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QUESTION OF THE WEEK
What Was the Strangest Thing You Saw at the Bar Exam?
By LeeRawles
Aug 1, 2012, 02:48 pmCDT
Comments
My first bar exam was a winter one and during the essay portion of the exam, one of the test takers stood up, threw down their pencil, and ran
from the room shouting I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!
I think everyone paused for a second, and then like good Bar Exam takers, we went right back to writing.
By OKBankLaw on 2012 08 01, 3:02 pm CDT
During the lunch break at the PA bar exam I watched a prospective attorney pulling weeds and pruning the hedges (with just his hands) outside
the Valley Forget Convention Center. I guess that was his way of relaxing from the morning.
By Myself on 2012 08 01, 3:12 pm CDT
During the 2010 California bar exam in San Diego the fire alarm went off during the MBE and no one even moved. We all looked up for a
second and then as could be expected, everyone kept going.
By Amanda on 2012 08 01, 3:22 pm CDT
During the Illinois exam in 2004, a guy straight across from me started reading each section as soon as he received the book, not waiting until
time was started. Being a cheater in my book, I reported him the next morning. Sure enough, when he received the book for the first section that
morning, he started reading. This time the proctor stopped him, but he was allowed to keep taking the test. I dont know if I wanted him kicked
out, and I dont know what happened to him subsequently, but I was really disappointed to witness it and have to report it.
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By AJ on 2012 08 01, 3:30 pm CDT
We were placed in the convention center in Roanoke, VA on large picnic style tables. The man seated across from me was evidently unsure
about his answers. He kept erasing his answers SO HARD that the table was having spasms. I called him the mad eraser.
By WB on 2012 08 01, 3:35 pm CDT
At the 1997 Illinois bar exam I took in a room at Northwestern University in Chicago, some guy showed up more than half an hour late for the
first day, but was seated and started the exam. On the second day, we all noticed he missed role call again. Sure enough, he again showed up
more than half an hour late for the second day - when he walked in, we spontaneously applauded him. At the mass swearing in ceremony in
November, he was there. He missed more than an hour of the exam and still passed. Go figure.
By Ransom Stoddard on 2012 08 01, 3:53 pm CDT
Summer of 1996 I sat for the FL Bar Exam. The convention center was so cold that I had to use my socks as mittens to be able to write. To top
that off I was sitting less than five feet from the bathroom and every possible odor known to mankind emitted from that bathroom. I took two
pieces of kleenex and plugged my nose. Even with that kind of adversity I passed the exam.
By SG on 2012 08 01, 3:56 pm CDT
During the test, this poor girl started yelling at the back of the convention center, went rigid and fell back, stiff as a board. You could hear the
crack as she hit several rows up, even with ear plugs. At first those of us who saw/heard it happen thought she was just trying to draw attention
to herself because of the bathroom rules during the FL bar (needing your badge, testing materials, etc) but then she fell. All the proctors were
just standing in a circle around her staring at her, then one turned around and made a field-goal-esque gesture to the front of the room.
Apparently that was the Stop the clock gesture but it looked more like a Score! We got one gesture. One of the students got up, hands in the
air, stating he was a doctor and needed to make sure she was still breathing (since none of the proctors had moved to check on her). The
paramedics came and carted her out on a stretcher, conscious but not aware of what had happened. I think that entire disruption added an extra
5 minutes to the testing time, although it took those of us closest to it much longer to recover from what we had witnessed. Still passed the test,
and still wonder what happened to that poor girl.
By FL BAR on 2012 08 01, 4:55 pm CDT
As I walked into the convention center for the Virginia bar exam with three No. 2 pencils, I saw a fellow test taker with a bundle of pencils at
least six inchese in diameter. Thinking I might not have enough pencils for a pencil emergency I asked him if I could have a couple. He gave
a look of pure panic and managed to blurt, I need these! before he literally ran away. I have often wondered how his nerves made it through
the two days of testing. Oh, my pencils did just fine.
By DSC on 2012 08 01, 7:39 pm CDT
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This is the story of how I almost destroyed someone elses chance to take the bar. The morning of the bar, as I was eating breakfast at the hotel
where I was staying, I coincidentally ran into an acquaintance of mine from law school who was also there to take the bar. The hotel had a very
efficient, free shuttle system that left every half hour and would take you to many major locations. My bar ticket said my exam started at 9am
and was located at the convention center. I woke up early, talked to the shuttle driver and he said if I took the 8am shuttle I would arrive in
plenty of time as the convention center was less than 5 minutes driving distance away. I decided to take the 7am shuttle just to be on the safe
side.
When I saw my acquaintance, she was preparing to take the 6am shuttle. I told her what the shuttle driver had told me and asked why she was
leaving so early when the exam location was so close. She laughed, agreed that leaving so early was overdoing it a bit, attributed it to her
nerves (she was extremely nervous), relaxed a bit and sat down with me to wait for the 7am shuttle. 7am arrives and the shuttle driver is a little
late, making me grateful that I am taking the 7am shuttle instead of the 8am one. It is snowing heavily at this time but the driver reassures both
of us as we climb into the van that the convention center is just around the corner and that even in the bad weather we should be able to make it
there in about 10 minutes. She pales. Turns out that her exam is at a completely different location from mine - not the convention center - and
is scheduled to start an hour earlier - 8am. And her location is not around the corner. In fact, the shutte driver has never heard of the place
where she is taking the bar and is unsure of where to go. In fact, even after looking up the address on mapquest (which says it takes about 25
minutes to get there), he still doesnt know where it is - he is standing there and keeps reiterating that wherever it is, it is not on his regular
driving route. We begin to ask everyone around if they know where it is and finally we leave at about 7:30am with the driver still looking very
doubtful about where he needs to go.
After several wrong turns, a dangerous skid in the snow, and the driver muttering all the way that he is not sure he is even on the right route, we
finally pull up to the entrance of the building with about 3 minutes to go before her bar is scheduled to begin. She jumps out of the van and
literally runs through the snow to the entrance of the building. I really felt bad for her, as she was already a nervous wreck to begin with. She
ended up passing, though. I always wondered if she thought I purposely tried to mess her up and make her late.
By How I Almost Destroyed Someone Else's Chance to Ta on 2012 08 01, 7:48 pm CDT
Strangest thing I saw? My own laptop. Well, it was a loaner from a friend because MN doesnt allow us to use Macs. The word processor kept
lagging behind my fast typing, and the cursor was evil and kept jumping around the screen, so I had to keep fixing my text. Then the computer
completely froze. Twice. Of course I wasnt able to finish all of the essays. That night, I had zero luck trying to upload my answers (and the
help line was worthless). Cried my eyes out. I wound up bringing the laptop with me the next day, begging the examiners to try retrieving the
files directly. They did manage to pull some files, but couldnt tell me until days later that they could actually read the files. And of course, MN
doesnt announce J uly exam results until October. I spent the intervening months in a depressed state, utterly convinced that I had failed the
exam. Didnt even return my BarBri books because I was sure Id need to re-take the exam. Somehow, I passed. Still cant believe it, actually.
By Anne on 2012 08 01, 8:34 pm CDT
During the May 2008 San Diego bar exam, there was an earthquake during the first essay session. The bar was held at the convention center.
