Online Bar Exam Software Still Not Working On Friday, Test On Tuesday

Online exams are a huge undertaking and maybe we weren't ready for it.

[UPDATE BELOW] “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,” as they say. And while that expression manages to be both ableist and sexist at the same time, the thrust is well-taken. When almost half the country is set to take an in-person exam next week, we have to applaud the states that opted for remote, online exams. Not so much because online exams aren’t fraught with their own problems, but because we should give proper acknowledgement whenever a state “doesn’t want to kill people.”

In 2020, this is the threshold.

So we were among those who cheered on Indiana for being an early adopter of the online exam. But online exams present their own problems with America’s unstable internet infrastructure, access concerns, difficulties guaranteeing a private and quiet area to take the test, and issues with online proctoring protocols. And, as it turns out, they also have problems simply getting the test off the ground.

From Reddit:

Online testing was bound to present platform issues but one figured there was enough time to sort those out. And perhaps by October when most online testing jurisdictions plan to go forward, we’ll have this worked out.

But for now, this really makes you wonder why we have to have a bar exam this year at all.

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UPDATE: Indiana has now put off the exam until August 4 because of these issues. And while this is good for keeping applicants from having to start an exam that falls apart next week, it underscores the whole problem with insisting on the bar exam in this environment — after hyping up and mastering all this material, everyone is being asked to just hold onto it for another week.

Earlier: Indiana Orders Remote Bar Exam In Fit Of Reasonableness
NY Moves To Online Exam… For Now
Online LSAT Is Glitchy… So OBVIOUSLY The Takeaway Is To Never Try Online Bar Exams


HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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