New Exam Issue Tests NYU Law School: How to Grade, When Some Saw Questions Earlier?
In at least the second such snafu reported this month concerning a law school exam, New York University administrators are now pondering how to handle a situation in which some of the students in a law school class, through no fault of their own, saw the questions in advance.
Earlier, the University of Oregon was in the news after an exam was accidentally posted in advance on an e-mail discussion list for students in a administrative law class.
The problem at NYU School of Law occurred when a visiting professor, Jide Nzelibe, used two questions from a Northwestern University practice test last year on his actual exam this month for a first-year contracts class, reports Above the Law.
In e-mails to students in the class, a law school administrator apologizes for the situation and seeks input about how NYU should handle the grading issue created. Among the options he suggests: Grade the exam as usual, regardless of whether students saw the practice test. Grade the exam on a pass-fail basis. Give a new exam to the contracts class next year.
Nzelibe “confirmed the events in question,” the law blog writes, but didn’t comment further.
NYU and Northwestern did not respond immediately to requests for comment late in the day from the ABA Journal.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Oops. Accidental Posting of Exam a ‘Teachable Moment,’ Law Prof Says”