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There were maybe 500 laptop examinees in one room. The earth moved, the chandeliers swang. As one, we all looked up to see if anything was
falling. As one, all 500 of us turned back to the laptop and typed like mad. A friend of mine took the same exam In L.A. (near the epicenter).
She said everyone just unplugged their laptops, climbed under the table, and continued typing.
By Lauren on 2012 08 01, 11:07 pm CDT
...Im not in law at all, but I like reading the stories and comments. But reading this article, I am amazed at the crap you have to put up with to
take a test.
My best wishes to yall.
By Jaid on 2012 08 02, 5:23 am CDT
My Bar exam was quite some time ago. I recall a guy at the table next to me complaining loudly to more than one proctor that the convention
center tables had been covered with tablecloths and he was afraid his pencils would not be able to make dark enough marks on scantron for the
MBE. The proctors responded that the tables and tableclothes were approved and that he was forbidden from removing the tablecloth from his
table because everyone had to take the test under the same conditions. The test taker was very upset. The proctors told him he could either take
the test or not and that he could file a complaint with the testing company. He finally stopped complaining and took the test.
Other than that, I think people may have found me curious. The MBE was broken into 3-hour sections on each of the 2-day exam. I take
multiple choice tests pretty quickly compared to other people. I believe on Day 1, I finished in under 1.5 hours. I asked the proctor if I could
leave and he said no. I sat there, just looking around and people watching for 1.5 hours. This caused people to look at me, wondering what I
was doing. On Day 2, I finished again in under 1.5 hours. For Day 2, I was smart enough to bring some novel to read during the remaining 1.5
hours. I received a lot of very curious looks from test takers and proctors as to why I would be reading a novel in the middle of the Bar Exam.
Yes, I passed the Bar and I received high enough scores on the MBE to have those scores transfer to any jurisdiction.
By Maryland Esquire on 2012 08 02, 7:16 am CDT
When I took the bar at the J avits Center, I tried to be prepared for what I knew would be a room full of nervous people with all kinds of quirks.
I was not prepared when halfway through the first day of the bar exam, I smelled a powerful smell of cologne. When I turned around, an older
gentleman who was taking the bar had produced a Costco-sized bottle of after shave, and was slapping it on his face with abandon. It was
pretty overwhelming. People ten rows away were starting to sneeze. Someone called the proctor and said that the smell was giving him a
headache. The guy sitting next to After Shave Man saw me observing the situation and pantomimed, You remembered earplugs, but you
forgot noseplugs.
At the end of the first day, Pantomime Guy asked After Shave Man about his behavior. He said that he tended to fall asleep while taking tests,
so he woke himself up with the bracing feeling of slapping after shave on his face. After suggesting that he find a less distracting way of
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waking himself up during the test, Pantomime Guy came over to share the explanation with me, and to ask me out (but that last part is a story
for another post). Ergo, the strangest thing I saw at the bar exam =an oddball putting on a gallon of after shave AND me apparently attracting
a date while wearing layers, earplugs, and panicking that I didnt know the holographic will exceptions.
By Jane on 2012 08 02, 11:13 am CDT
How about strangest things I heard? Because I was seated right next to the bathrooms at Pittsburghs David Lawrence Convention Center- there
were over 500 people seated in what was basically an airplane hanger. It was, in a word, echo-y.
By DCW on 2012 08 02, 11:54 am CDT
I did not witness this, but heard from a reliable source that during the course of one bar exam, a dead bird fell from the rafters of the Tampa
Convention Center onto a colleagues desk. Fortunately, it was not an omen.
By NoleLaw on 2012 08 02, 12:21 pm CDT
A friend of mine died the night before I took the bar exam. Since I couldnt attend the funeral, I tore a strip off of a black t-shirt and wore
traditional mourning rags tied on my left wrist to the bar exam. When the bar examiners saw them they were not satisfied with this
explanation. I was hustled into the ladies room, subjected to a pat-down, presumably to insure that I was not hiding cheat sheets in my
underwear. I was also told to remove the rag for inspection. After satisfying themselves that it did not contain the elements for adverse
possession, it was returned. The only reason I was permitted to continue wearing it was because I had pointed out that more than half the
procters and many of the test takers had brought Bibles into the test center.
By BMF on 2012 08 02, 12:53 pm CDT
Mines an English one from the late 1970s. The solicitors finals were held in Liverpools Irish Centre, and the smell of last nights stale Guiness
was overwhelming. Must have helped though, Day One meant a re-sit but then I was acclimatised and sailed through the rest.
By Stephen on 2012 08 02, 1:41 pm CDT
When I took it (many years ago) some guys method for affecting the curve was to avoid bathing for a number of days or weeks before the
exam.
By Mr.PC on 2012 08 02, 3:47 pm CDT
My bar exam experience:
A young man directly in front of me brought a half-dozen Snickers bars each day, plainly visible in his clear plastic bag which was supposed to
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contain only writing implements. Flagrant rule flaunter? Maybe he had a medical exemption so he could bring snacks. Either way, listening to
his crinkly candy wrappers and his chewing annoyed the heck out of me. I spent a lot of time staring daggers into the back of his head. I would
have liked to have a snack/boost of brain-fueling glucose mid-exam too, but I followed the rules. Apparently I am not telepathic, or he would
have choked to death.
Also in front of me, a well-dressed, prosperous appearing lady with a shiny new oversize laptop. She spent about 2 hours fighting with her
laptop before giving up and going home. Funny thing is, I could tell from where I sat what her problem was. If she had tried even one time to
run the testing software before the exam, she would have known she had a problem and she could have downloaded the patch/fix for it, like I
did. Did she have to buy a new laptop the night before the exam, barely have time to download the software, and not have time to do a trial run?
Or was she so cavalier and ill-prepared that she never bothered to do a trial run? From the content of her cursing, I believe it was the latter. It
was not her first try at the bar exam.
Right beside me was a young lady taking the exam for the 7th time. Not a lot of people shared information like that, but I was taking the exam
for the 2nd time, and I took it upon myself to try to calm her down, since she seemed super-nervous and I had been through it once before. By
noon on the first day she told me I could stop giving her tips about what would happen next, since she had been through this 6 times for real and
many more times for practice with a bar-prep company she had been working with. We talked a lot during the breaks and became friends. I was
impressed with her absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of the law. (Impressed to the point of questioning my own competenceif she cant pass,
what chance do I have? But I knew, from taking it previously and coming within striking range of passing, that I was a contender.) I shared in
her joy, confident that she was ace-ing the test this time. Until the afternoon on the third day. Apparently she wrote the assignment from the
perspective of the husbands heirs instead of from the wifes; she realized her mistake with less than 1/4 of the time left. She cried, cursed,
pounded the table, then deleted her answer and attempted to rewrite it from the other partys perspective. We kept in touch; she eventually
passed on her 11th try. I am still impressed by her determination. And her dads, for paying for his daughters decade-long odyssey of becoming
alawyer.
