Law Schools

ExamSoft Blames Graduates For Latest Bar Exam Debacle

Because looking in the mirror is for chumps.

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So… we think this is a RAM issue.

Every remote administration of the bar exam featured varying levels of abject horror. And at the heart of these disasters is always ExamSoft, the company that rushed out a platform to keep the bar exam train running during lockdown. Its monitoring system was flagged as a problem from jump, subjected graduates to unnecessary suffering, flagged a full third of examinees for cheating, and ultimately Capitol Hill had to get involved.

And when a group of senators demanded answers, ExamSoft suggested that this was only an issue because of the examinee’s internet, or lighting, or fuzzy webcam… blaming everyone but themselves for a problem that was identified long before the exam.

It looks like the company is back to its standard public relations playbook. After multiple crashes across the country last week, ExamSoft has decided the problem could not possibly be their fault. From Bloomberg Law:

“Unfortunately, some applicants did experience technical difficulties and needed to restart their computer to resume testing,” said ExamSoft spokeswoman Nici Sandberg in a written statement. “While we’re still investigating, these seem to be related to memory issues on some devices.”

Why was that not addressed in the pre-exam testing, or at least identified to allow examinees to avoid mid-session issues? There are people who lost out on long stretches of exam time over this and even if ExamSoft is right about the source of the problem, it’s still 100 percent ExamSoft’s fault that anyone had to suffer because of it.

And folks aren’t all that convinced that the company is right about the source of the problem. Applicants who suffered tech breakdowns during the exam took to social media to undermine the “user memory issues” excuse. A selection:

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* I have the 2021 MacBook Air with 8gb of RAM and mine messed up. Absolutely not a computer issue. 100% a software issue. Disgusting they are blame shifting like that.

* LOL I made sure I had MORE than the recommended amount of space on my computer. They suck

* I bought a new laptop FOR THEIR SOFTWARE. Like, the only shit that laptop has run is their program.

* I bought a new laptop the very last week we could register the software. I purposely did not download or save things to it and used my old computer for other things so I would not have any issues. on Monday afternoon I made an appt for the IT guy at the law school to check it all out so I would not have any problems…..MEE 6 got the blank blue screen. My computer was not the problem at all. Nice try ExamSoft!

* I used Examsoft for 3 years of law school exams with no issues but sure, it’s my fault it crashed twice for this exam

That doesn’t sound like a memory problem. But here we are yet again with an exam problem and ExamSoft pointing fingers. This is a good time to remind people that rival test software company Extegrity said early on that they didn’t see a way to clear the technical challenges and deliver everything bar examiners needed in a stable way in the short turnaround required. It might be time to consider the possibility that they were right on this one.

Or we can just keep randomly blaming examinees. Yeah, that sounds easier.

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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