ExamSoft Unable to Handle Surge of Bar Exam Uploads – Law Grads Nationwide Go Nuclear

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The epitome of “YOU HAD ONE JOB” occurred Tuesday when ExamSoft, the computer software company providing the ability to securely type and submit exams on your personal laptop, severely shit the bed when they were incapable of handling the mass amount of bar exam uploads coming in, leaving numerous exam takers nationwide shitting their pants (I hope no literal shit was involved). It’s not like this influx of uploads was a surprise attack on ExamSoft. This is their livelihood, and bar exam dates are set years in advance.

As someone who has not only taken the emotional brain-beating that is the bar exam, but also had to pay the $100-$150 it costs to utilize ExamSoft’s services so that my writing hand didn’t fall off, I cannot imagine what kind of rampage I might have gone on had I not been able to upload my sacred answers, and/or at any point even remotely thought they had disappeared. ExamSoft is reassuring customers that their answers remain on their computers until they are successfully uploaded, and for the sanity of everyone involved, I sure as hell hope so. If I worked in ExamSoft customer service, I think I might have chosen today as a good day to cut my losses. Take your average pissed off customer, and amplify it with the stress of taking what is likely the biggest test of these individual’s lives. I hope ExamSoft records their calls for quality purposes (after they turned off the busy signal, that is), because I’d like to give a few a listen.

Luckily, states are cooperating in this fiasco by allowing additional time for ExamSoft users to upload their exams. However, that first day of testing, at least in my jurisdiction, once you finish, you have been furiously non-stop typing for eight hours. You are exhausted, brain-dead, and just want a meal, possibly a stiff drink, and your bed. My mom took me to a nice steak dinner after my day one of testing. Food and half a bottle of wine later, I was falling asleep at the dinner table. Had I been expected to sit and continue attempting answer upload, I might have had to be sedated, for everyone’s safety, including my own. So, even though these exam takers have until, in some cases, late tomorrow evening to upload, I’m sure these overly stressed individuals can make a good case for undue burden.

When I walked out of the testing center after completing the final day of testing, my mouth couldn’t find a tequila shot fast enough. This subsequently led to events I can only conclude as hearsay, despite some video evidence to the contrary, because I know I most definitely did NOT get a bottle of champagne that I brought into the bar (the fun kind) confiscated from me, have a dispute with a cab driver over my ability to behave en route, accuse my friends of being grandmas for making us leave a bar that we apparently only left because it was closing, and pee in an improper receptacle, possibly not even a receptacle at all. I can’t, in good faith, recommend engaging in any of that behavior. However, you should surely be able to resort to post-bar exam activities that aren’t continually attempting to upload your (hopefully) prized answers (they could be garbage; you won’t find out for quite some time) to a company you paid to be able to handle them.

[via Above the Law]

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McMagistrate

After stretching college out for 9 years, McMagistrate is now an attorney in her late-ish 20's who earned her title by embracing the stigma that accompanies a healthy partying habit. She enjoys showing off her sub-par golf game and pretending her impressive law school loan doesn't exist. You can likely find her on her patio, live-tweeting her wine binges, and concerning her neighbors.

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