A few rows in front of me sat another young lady, clad in sort of quasi-Muslim attire. Long-sleeved demin shirt, long denim skirt, and a big
headscarf that didnt quite cover her hair. Im no expert on wearing the hijab, but I could tell that she wasnt either. Maybe she very suddenly
found religion just before taking the bar exam? She wore the same clothes for all 3 days of the exam, which is a little weird. I was pregnant so I
took pee-breaks a few times during the exam; she went to the restroom even more often. Then I caught a glimpse of her forearm through the
opening above the button on her shirt cuff and I understood why. She had blue ink writing all over her forearm. At the time I was sort of
amusedit seemed pathetic, that she would try to cheat by writing notes on her body. I laughed inwardly realizing she had been running to the
bathroom between multistate questions to try to look up answers. In hindsight, I guess I should have told the proctors. At the time, I had a
live-and-let-live attitude. I gave a lot more thought to turning in Snickers Guy, because I could see how his cheating might help him and give
him an advantage. The modest young lady who had written cheat-notes on herself, she just seemed laughable, pitiful. I would give good odds
that she didnt pass.
Probably nothing in my bar experience was strange or out of the ordinary. The one thing that does strike me as odd is that I took the bar exam
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once prior, only 6 months before the experience Im retelling here, and I have almost no recollection of my first attempt. If I knew much about
PTSD maybe I could explain that.
For a few years after passing the bar, I used to have nightmares that I had to retake the exam. If the state bar decided that lawyers had to retake
the exam every 5 or 10 yearsthis scenario has occurred in my nightmaresI would give up being a lawyer rather than study and take it again. I
love my career and have done well enough in it, but I wouldnt go through the bar exam again. That attitude would likely be unusual in any
other profession but I dont imagine its terribly uncommon among lawyers.
By K. on 2012 08 02, 4:24 pm CDT
Due to some interesting circumstances including moving and job choices, all of which happened before I got enough traction in one place to
waive into another state, I have taken three bars. All three were unique in their own special way.
Bar #1: A midwestern state. For whatever reason the bar examiners wouldnt allow you to bring your keys or your wallet/purse into the exam,
only your ID and various bar stuff (pens, pencils, ticket). So I had to lock my valuable and important wallet in my car AND check my keys with
a proctor who couldnt have been a day under 95. Checking my keys involved said 95 year old proctor taping a coat check ticket to my key
ring, and the key rings of my 300 closest bar taking friends, and then leaving them ALL on a table in the lobby of the convention center, to be
collected at lunch and at the close of the day. Very secure. Also there was a girl with a whole tattoo of blind justice on her shoulderblade. She
was wearing a racerback tank top to make sure we all saw her devotion to the law. And at the end of the essay portion while I stood around
waiting for a friend, one guy tried to make conversation with me by stating that he couldnt remember the standard for summary judgment
which basically amounted to at least 1/6 of the essays for the day. Stellar.
Bar #2: Nothing too weird to report except that the state never really told us what would be on that bar (as in number of MEEs versus state
essays) so everyone in the room believed something different about what they should have studied. Also, some guy in front of me had an entire
gallon ziploc full of of snacks and spent most of the bar peeling and eating mandarins.
Bar #3: California! I spotted one man non-ironically wearing Lululemon clothes. One man who relieved his stress by doing tai chi in the aisles.
And at the end of one of the essay portions when I went to spell check my work the entire computer froze and I couldnt even use it. I had to use
the emergency hard reboot (press the on button for several seconds and pray like youve never prayed before) and cross my fingers. My
computer rebooted and relogged into Examsoft literally 30 seconds before they called time. Ive never wanted to puke/die/scream so much all at
once.
Needless to say, if I move to another jurisdiction which will require a bar exam, Im going to just change professions. There cant be an exam
for clown school.
By multiple taker on 2012 08 03, 2:35 am CDT
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A guy sitting in the row behind me dressed like Waldo (as in Wheres Waldo?) all 3 days of the J uly 2010 California Bar Exam. Our test
center was the Ontario Convention Center, so there were about 1,200 of us all in one room, which made the Waldo thing actually pretty funny.
Unfortunately Waldo had a nasty habit of finishing each section early and having an inappropriately-loud conversation with the proctor(s) for
several minutes before hed actually leave the testing hall
By Danielle on 2012 08 03, 3:32 am CDT
During the OH bar in 2011, someone got caught cheating during the bar. This girl literally just pulled out postcards during the exam and started
flipping through them. As you would expect she was ejected shortly thereafter.
By Nate on 2012 08 03, 6:40 am CDT
J ust got out of the MA exam last week ... after already sitting for two days for another states exam, I hopped on the bus to Boston after Day 2.
Got sick on the way there, spent the entire night next to the toilet learning the states distinctions while trying to hold down water. Got to the
test site the next morning and my software wasnt working. There were THREE techs for 1,500+applicants. When I actually was able to grab a
tech to help me out, the first thing she asked me was Is this a Mac or a P.C.? I ended up handwriting the thing. Cheers.
By Kate on 2012 08 03, 7:16 am CDT
Things went bat-crazy here in Indiana for the J uly 2012 bar exam. Several bar-takers reported a live BAT the morning of the first day of the
Indiana bar exam at the Indiana Convention Center. There were also reports of proctors trying to catch the bat one tried to throw a cardboard
box on top of it during the exam and no none of this was distracting at all (yeah right!) Several bar-takers reported severe chiroptophobia (fear
of bats) and were praying it was a bird in the examination room. Now that the bar exam is over I think Indiana bar-takers would have preferred
a visit from Christian Bale than from his mammal stand-in.
By lotytoledo on 2012 08 03, 7:23 am CDT
We were packed like sardines into a huge room at the Empire State Center in Albany, NY near the Egg. Long narrow tables with seats very
close together. About 15 minutes into the first day of the bar exam, the guy to the right of me abruptly got up and left. The woman on the other
side of me and I went yes and spread out. His loss was our gain, and we had extra elbow room to write our answers (back then, no computers
were allowed in the exam room.)
By MB on 2012 08 03, 7:41 am CDT
Walking to the 1st day of the FL Bar exam, I came across a bunch of other people (who I didnt know) who were also walking to it from their
hotels. One girl had a bandaid in the middle of her forehead and had drawn (with makeup) clown-like light purple under-eye circles on her face.
I think it was supposed to be a joke like studying for the Bar beat her up. But she was also wearing high heels. It was so weird and no one
around me commented so Im guessing no one got it.
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By MH on 2012 08 03, 7:54 am CDT
While we were working on the Con Law essay in 1973 at the Michigan Law School, a man in sweat clothes and tennis shoes ran down the steps
to the front of the room and asked for everyones attention. In a 2-minute speech he identified himself by name and said he wrote the question
we were answering and wanted to give some advice about it. He said it was a straight-forward question, nothing exotic about it, and if we
considered it that way we would have no trouble with it. Then he left, and we resumed writing. I thought there was something wrong with him,
continued to write what I had started, and wondered what he thought he added to justify the disruption. I passed.
By Martymich on 2012 08 03, 8:03 am CDT
3,000 people in a hangar with huge loudly obnoxious fans blowing to keep us from melting, middle of California Summer. The row in front of
me was a hotbed of entertainment. One woman came in wearing her bunny slippers, pajamas, and carrying her pillow. Day 2 she came with the
same get up, plus a blanket. The third day she didnt show. I suppose they didnt let her bring her bed. The guy sitting next to her would finish
his sections early and just sit there bored. I thought he must be a genius and muttered bastard each time he did that. He didnt show up the
third day. Between the two of them, even though Id royally messed up one of the essays applying the wrong states law, I thought at least
statistically my odds of passing greatly increased. I loved day 3.
