ABA Journal

Bar Exam

531 ABA Journal Bar Exam articles.

Texas offers makeup bar exam because of deep freeze

Following Texas’ freezing February weather, which led to power outages, disrupted water service and more than 20 deaths, according to CNN, the Texas Board of Law Examiners announced Friday that it would offer a makeup bar exam in March in addition to the test that starts Tuesday.

Tampons and pads shouldn’t be prohibited at bar exam, ABA House says

The right of bar examinees to bring tampons and pads with them was addressed in a measure overwhelmingly approved by the House of Delegates at the ABA Midyear Meeting on Monday.

Afternoon Briefs: California defends bar exam facial-recognition tech; pants-on-fire lawyer arrested

California bar responds to disparate impact allegation regarding facial recognition technology

After receiving a Feb. 10 demand letter to remove facial recognition technology from the remote bar exam on…

California gets demand letter to stop using facial recognition technology with remote bar exam

The use of facial recognition technology with the remote bar exam could have an unlawful disparate impact on test-takers who are women or people of color, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law wrote in a Feb. 10 demand letter, which was sent to the State Bar of California.

Did bar candidates who had a choice do better on in-person or remote exams?

Most jurisdictions saw bar exam pass rates increase in 2020, regardless of whether they had in-person or online exams. However, in three states that offered both types of exams, online test-takers didn’t do as well.

Afternoon Briefs: DOJ drops suit over Yale admissions process; 7th Circuit allows courthouse Nativity scene

DOJ drops suit accusing Yale of bias against Asian, white applicants

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit accusing Yale University of racially discriminating against many Asian…

Suggestions for a different bar exam approved by NCBE board of trustees

Recommendations for bar exam changes, including new types of questions and the evaluation of options for computer-delivered tests with in-person proctoring, were adopted Thursday by the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ board of trustees.

California allows retroactive bar admission with supervised practice

People who previously flunked the California bar exam but would have passed under a recently changed cut score can now obtain law licenses if they complete 300 hours of supervised practice.

Man who was told he failed bar exam actually passed, and he blames software

When Colin Darnell received word in December that he did not pass New York’s online bar exam, he had a feeling the scoring may have been wrong because he was one of various people with software problems during the test.

While many jurisdictions had few or no online bar exam testing violations, California had many

Following the administration of the first online remotely proctored bar exam in October, California appears to have sent out significantly more notices of potential testing violations than other large jurisdictions.

California releases bar exam results, and like many jurisdictions sees increase in pass rates

Out of the 9,301 people who sat for California’s online bar exam in October, the pass rate was 60.7%, according to a Jan. 8 news release from the State Bar of California.

Big changes for bar exam suggested by NCBE testing task force

Bar exams of the future should be delivered online as an integrated test with scenarios to answer questions from, rather than in, sections with different formats, according to preliminary recommendations released Monday by the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ testing task force.

Will paper bar exams become a thing of the past?

While there’s significant disagreement on how the bar exam should change, many believe it will, and there’s a wide range of ideas about what should happen.

Top 10 stories of 2020

When we look back at our most-read stories every year, there is usually a pretty eclectic mix. Our readers tend to like unusual headlines, lawyer discipline stories and legal education news. But this year’s most-read stories were fittingly more serious.

Thousands of California bar exam takers have video files flagged for review

More than 3,000 people who sat for the State Bar of California’s remote October exam had their proctoring videos flagged for review, and dozens report receiving violation notices from the agency’s office of admissions.

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