Law Students
Laptop Woes Last Year in N.Y., Bar Exam Legalese This Year
Posted Jul 29, 2008 5:02 PM CST
By Martha Neil
Last summer's New York bar exam debacle, in which some test-takers who used laptop computers lost their answers because of a software problem, appears to have had a significant impact on those who administer the test as well as those who are taking it today and tomorrow.
In this year's laptop policy, bar exam officials have included disclaimers. Lots of disclaimers. Among them: users need to pretest their exam software; rental laptops are risky; and laptop test-takers proceed in the face of technical difficulties at their own risk, reports the City Room blog of the New York Times.
While the prospect of possible laptop problems is frightening, so is the prospect of having to use a pen and paper to many of today's new law graduates. “We have people ask, should I do it or shouldn’t I do it?” says Erica Fine, an executive of the BAR/BRI bar exam preparation course. “Some people," she notes, "haven’t handwritten in three years.”
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "Want to Take the N.Y. Bar Exam? Sign a Waiver"
ABAJournal.com: "July NY Bar Answers Lost for 47; Officials Estimate Scores"
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Comments
BJ
Aug 4, 2008 3:21 PM CST
I had so much fun last year that I decided to re-take the NY bar exam again this year. The July 2008 NY laptop exam went smoother than July 2007. Last year, the (former) software vendor’s program for which we paid a hefty sum malfunctioned for hundreds of test takers. In my case, the software malfunction required a mid-exam computer re-boot with the proctor ready to type in the access password. When the machine came back, it would not enter Windows because the program made changes to the system registry forcing a call to the locked-out exam software. Forty-five minutes later with head spinning and the proctor distracting all those around my seat, the proctor stated I had to hand-write the exam in the remaining time despite a medical accommodation that specified use of the keyboard. After the exam, it took nearly 1 hour with the exam proctors on the phone with technical support to get into the computer again with manual registry edits and grab the existing backup files. This year, the extensive disclaimer to which exam takers had to agree preclude any expectation of reasonability from the NY BOLE – as if there was any last year. No complaints about the new vendor’s exam software this year – as it should be. Now, when will the MBE come into the 21st century? The MBE should be a computer-based exam that can return the raw grade result upon download of the encrypted answer file – it isn’t rocket science.
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