By peoplelaw on 2012 08 03, 8:18 am CDT
Absolutely nothing happened when I took the bar exam. Everyone in my classroom even showed up on time and returned for each session.
There were no medical issues, people freaking out, climate control issues or fire alarms or maybe I was oblivious to it all.
By MBT on 2012 08 03, 8:18 am CDT
My answer should be that I saw a woman go into labor, but I cant honestly say I was aware that it was happening. I took the J uly 2011 Illinois
bar exam, and in what has become a matter of legend at this point, a woman in my room went into labor during the afternoon of the second day.
Of course I had noticed that she was quite far along with her pregnancy, and I noticed that she seemed to be getting up to go to the bathroom a
lot - and then everyone in the room noticed when she left about half an hour before the test was over. But, to my continued amazement, I had no
idea that she was actually in labor. She remained completely calm, finished the exam, and as I later learned.. Casually walked across the street
to the Northwestern hospital and gave birth a couple hours later. I dont know the woman, but I remain in awe of her composure - and her
impressive ability to cause less of a disturbance than someone with an aggressive case of the sniffles. Other people can barely handle the
stresses of the bar alone, she did all that.AND had a child. What a woman.
By AnnOC on 2012 08 03, 8:20 am CDT
I have had the privilege (or torture) of taking two bar exams (due to a move to a different state). The second one was pretty uneventful b/c I
was in a separate room with people who did not have to take the multistate part due to transferring scores. The first one was a bit more
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memorable b/c I was in with the general group and they let you bring food, drinks, personal items in with you. A lady on the same side of my
table had pictures of family members, several troll dolls and a huge stash/array of vitamins in huge containers. I am surprised she could even fit
her test booklet in her space. Thankfully, she was far enough down the table that she was not invading my space. I shouldnt be too
judgmental, though, b/c I am super noise sensitive during tests and realized I had misplaced my earplugs a few minutes before the test was to
start. I bolted across the room to a friend and begged him for an extra pair (they were new and still in the package). I must have looked crazy
running around and then rambling about the earplugs to him. I am still thankful to this day that he had that extra pair and let me use them.
By jones on 2012 08 03, 8:26 am CDT
The test-taker sitting next to me was biting his nails for the entire day. When the test was over, all ten of his fingernails were bleeding because
he had chewed them that far down.
By MD Esq on 2012 08 03, 8:39 am CDT
J ust took the NY bar last week, and the thing that stood out the most was the rigid no-cell-phone rule. All summer, we were warned over and
over that it was a strict offense, and that having one could result in confiscation of the phone and cancellation of our scores. Every time they
warned us about this, I thought of course - who would bring something noisy and annoying into the bar exam room? Well, with about half an
hour remaining on the MBE, I found out - the 80-year-old nuns who proctored the exam, thats who. And despite the fact that they had no idea
how to silence them and caused quite a disturbance, they laughed about it. But you cant tell off a nun, right?
By Josy on 2012 08 03, 8:53 am CDT
Ive had the good fortune to take 3 bar exams and pass them all. Nothing special happened at my first bar exam, but:
I sat for the Florida Bar, in the laptop section of the room. Day 1 began with 3 essays. The proctors told us to begin, and I opened my book.
First question dealt with trusts, not an area I ever practiced in. But fine, I could spot some issues and started outlining my answer. Apparently,
not everyone reacted as well. The gentleman three desks to my right stood up, yelled son of a bitch! and yanked his laptops power cord out
of the extension cord, tucked the laptop under his arm, and walked out the back, never to return. 3 minutes in has to be a record for shortest bar
exam exit.
I sat for the California Bar next to a very nice gentleman from Nigeria who had been a soliciter there for more than a decade before moving to
the U. S. to provide a better future for his family. As a practicing lawyer at the time, I didnt have to take the MBE, which was administered on
Wednesday. When I came back Thursday for the second essay/practical section, I asked my deskmate how the MBE had gone. He said he
thought he had done fine, but hadnt gotten to all the questions. Time pressure is common in the MBE, so I asked him how many he hadnt
gotten to. 40 was the answer. A few seconds of quick math in my head confirmed: this would not be my new friends last CA Bar Exam.
By JP on 2012 08 03, 8:54 am CDT
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I also took the FL bar in J une 2011 and was seated close to the screamer. About 30 minutes into the morning exam she just started yelling at
the top of her voice Ahhhhhhh ahhhhh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! and then she walked out the doors.
By the time lunch came around I heard a bunch of rumors. Somebody even said she had a seizure and the paramedics took her outahh, the
lawschool rumor mill.
By Re: #8 FL BAR on 2012 08 03, 9:02 am CDT
I took the Florida Bar Exam in 2006. It was one of the first few years that they allowed people to take the essays with a laptop. Well, for
security reasons, all the laptop people had to go through separate medal detectors so that they could send their laptops through the x-ray
scanner. Well, the people managing those screening lines fell behind. Really behind. So, about 10 minutes before the exam was scheduled to
start, a proctor emerged from the exam room and realized how long the line still was. Now, Im towards the middle of the line and all of a
sudden I hear the proctor start yelling as loud as possible EVERYBODY RUN!!! RUUUUUN!!!! RUN!!! EVERYBODY RUUUUUUN!!!
I look around and, to my astonishment, people start to run. Now, I start to worry. Logically, I think there must be a fire or a terrorist attack or
something. But no. Everyone starts rushing the medal detectors as if their lives depend on it, the thing is beeping and flashing like crazy, and
then we are dashing into the exam room. All so the exam could start on time. Sigh. Gotta love Florida.
By Stephanie on 2012 08 03, 9:04 am CDT
Long ago (Miami Beach Convention Center, J uly, 1976), I was a couple of seats down from a guy with about two dozen #2 pencils lined up in
front of him. As soon as the multi-state portion of the test started, he snapped one pencil in half, then proceeded to snap most or all of his
remaining pencils over the next 15 minutes. I cant remember if he managed to complete the section with his truncated writing equipment or
had to ask for reinforcements, but the sound was a bit distracting until he ran out of pencils.
That, and one of the proctors, a well known local attorney, smoked a cigar as he circulated through the tables. Im pretty sure it wasnt allowed,
even back then, but no one was about to tell him to put it out.
By RGC on 2012 08 03, 9:09 am CDT
I was five-months pregnant with my first child when I took the bar exam. I told her to kick once for a, twice for b, etc. I passed.
By JM-K on 2012 08 03, 9:09 am CDT
I took the Bar Exam in Columbus, OH during the Summer of 1981. My buddy who was also taking the exam and I stayed at a hotel within
walking distance of where the exam was being administered. Walking to the first day of the Bar Exam we witnessed a car crash into another car
during the morning rush hour, but it just kept on going. It was a young male driver, so I commented to my buddy that it was probably somebody
else taking the exam that was freaking out about being late. While we were taking the Exam a couple of Columbus Police Officers entered the
exam area and escorted a young male taking the exam out of the room. My buddy and I just smiled at each other and kept taking the exam.
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During a break we heard that what I had suspected was true. I always wondered if that young man ever became a lawyer and if so what kind of
model to the profession.
