorts every group NABP names, plus Illinois, which changed its own law in 2026.

§ 2 UMPJE start and MPJE retirement dates, state by state

Early adopters switched on April 1, 2026, and the latest start on the list is Virginia on September 1, 2026. Retirement dates run from March 31, 2026 to May 31, 2028, so on the day we checked, nine adopters had already retired their state MPJE and four had not.

The format does not change with the switch. Both exams are 120 questions (100 scored, 20 unmarked pretest), 2.5 hours, computer-adaptive, with no going back. What changes is the content, the price and whether the score can travel. The UMPJE page has the side-by-side.

§ 3 Overlap windows: what if your appointment falls after the retirement date

NABP cancels every MPJE appointment scheduled on or after the retirement date and refunds it in full. So the date in the table is not a last day to test; the last usable day is the one before it. That matters now in Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska and Washington, where Washington’s window closes first, on December 29, 2026.

1. Step 1

   Start from the eligibility window

   Your board declares you eligible, eligibility typically runs about 1 year, and NABP stops selling the exam once 10 or fewer business days are left.

2. Step 2

   Price the two routes

   As of October 19, 2026 the state MPJE costs $100 + $170 per state, and the UMPJE $100 + $350 (NABP fee table, both nonrefundable).

3. Step 3

   Book a date before the retirement date, not on it

   The ATT is good for one testing session. A Pearson reschedule costs $50 and has to be made at least 2 business days ahead, so leave room to move.

4. Step 4

   Count the retake into the window

   After a failed MPJE you wait at least 30 days, and you re-apply and pay again. If that retake would land after the retirement date, the state MPJE is no longer sold, so the retake is the UMPJE.

§ 4 States with their own law exam, or none (and Illinois)

Arkansas, California, Nevada, Puerto Rico: their own exam

These four jurisdictions give their own jurisprudence exam instead of an NABP one. California’s is the CPJE: 90 multiple-choice questions, about 15 of them unscored pretest items, in 2 hours, delivered by PSI, per the PSI candidate bulletin (updated December 2024). Start at the California State Board of Pharmacy. We have not checked the formats in Arkansas, Nevada or Puerto Rico; their boards are the source.

Seven with no jurisprudence exam

NABP lists Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont and the Virgin Islands as requiring no jurisprudence exam. Michigan is the recent one: its MPJE requirement was dropped for first-time applicants and for pharmacists moving into the state, per Wayne State’s March 6, 2024 news item. No law exam does not mean no paperwork; each board still sets its other licensure steps.

Illinois: the MPJE or ILPRO, since June 2026

On June 1, 2026 Governor JB Pritzker signed HB4154 (Public Act 104-0461), which replaces the state’s jurisprudence-exam requirement with ILPRO, the Illinois Pharmacist Readiness and Orientation Program: an ACPE-approved Illinois law education and assessment program built by the Illinois Pharmacists Association with IDFPR. The same IDFPR notice of June 17, 2026 says the department “presently” still accepts the MPJE, so Illinois candidates have two routes.

• Took the NAPLEX through the board’s testing contractor (CTS), or using a NAPLEX score transfer: the notice says to tell CTS you are waiving the Illinois MPJE before you start ILPRO.
• Licensed in another state for more than a year and applying by endorsement: no CTS step; IPhA forwards your ILPRO completion to IDFPR, which the notice puts at 2 to 3 weeks.
• Program access is on the IPhA ILPRO page; fees and format are set there, not by NABP.

§ 5 Transferring a license to another state: does it need the MPJE or UMPJE?

Usually it needs a law exam, and an MPJE score never moves with you: NABP says MPJE score transfers are not available, because each MPJE is unique to its state. A pharmacist licensed in Texas who moves to New Jersey sits the New Jersey MPJE. The license itself moves through NABP’s Electronic Licensure Transfer Program (eLTP), which needs at least one current, active, unrestricted license in good standing from a US board, and costs $300 per application plus $100 per jurisdiction (checked October 19, 2026).

MPJE score

Does not transfer. A new MPJE state means a new eligibility application and a new exam.

UMPJE score

Transfers to participating UMPJE jurisdictions for $105 each, bought when you purchase the exam, before test day, or up to 89 days after it (Bulletin, Section 12); for initial licensure, NABP’s how-to-apply page ties it to a passed NAPLEX, so confirm your case with NABP.

NAPLEX score

Has its own transfer process through NABP, separate from the law exam.

Montana and Ohio

NABP’s UMPJE list notes that license-transfer candidates there must hold a previous passing UMPJE or MPJE score from any jurisdiction.

Illinois by endorsement

Applicants licensed elsewhere for more than a year can complete ILPRO, per the IDFPR notice.

§ 6 The most-searched states, one line each

Exam status only, from NABP’s lists and the Illinois notice on October 19, 2026, with the board’s own site in the last column. A state with “state-specific MPJE” is one that appears on none of NABP’s UMPJE, own-exam or no-exam lists.

Searching for a pass rate by state? NABP publishes none. Its per-school report for 2023–2025 graduates counts only graduates who tested in their school’s state, and the national first-time rate for 2025 graduates was 74.5%. The figures are on MPJE pass rates and scoring.

§ 7 Sources and where to go next

1. NABP, UMPJE Participating States and Dates — Start and retirement dates, refund rule, already-passed rule, Montana and Ohio note. checked October 19, 2026
2. NABP, Which states require the MPJE or UMPJE? — The 45 boards, the four own exams, the seven with none. checked October 19, 2026
3. NABP, MPJE: How to Apply — UMPJE score transfer: $105; the NAPLEX condition for initial licensure. checked October 19, 2026
4. NABP Candidate Application Bulletin, exam fees — MPJE $100 + $170, UMPJE $100 + $350, reschedule $50. checked October 19, 2026
5. NABP, Electronic Licensure Transfer Program — eLTP eligibility and fees. checked October 19, 2026
6. IDFPR, ILPRO notice (June 2026) — HB4154 (Public Act 104-0461), ILPRO, MPJE still accepted. checked October 19, 2026
7. NABP, MPJE Results — Guam, Illinois and Minnesota results come from the board. checked October 19, 2026
8. PSI, CPJE candidate bulletin checked October 19, 2026
9. Wayne State University, MPJE removed in Michigan (Mar 6, 2024) checked October 19, 2026

• Title I · The examThe Uniform MPJE
• Title I · The examPass rates and scoring
• Title II · StudyStudy guide
• Title III · PracticePractice questions