The passage rate for first-time takers of the July Pennsylvania bar exam showed marked improvement after hitting a new low last year.

Of the 1,075 first-time applicants this year, 81.2 percent passed. Last year, just 75.4 percent of the 1,371 first-time applicants passed the July 2016 exam. That was the lowest passage rate for any July exam for which the state Board of Law Examiners has made data about bar exam passage available.