By James P. Farmer Jr. on 2012 08 03, 9:21 am CDT
Took the VA bar in winter 2006. The first morning, the P.A. system wasnt working so the proctor had to scream instructionsthe system was
fixed by the afternoon session. The second morning, the exams were distributed, and we began the MBE. About 20 minutes into the exam, a
woman begins screaming Please! No! Please! I turn around (my back was to the room), and a proctor snatches the womans exam and strides
out the door. Unfortunately, I was at a table right by the door. The woman follows the proctor out the door and they stand directly outside the
door, with the woman screaming at the top of her lungsBut I couldnt hear! Please, no! for about 10 minutes. The VA board of examiners
doesnt permit test-takers to bring in bags, coats, papersonly pencils and erasers. During the screamfest, another proctor went to the womans
desk and picked up her tote bag and a stack of papers. The woman was ejected from the exam. During the break, I ran into a classmate who
said he knew the womans tablemate. Evidently, the woman unsealed and started her exam before the rest of us started. The first day, the
tablemate said nothing. The second day, he had enough of her cheating and reported her. It was so unnerving. It took me over 20 minutes to
get my stride back and refocus on the exam. Who DOES that?!? Cheating on a bar exam? I doubt shell ever be admitted to practice.
By Lauren in DC on 2012 08 03, 9:26 am CDT
During this summers Virginia bar exam, with foam ear plugs firmly in place, I noticed a strange gurgling or choking noise from somewhere on
the other side of the cavernous room. Slowly, every one of the approximately 840 of us lifted and turned our heads in the direction of the
source. Suddenly, there was a thud, and a half-dozen people in the immediate vicinity leapt to their feet and called for help. A young man was
having a seizure, and had fallen and hit his head on the floor.
A couple proctors began shouting for someone to call 9-1-1a usually simple task which, of course, nobody then in the room was capable of
performing. Among our fellow examinees were at least one doctor and one nurse, both of whom got up to help. Incapable of doing anything
but get in the way, once it appeared that help was on the way, the vast majority of us did our best to put our heads down and continue typing our
essays. After several minutes (which seemed much longer), the unfortunate fellow had been removed from the room, and those who had helped
were returning from washing the blood off their hands in the bathrooms.
An announcement was made that we would be given an extra twenty minutes to complete the morning session. At the start of the afternoon
session, we were told that the young man was awake and alert. And, by the time the afternoon session came to an end, we were relieved to see
him alive, smilingbandaged forehead and alland talking to one of the members of the Board of Bar Examiners.
By Mike on 2012 08 03, 9:31 am CDT
@multiple taker, we all saw her devotion to the law, hilarious. Clown school? No, you have a potential for stand-up my friend.
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Vegas Baby over a dozen years ago. We took our State Bar in a downtown convention center and it was only given once a year with a
notoriously low pass rate (38% the year prior to me sitting). The oddest thing I saw were several of the test takers with talismans, pictures,
religious trinkets, photographs, various other assorted items surrounding the top of their table as-if they were at a bingo game. Seriously
several of the people would very deliberately, methodically, and ceremoniously placing these items back after each break and rubbing them,
caressing them and just staring at them the entire time during the exam. It was so bad I had to really, really, really fight the urge not to
randomly yell out B-I-N-G-O several times over the three days!
Utah for my second bar six months later. State Bar building in Salt Lake. Writers downstairs in a conference room, computer users upstairs.
About 200 or so in each room. About a third of the way through the exam when I had finished a section early I was relaxing and perusing the
room people-watching. I was shocked to observe that there were literally four women in that computer room taking the test. Seriously, four
women. Myself and one of my former classmates were from Nevada so I am not sure we counted in that total. But I was floored to notice
that among the computer takers there were only four of us. I purposefully came in late to see whether it was a computer taker kind of thing, and
was equally surprised to see that it was not. There were probably a total of 10 women in the writing section that I could see. So I was just
completely floored by the lack of female attendance being 14 out of about 400 takers!
By Double Jointed on 2012 08 03, 9:31 am CDT
I took the bar in75, those with typewriters (there were no computers) had their own room, and one guy brought two spares. The guy next to him
was so nervous he threw up into his electric typewriter and shorted it out. So he turned to the other guy and asked to borrow one of the spares.
The guy with two spares said, NO.
By edward jones on 2012 08 03, 9:35 am CDT
As a Social Darwinist, I think the rigors of the test taking itself is a good filter, and I even agree with the Virginia dress code (dress like you are
going to court). A test of recalling and communicating knowledge under stress and limitations is a valid test of what lawyers do, whether in a
court-room or office.
I also did not feel, or understand, the intimidation of the test, even though I was an average, not an A, student. I took comfort in the fact that the
essay section was written and graded by lawyers, not professors, who were also average, not A, students. I taught the LSAT prep course so the
mechanics of the multistate were not intimidating. I knew, as the mercenaries do, that rest is a weapon.
Also, my father was a bar examiner, and the family would travel with him to the Hotel Roanoke and then to a mountain resort with the other
examiners and the blue books. He and my grandfather used to quiz me with bar-type questions, before I went to high school. I loved readnig
the questions. Maybe being around it for so long took away the terror; I had peaked behind the curtain.
I post this for those who are about to take it. Relax. Dont worry, unless you are a straight-A student or type A nervous; if so, you are dead
meat.
By Hadley V. Baxendale on 2012 08 03, 9:51 am CDT
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OHIO bar J uly 1978
Five minutes before the test we heard the following announcment over the loud speaker, Would the owner in the blue chevy license number
1234 please go to your car. You left your engine running.
Everyone busted out laughing. Nice ice breaker - except of course for the owner of the chevy..
By Ronald Mason on 2012 08 03, 10:10 am CDT
Normally a cell phone going off, would not qualify for a major distraction but I thought the reactions of how two different state bars handled the
situation reflected the practice outlook in both states. A womans cell phone went off at the summer 2004 Washington bar exam. A kindly
looking senior citizen proctor (who could have passed for anyones grandmother) shuffled down the row while the phone kept ringing and
politely requested the testor turn off her phone. The bar taxer meekly apologized for the interruption while she quickly fumbled to turn it off.
Unfortunately for me, Nevada does not have reciprocity with Washington (or any other state) so I had to sit for the exam, at the first day of
summer 2007 Nevada bar exam a mans cell phone went off and six hulking security guards practically tackled him. They ripped his laptop out
of the wall and dragged him out of the testing hall with the testor restrained in his chair while he was kicking and screaming up a fit. His seat
was vacant for the rest of the test and I never found out if had to dig the hole, somewhere out in the desert for taking a phone into the Nevada
Bar Exam.
By Steve Abbott on 2012 08 03, 10:28 am CDT
My bar exam experience:
After a lunch recess and before starting the afternoon session of testing, the exam proctor announced, There is an emergency message for
Frank Barger. Frank Barger, please call home.
Several of the exam participants erupted in laughter, to the chagrin of the proctor, who chewed out those who were laughing. Little did the
proctor know that the message was bogus. Frank Barger was not in attendance; he had dropped out of law school almost three years earlier. A
legend as the first casualty from the class of 1977, an exam taker had phoned in the bogus message to provide stress relief in the midst of the
bar exam. He/she achieved the intended result!
