Bar Exams, BARBRI, Technology

When Did The Bar Exam Become The Kobayashi Maru?

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Sorry, we can’t help you with registering for the New York Bar Exam.

Yeah, for those who haven’t been paying attention to some of my prior coverage, the New York Board of Law Examiners occasionally has problems. Today they’ve got a big one. People were supposed to be able to figure out where they’d be taking the bar exam this summer, but things have not gone smoothly. A tipster reports:

the email with a link to the sign up for NY Bar locations for out-of-state test takers went out today at 2:36. The site crashed at 2:41. I think that the Bar Association could at least pretend to give a s*** and make an effort to make sure their equipment works.

Service has been spotty to non-existent since then. That’s okay, out-of-state test takers. I hear Albany is lovely in the middle of the summer. (/Sarcasm off.)

We can’t make registering for the bar any faster, but perhaps we can make studying for the bar a lot faster for everybody taking BAR/BRI this year…

If it seems like registering for the bar exam is a no-win situation, just wait until you try to study for it. Last year, we had a post that gave people some tips for speeding up BAR/BRI lectures. For reasons passing understanding, BAR/BRI won’t simply let people watching the lectures on video speed them up. Last year, people figured out a work-around, but it would seem that BAR/BRI closed that loophole:

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Your article last year instructing how to speed up the online barbri lectures no longer applies… Could you please consider posting a blurb to determine if anybody has figured out how to do it this year? I’m sure a ton of 3Ls would really appreciate it.

What possible upside is there to forcing students to sit through a taped lecture at regular speed?

Happily, a reader has already emailed in one suggestion for how to make BAR/BRI less interminable:

BarBri and Kaplan PMBR have changed their video players so students watching the bar review lectures no longer have the option of just pushing a few keys to speed up the pace of the videos. [ATL] did a post on this a couple years ago, but that method no longer works.

However, there’s an easy solution to this. Download a free audio-recorder from http://www.applian.com/freecorder4/, stream the videos, press record, and then listen to them later in Windows Media Player at an accelerated speed. This is my gift to all of the students at “accredited” law schools out there (what does that term really mean, anyway?).

You’re welcome!

[Redacted]

Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Class of 2011

I haven’t tried this out myself, so I cannot vouch for the efficacy (or appropriateness) this method. But if this doesn’t work, I’m sure somebody out there will figure out a way. An intrepid young bar exam cadet will figure out how to reprogram the damn thing.

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Feel free to discuss this topic in the comments. It beats the hell out of refreshing the NY BOLE page one more time.

Earlier: BAR/BRI Like It Oughta Be
Recent Bar Exam Results: Open Thread
New York Bar Examiners Admit to Accidental Release of New York Bar Results

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