Bar Exams, Screw-Ups, Technology

New York Bar Exam Horror Stories

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We’ve received three of them thus far. It appears that the bar examiners have been having, er, technical difficulties — some pretty serious computer problems. Needless to say, the hapless test takers are not happy campers.
For those of you who are interested, we reprint the stories after the jump.


From a test taker at the 18th Street location in Manhattan:

So I today was day one the NYBE and it was mayhem. At the 18th street location we started an hour late and was staffed by some evil administrators. To make matters even better, nearly 1/3 of the the exam takers lost an essay as a result of the laptop software. Personally, after completing my 3 essays in the morning session, I noticed that my entire first essay was missing! By the time the exam session was over, I realized that nearly 1/3 of the takers had similar problems. Of Course, no one knew what the problem was or what we should do.

The tech guy took my laptop only to return it to me 15 seconds before the beginning of the afternoon session. When I asked whether they were able to recover my essay I was told “I have no idea”. Needless to say I wrote the afternoon session. At the end of the day we were told that the files were miraculously recovered without any more confirmation. So of course I believe what they have to say…

If it’s any consolation, Albany was no better:

Has there been any word about computer problems with the NY bar? I just walked out and I’m praying that somehow SOME party of my essays will be salvaged! From what I saw, I certainly wasn’t alone—there was a significant minority of people who lost some or all of their essays, had essays disappear, had several essays combine randomly, couldn’t upload, couldn’t save, etc… It was a mess in Albany. I heard that at the Javits Center, it was chaos.

Any thoughts as to what the Board of Law Examiners will do? I’m guessing, somewhere between nothing and jack s**t.

And from another Albany victim exam taker:

I took the NY bar exam in Albany today. I also had an essay disappear. My answer to question #4 had disappeared and was replaced by a partial answer to my question #5. I only noticed with 12 minutes left when I went back to re-read my answers. I thought that I had messed up with the copy/paste function, so I didn’t report it at the time (dumb, I know). I just wrote furiously for 12 minutes and managed to partially recapture about 2/3 of the answer.

Later on I found out a friend had the same problem in the morning session, so I emailed the Secure Exam people (slogan: “So secure, even we can’t find it!”). I have no real hope that anything will be recoverable, but I’ll let you know what, if anything I get in response.

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Remember how people were clamoring for the ability to take the exam on their laptops — and were eventually accommodated? It may have been a case of “be careful for what you wish for; you might just get it.”
If you have your own tale of bar exam woe, please add it in the comments, or email us (subject line: “Bar Exam Horror Story”). Thanks.
Earlier: The New York Bar Exam: Laptopgate!
The New York Bar Exam: A Laptopgate Update

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