By Steve Dennis on 2012 08 03, 10:33 am CDT
I took my last bar exam in Indiana in February 2000. All applicants took the exam on the Indianapolis Colts football field with rows of desks
and proctors at the front of the room and that was amusing. Even more amusing was the arrogance of seasoned lawyers (mostly from our
border states), who dismissively talked about their bar passages in other states, how Indianas exam was going to be a breeze and openly
declaring to me how they would just coast through the local law part of the test, without ever looking at the Indiana state constitution or other
local law. The trouble is that some of the essays on this exam were really short answers and an invulnerable to padded essay baloney. You
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either know the stuff or were dead meat. Needless to say, different tunes were sung after the exams second day and I walked off the field
knowing I scored a touchdown.
By suretylink on 2012 08 03, 10:40 am CDT
On the last afternoon of the Arkansas bar exam in 1994, the woman seated next to me began to rock back and forth the way you see people do
when they have experienced a traumatic event. She kept that up for the entire afternoon session. I had to reposition myself so I could not see
her in my peripheral vision. It was very distracting, but I doubt that she realized she was doing it. I have no idea if she passed.
By Emily on 2012 08 03, 10:51 am CDT
The tension in the room was palpable. Twenty minutes left on the third and final day of the exam. As I desperately tried to squeeze a few more
characters onto each answer the girl sharing the table with me is desperately trying to pack her bags in order to leave before test-takers are
barred from leaving the room (the fifteen minute mark). She gets on her knees next to me and reaches her arm under the table so as to unplug
her computers power source. Her face is in my lap, as if the answers to the exam can be found tattooed where my bathing suit covers. I freeze
wondering how this awkward moment came about. Eventually, I chuckle, struggling to cope with this girls disruptive head placement.
Luckily, she gathers her things, removes her head from my crotch, and leaves in time. Apparently, I was not the only one she disrupted. After
the bar, the folks who were sitting behind us mentioned how they were wondering why the girl in front of them was simulating oral sex on the
guy next to her. I didnt have the answer, but I did pass the bar.
By Ash on 2012 08 03, 11:09 am CDT
A student who had failed the exam four times left early so he could get to the horse races on time. I guess he thought the exam was kind of like
a horse race. If you go enough you might win one.
By John A. Aragon on 2012 08 03, 11:13 am CDT
I have not actually taken the bar exam, but my friend told me that while she was taking the bar exam last year, the girl next to her started to
have a grand mal epileptic seizure! She told me paramedics took the girl out within a few minutes, and then everyone just returned to their
writing, as though nothing had happened!
By Hannah on 2012 08 03, 11:14 am CDT
Like previous answer #10, my table partner sat down and spread out 30 pencils across across our table. I looked at my 5 or 6 and had a
moment of panic knowing that we were not permitted to speak during the exam. Even if I did run out of pencils, I could not ask to borrow one.
Well, my 5 or 6 pencils did just fine, and he barely used 3 out of the 30.
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By Susan Frederick on 2012 08 03, 11:17 am CDT
Wow, I cant believe some of these! Especially the throwing up in the typewriter onenasty.
My first bar was Washington, and it was the total essay exam when I took it. We had to write in blue or black ink. This guy in front of me
came in with two gallon-size ziplocs packed with Bic pens. Before each essay started, he counted out exactly 25 pens, and lined them up with
all the labels facing exactly straight up. I think he spent more time doing that than actually writing the essays.
My second bar was in a state I had just moved to, and after postponing it once, I figured Id better get it done and over with so I could actually
practice. Unfortunately the attorney I was working for was in the midst of a very heavy duty case, and I was working 60-hour weeks plus being
a mom to a 6-month-old. Needless to say, I didnt have time to study, and if I did, I have to be honest and say I didnt really try to make the
time or put much effort into it. So, on test day, I was the weird annoying person in the room. I alternated between giggling and smiling while
shaking my head because I just KNEW I would be back in J uly to retake it. Im sure I irritated the hell out of everyone. But I think because of
that attitude, I was relaxed enough to just get it done and pass the darned thing on the first try. Yay!
By in-house on 2012 08 03, 11:22 am CDT
Not something I saw, but heard. During the NY bar exam in 1987, which then was held at the pier, a cruise ship sounded its horn as it left its
berth during the exam. Thankfully, our proctors knew beforehand and had us stop writing for the duration of the blasts.
By Alan Hall on 2012 08 03, 11:23 am CDT
In 1999, I took both NY and CT and did the MBE in the humongous J avits center b/c being a NYer it just didnt occur to me to take it in the
smaller CT hotel. The only major disturbance there was a loud motorcycle at one point that the proctors immediately dealt with; the bathrooms
were really far, but the proctors were also great about bringing new paper right away.
That night I traveled up to the CT hotel where Id be taking the exam and realized how nice it would have been to have just walked down the
MBE from my room to such a small, comfortable space. Then, during the CT essays, the drilling and hammering began. It was intermittent,
but annoying and audible even with ear plugs. During a break, the person next to me bragged that hed studied all summer with his neighbor
doing work on his house so he was prepared for the noise. Really!?! You probably couldnt focus on your work all summer but studied that
way just in case there was construction going on during the exam?!
During the morning session, the proctors decided to make a long announcement about how they didnt know where the noise was coming from
but they would try to find out. Keep in mind, this was day two up there and theyd had the same problem during the MBE according to my
fellow takers.
Going to lunch, I could see that the building next door was under construction and we obviously shared a wall with the site. That didnt stop
the proctors from coming on to announce during the afternoon portion that theyd tried to figure it out but had only determined that the sounds
werent coming from inside the hotel and would try to fix it. Yikes! I guess they decided to take a break from talking to each other and rattling
newspapers rather than looking to see if we needed more paper.
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So, I learned that dedicated proctors in a gigantic, barren place beat lackadaisical proctors at small cozy place!
PS: I passed both!
By NY vs CT surprise on 2012 08 03, 11:43 am CDT
I took my bar exam in July 2008.
THERE WAS AN EARTHQUAKE: In the middle of day 1, there was an earthquake. Some tiles fell from the ceiling as people screamed and
took cover under the desks, while others of us just looked around and kept typing. I was shaking. The proctor got on the mike to console us and
say that it was just an earthquake. followed by you now have 5 minutes.
THEN SOMEONE BROKE INTO MY CAR:
I booked a room in a hotel near the convention center where Id be taking the test in Ontario. It was the night before day 2 and I couldnt sleep,
maybe I was still shaken by the earthquake. I took an ambian at midnight because I couldnt sleep and then took another around 2am. By almost
3am I had finally fallen asleep and was sleeping like a baby when the phone started ringing in my hotel room. It was the police. They were
calling because someone had broken into my car downstairs and shattered my drivers side window. Out of the 1000 cars in the parking lot, they
broke into my car and the car next to mine. At 4 am I was crying telling the police I didnt even care, I just wanted to go back to sleep. At
almost 5am I was crying and sweeping glass off of my seat so that I could drive to the exam in just a few hours.
I got about 45 minutes of sleep the entire night. Drove to the exam while sitting on glass and without a window. Then started falling asleep
during the MBEs. I cried walking out of day 2. I wanted to give up but I didnt.
Then I got my results in the fall and I passed!!! One and DONE.
