MacBooks May Be Able To Cheat The Online Bar Exam

But even if they're not, this highlights the lack of trust out there.

Can a user cheat on the upcoming online bar exam and ruin the curve for everyone? It’s an overriding concern for applicants who understand that — despite the claims of bar examiners — the exam does not test “minimum competency” as much as ensure that around 20-25 percent of applicants fail. Without leveling the playing field with a full open-book exam that mirrors the actual practice of law like Indiana offered, allowing someone to have access to their fully fleshed out notes would put every other grad in a hole.

Thankfully, ExamSoft has a proctoring regime that can stop that. Unless you’re a BIPOC who can’t be easily picked up by its facial recognition software, of course. Or a diabetic. Or unwilling to piss yourself at your desk. But there’s something out there to prevent users from looking at their notes, right?

There is, and its the requirement that test-takers not avert their eyes from the screen at any moment while ExamSoft’s platform locks them out of the rest of their computer.

Except, as Apple purists know, when a user has their iPhone and MacBook on the same network, text copied on the iPhone can be pasted onto the MacBook. Meaning someone with notes available on their phone could pop them into their ExamSoft answer at the push of a button — or, well, two buttons because they have to hit Command-V. A video showing this concern showed up on Twitter:

Now, how likely is this to be used? Probably pretty unlikely. In fact, one Twitter user pointed out that the people who may have more risk here is the NCBE who could see their precious testing material copied on the platform and then pasted into the phone despite all their efforts at confidentiality.

But as for cheating by applicants, ExamSoft does, in theory, record keystrokes meaning an orphaned Paste should trigger an alarm. That said, if something was copied within ExamSoft and then the phone registered a copy and then the paste was applied to ExamSoft, that might well appear as a straightforward Copy and Paste within the system by the keystroke recording apparatus. Assuming the keystroke grabbing system actually works and isn’t just a latter-day panopticon that we all just assume is holding back cheating.

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But still, who really has a usable set of notes that they could surreptitiously grab off their phone without breaking eye contact with the screen that will necessarily help them on an unpredictable question? And would risk getting caught over this slim edge? The platform doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect to deter specific cheating strategies.

But that’s not really the point. The point is that there’s a fundamental lack of faith in a system that already struggled through the Michigan exam with a proctoring partner that suffered a massive data breach and every technical exploit discovered by users underscores that this whole process is being made up on the fly. For a test that applicants have poured their lives and neuroses into for going on five months, having faith in the sanctity of the test is as important as the test itself. Instead, we have a system that still hasn’t undergone a full-scale stress test, and courts that refuse to even consider having one, preferring to rely on ExamSoft’s claim that a Saudi Arabian exam serves as proof of concept even though that was apparently a multiple choice exam with none of the complications that come from an essay section. All of this coupled with reports that ExamSoft tries to squelch criticism, this doesn’t inspire confidence.

Online exams were a laudable goal. Preparing an online examination at least showed basic concern for the applicants during a pandemic. But we’re at a point where it’s clear this isn’t the right answer and it’s time to redraw from scratch. Whether it’s an open book exam that genuinely passes applicants based on demonstrating minimum competence (UPDATE: putting aside of course the unfairness that would result from a rushed change of course at this point) or a diploma privilege system, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and design a system that provides everyone trust.


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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