National Hat Day: Leave the Hat at Home on Exam Day

January 15 is National Hat Day. It's a fun excuse to break out your favorite cap, beanie, fedora, or “good luck” hamburger hat.

But on bar exam day, headgear is one of those “seems harmless, becomes a problem” items.

Here’s the big picture: State boards of bar examiners' and the National Conference of Bar Examiners' NCBE test-day policies generally require your head (and often ears) to be uncovered for exam security. And many jurisdictions expressly prohibit hats/caps/hoods in the testing room.

So, if something covers your head, treat it as prohibited unless you have approval for religious, medical, or nonstandard testing purposes.

The NCBE’s test-day policies explicitly list “hats and/or hoods (except religious apparel) worn on the head” as prohibited items.

And jurisdictions often say it even more clearly. Here is just a sampling of jurisdiction-specific rules:

• Ohio: Hats are expressly prohibited (and Ohio also calls out items like gaiters/bandanas).

• New York: “NO hats, baseball caps, visors or sunglasses (religious headwear is permitted).”

• California: “Applicants may not wear hats, caps, hoods, or any other type of headwear… unless… for religious purposes,” and permitted religious headwear may be inspected.

• Nevada: “No hat, cap, or article of clothing with an attached hood will be permitted in a testing room. Nothing may be worn on the head in the testing areas, except approved religious apparel.”

My practical advice? Skip hats entirely (even your “lucky” one).

Remember: On the bar exam, you don’t just prepare for law. You also prepare for logistics.