By Erika in Los Angeles on 2012 08 03, 11:45 am CDT
I took the Maryland Bar at the convention center, which was directly across the street from the large firm where I was employed until just prior
to the bar bri review course. During the bar exam lunch break [day 2], I crossed the street wth a friend to sit at the tables outside my old office
building. Of course, my bad luck practically mandated that the partner I worked directly under [didnt like me much] and a random associate
saw us sitting outside and joined us - uninvited. In additon to losing our quiet stare at the table for a few minutes during our lunch break, we
were assaulted with stupid stories about how much harder the bar exam was when he took it [the partner - the associate was laughing up his
sleeve at our annoyance]. But, there was justice in the world: unbeknownst to the partner, one of Baltimores flying rodents [pigeon] pooped on
his turkey sandwhich. We all saw itexcept for the partner, and none of us said a word. He finished the sandwhich as well as the garnish gift
from the pigeon. Hysterical. We still laugh about seeing him eat bird poop, as well as the disloyalty of the associate that saw it as well. I have
cases with him from time to time. He still doesnt know. I dont even tell people about it too often cause they tend not to believe me.
By Maryland Moment on 2012 08 03, 11:47 am CDT
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During the exam, paramedics came into the room to treat someone for passing out. It wasnt until later that I learned it was a law school
classmate of mine.
By Funky Monkey on 2012 08 03, 11:53 am CDT
I took the bar exam in 1976 in the old practice courtroom of my law school with about 50 or so of my former classmates hoping Id feel more
comfortable and relaxed. It didnt work out that way. Halfway through the killer multistate portion of the exam, my nose started to
spontaneously bleed. I spent about 30 minutes tilting my head sideways and sheepishly asking for kleenex from the classmates down my row
(only the women had kleenex, of course), all the while fearing I would be expelled from the exam for talking. I wasnt but have always
wondered if the bar examiner laughed and laughed when seeing an exam where the poor applicant was so tense he literally bled.
By Old_School on 2012 08 03, 12:05 pm CDT
Try this- As a male from the Midwest, I took the California Bar Exam in San Francisco distracted by a former Playmate of the Year sitting
nearby and watched incredulously as she and her boyfriend relaxed during breaks by apparently smoking a doobie. Nob Hill in the City has
never been the same to me since!
By Todd J. Anson on 2012 08 03, 12:08 pm CDT
Ohio Bar 1999. Field house full of tables that sat 2, with ink pads for finger printing each day. Having attended an out of state law school, my
table mate was a total stranger. I made a few snide comments about the need for finger prints, what kind of criminals do they think we are
rumblings, that he quietly ignored. I subsequently discovered that the person I shared the exam table with had been convicted of murder as a
teen, served his sentence, attended law school, spent a few years post graduation arguing with character and fitness, and had final secured the
opportunity to sit for the exam. I will be forever grateful that I did not have that information at the time of the exam.
By Mother in Law on 2012 08 03, 12:14 pm CDT
I fortunately passed the bar exam on my first attempt. My only memory of that ordeal was a question that seemed out of place. The question
was: What has four legs and chases Katz? While pondering the apparently misspelling and the propriety of the inquiry, I decided to follow
the advice of my uncle to think like a lawyer while taking the test. The scales fell from my eyes, and I immediately knew the answer. Mrs.
Katz and her lawyer.
By Cynical Lawyer on 2012 08 03, 12:15 pm CDT
Actually, I wonder what others reaction to me was. I took the exam fairly fast, finishing each section with close to an hour remaining. WE
were not allowed to leave, I suppose on the theory that leaving early would be disruptive. So, I am left-handed, and my name is early in the
alphabet, so I ended up in the front, nearly to the far left, and directly below the clock. Directly in everybodys line of sight as they start to
panic. I was dozing as I waited for time to expire. So, others are rushing to finish their exam (this happened at every section of it) while I am
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half asleep and not caring. I am not one to go back and review, so my books were closed and my head bobbing. I heard from some that it was
extremely distracting. I did pass. Prior to the test, I was pretty panicked, as I could not break 50% on the MBE, so I took a week off from
studying. I was pretty relaxed. Figured Id be retaking it anyway, so why worry.
By JME on 2012 08 03, 12:33 pm CDT
About 1 minute after the start of the Alabama bar exam in 2007 (J uly), a guy got up from his table to get a cup of water; while standing at the
table, he passed out cold, going forehead first into the table with a great clunk that reverberated around the ballroom. Needless to say, I
figured I was already ahead of the curve.
By Appealing Criminal Lawyer on 2012 08 03, 12:55 pm CDT
The guy next to me - an off-duty police officer - brought his gun with him. We were very surprised when they let him in the exam room with it.
By Annie on 2012 08 03, 1:16 pm CDT
An unusual event occurred during the Texas bar exam in 1986 during one of the morning sessions. I attended law school in Arkansas and did
not take any oil and gas classes. So I went right to the oil and gas questions to see if my limited oil and gas knowledge would be of any
benefit. Much to my surprise each oil and gas question was followed by the correct answer. I went down to the proctors area and by that time
a line was forming. The exam was recessed and resumed after the answers were removed. It turned out that most of the exam sites statewide
had experienced the same thing. A few weeks later I received a letter indicating that the bar examiners had the answers evaluated by a
psychometrician. The psychometrician determined that there were no appreciable differences between the answers at sites across the state.
By mem on 2012 08 03, 1:18 pm CDT
I took the Massachusetts Bar Exam several years ago at the World Trade Center in Boston. The floor was covered with green astroturf, atop
which were assembled rows of folding tables covered in a white paper tablecloth for the exam takers. At some point in the middle of the
morning and mid-essay, I noticed that a table several rows ahead of me had tipped over, while a brunette woman who had been seated at the
table struggled to steady herself.
I of course put my head back down and kept writing.
By Esq. on 2012 08 03, 1:42 pm CDT
The guy at the desk lateral to and one row up from mine who was constantly rubbing his crotch.
By Doodle Dandy on 2012 08 03, 2:03 pm CDT
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I took my first bar exam twenty years ago in Virginia. Virginia administers each bar exam in only one place and, at the time, Roanoke was the
site for the summer exam. A lot of folks take the exam because most DC lawyers take either the Virginia or Maryland bar and waive into DC.
Virginia requires test takers to dress in court-appropriate attireas in, a coat and tie for men, suit or dress for women. But a couple of weeks
before the exam, we all received a notice that we should wear soft-soled shoes, like tennis shoes, so we wouldnt distract other test takers if we
went to the restroom.
Breakfast at area restaurant was a funny sight. Restaurants were filled with guys and gals looking quite profession in their suits,but wearing
tennis shoes. The first day of the exam was the multistate, and it was given in a multi-purpose arena that was also used for basketball. Wouldnt
you know ita woman, probably from the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners, walked around during the exam in shoes that sounded like spike
heels. Click, click, click, click. It couldnt have been more distractingespecially when youre trying to decipher a complex rule-against-
perpetuities question!
She might have been there the second day as well, but I was in the typing room and clatter of old fashioned typewriters drowned out any
extraneous sound. (Yes, bar exam takers, there was a time when you could not take the bar exam on a computer!) The only distraction then
was the first person to start typing, causing all others to freak out that someone was already typing while we were still trying to figure out our
answer.
By VA-DC-MD-CA Lawyer on 2012 08 03, 2:48 pm CDT
I took the J uly 07 exam in California. CA bar examiners charged an extra fee for the convenience of taking the exam on your laptop using
specially installed exam software. Less than a minute before the exam was to start, the girl sitting next to me went into a panic; the exam
software froze her laptop she explained to the proctor. The exam started and shortly thereafter the proctor returned to her carrying paper and a
pen. At that point, she burst into tears. As I started putting on my earplugs, the person behind her told her to shut up.
