Law Schools

California Screwed Up The July Bar Exam

Oops!

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Failed businessman, conceptual illustrationThe legal profession’s annual hazing ritual, known as the bar exam, happens twice a year (in most jurisdictions). There are testing dates in February and July — the latter being much more popular. In the most recent administration of the notoriously difficult California bar exam, there was a pretty egregious mix up between the tests. I mean, the very least administrators can do is make sure test takers can the correct exam, right?

… Yeah, as the State Bar of California admitted, during the July exam at the Sacramento testing center, some folks got the wrong exam and were given questions from the February test. As the State Bar explains, “two applicants were inadvertently provided with the February 2023 afternoon exam questions, rather than the intended July 2023 afternoon exam questions. The affected portion of the exam was comprised of Essay Questions 4 and 5, and the Performance Test.”

That’s not a good look.

So, how exactly did that happen? According to the State Bar,

it was a human collation error.

The printing company that produced the exam materials has confirmed that two sets of February 2023 afternoon exam questions, intended and maintained by the company for use as samples for how to collate the afternoon question sets for subsequent exams, were mistakenly packaged with the July 2023 afternoon exam questions. These mispacked materials were thereafter shipped to the Sacramento testing center.

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As for what happened to the applicants given the wrong test, the Bar assures folks they consulted with “psychometric experts” to determine a “fair and reliable method for evaluating the two affected applicants’ impacted answers. This approach ensures that the integrity of the examination process remains intact and that the exams of the impacted applicants are handled fairly, despite the unforeseen circumstance.” What exactly that “fair and reliable” method entails is left unsaid, but I certainly hope no additional burden was placed on the impacted students.

And they assure everyone it won’t happen again:

Further, the printing vendor has taken immediate corrective measures. They are implementing additional layers of quality control to their production and packing processes, with a particular emphasis on preventing similar errors in the future. Part of their enhanced process includes the complete disposal of previous exam materials.

It’s great to see responsibility being taken and steps implemented to prevent this from happening again. But you know what would absolutely guarantee something similar never happens again? Diploma privilege.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].

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