By CA 2007 on 2012 08 03, 3:50 pm CDT
When I took the patent bar exam many years ago I did not observe any strange behavior because I was the one behaving strangely. After they
called time over for the morning session and were gathering the blue books I made the mistake of looking back at the instructions and noticed
what I had missed at the beginning. It said to write on every other line. I had written on every line. I paniced. When the guy came to take my
booklet I asked, in an excited manner, if there was any point in coming back for the afternoon session. I wanted to know if they would even
grade my exam since I hadnt followed instructions. The people administering the exam were the people whose job it was to administer civil
service exams and, of course, knew nothing about the patent office and told me that. I did come back for the afternoon and, luckily, the patent
office did grade my exam and I passed. A few years later I changed jobs and one of the attorneys at my new employer was a woman who had
taken the patent bar with me. On my second or third day on the job someone took me around to introduce me to the other attorneys and when
we got to her office she said that I looked familiar and wondered where we had met. I told her that I thought that we had taken the patent bar
together. She said, Oh yes. Do you remember there was that one guy who got so agitated at the end of the morning session? I wonder
whatever happened to him. I didnt tell her.
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By MN Patent Attorney on 2012 08 03, 3:51 pm CDT
When I took the exam (30 +years ago) the then Executive Director of the Bar presided. So that no two people of the same gender could leave
the room at the same time (presumably in order to confer in the bathroom), he controlled breaks by setting two styrofoam cups on the front of
the platform where he and the examiners sat. One was labelled for men and the other for women. To be excused, one had to walk to the front
of the room, pick up the appropriate cup, carry it out, and then replace it upon returning. The ED joked, Now I dont mean for you to really
use the cup, ha ha. No one laughed.
By AWM on 2012 08 03, 4:00 pm CDT
Guns - Lots of real, gigantic guns aimed right in my direction from a short distance away, for the entire duration of exam week (and longer).
I took my bar exam in New Yorks Passenger Ship Terminal in 1982. Its main room is roughly a quarter-mile long and a block wide, and unlike
most terminals it has few obstructions. So they could fit in thousands of full-size tables, each seating two testees at well beyond arms length.
The place is glass-walled, so any loud sounds echo, but big enough so that small sounds disappear and most exam-takers werent looking
outside even for a moment.
The next pier over was the new home of the retired aircraft carrier Intrepid, which had been turned into a museum. (This summer, it got a new
craft aboard: a Space Shuttle.) The Intrepid not only has battleship type guns of its own, but various old and high-tech aircraft aboard carry big
machine guns, missiles and what-not, business end outward. For a Vietnam-era peacenik like me, intimidating was a grossly inadequate
word. At least, the terminal was well air-conditioned in the heat and humidity of a New York J uly (while my study lodgings werent), so I
accentuated the positive. My table faced away from the aircraft carrier; I tried to ignore and forget it entirely.
That is, UNTIL the afternoon of the second day. Huge booms suddenly reverberated, shaking the terminal. A few gasps of J eez! - or worse -
broke out. I looked up, and black billowy clouds surrounded the terminal as frequent brilliant flashes exploded all around, and the booming
continued. Id never before heard an intense thunderstorm echo among the reflective surfaces of a major cityscape, and it took me awhile to
recover. Eventually I was laughing. I passed the bar by a comfortable margin.
By Avon on 2012 08 03, 5:29 pm CDT
@73: Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the lawyer who gives all lawyers a bad name.
By Esq. To Be on 2012 08 03, 8:13 pm CDT
I was not in attendance, but I heard from several people that at the Albany administration of this J ulys NY bar, a man outside the center picked
up a cat, slammed it against the pavement, and then threw it into an automatic trash compactor. Metaphoric of the crushing effect of taking the
bar. He was arrested shortly thereafter.
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By DMV on 2012 08 03, 8:54 pm CDT
I took the Pa. Bar in J uly, 1983, and the rule back then was that if you did well enough in the multi-state portion (multiple choice) of the exam
your essays on Pennsylvania law would not be graded.
The first day of the exam was divided into 2 sessions and was intended to cover Pa. law with the second day devoted to the multi-state portion
of the exam. At the beginning of the morning session on the first day, one of my classmates signed his name to the essay booklet and promptly
handed it in and walked out. At the beginning of the afternoon session he did the same thing. The next day, he took the multi-state portion of
the test and apparently did well enough to pass the Bar Exam!
The following year the Board of Law Examiners changed the rules to require all applicants to make a good-faith effort to answer all of the essay
questions.
By Jerry on 2012 08 03, 9:51 pm CDT
I wouldnt have noticed if my bar testing center caught fire. For all I know everyone else in the room was naked and spent the whole time
singing Irish blessings.
But some of these stories are insane.
Oh, and 21, dear god try to learn some compassion toward people who struggle. That whole thing just kept getting meaner and meaner.
(Obviously I believe in afflicting the comfortable and powerful :) I just think the rest of us downtrodden are off limits, even if we wear
Muslim-like garb...)
By Liz on 2012 08 03, 11:48 pm CDT
PS - Oh, and I suspect the Muslim might have just had a tattoo - even though her headscarf didnt meet specifications. She was only spotted
through a crack in the bathroom door, right? Because it would be very weird to look more closely, RIGHT? Sheesh.
By Liz on 2012 08 03, 11:50 pm CDT
First, before the exam started, there were people going around telling others about the three letter word game trying to set them up for
distraction and failure, not cool! Then, a girls laptop died on her because the power strip at her table wasnt working and no one at her table
would help her. Then, every time we got to a more stressful part of the exam, this guy would start wheezing and coughing. He actually left the
room to go to the restroom at one point and as a nurse, I was certain he was having a heart attack but no one was helping him. The strangest
thing, though, was someone nearby, a few minutes into each section would start belching loudly uncontrollably. No one said anything and we
didnt dare stop to investigate while we were in session but during each break, we all looked at each other suspiciously trying to figure out who
it was. I never did figure it out!
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By Tracy on 2012 08 04, 1:13 am CDT
When I took the Pat Bar Exam, a friend of mine who was also taking the test was seated in the general vicinity of someone who had consumed
copious amounts of gas-producing foods the night before. No one knew who was letting loose the silent-but-deadlies but, during the break
before the afternoon session, the proctor (looking in the general direction of the smell-producing area) did announce that people should avail
themselves of the bathroom if they needed to during the exam. My friend and I both passed the test which, at the time, only had a 33% passage
rate.
By ipthereforeiam on 2012 08 04, 2:44 pm CDT
A funny thing happened on the way to the bar exam!
Three of us aspiring out-of-town attorneys had stayed in a Chicago hotel.. Going to the second day of the Bar Exam, we resolutely boarded the
elevator and pushed the down button. The elevator started whizzing down, then bounced to a stop. Between floors. Being more willing to
risk our lives than to forfeit our chance at our license, we boosted and pulled each other up and out and crawled up to the next floor.
No legal challenge was ever more frightening than that!
By Karen on 2012 08 05, 7:52 am CDT
After taking her seat, but a few minutes prior to starting the Bar Exam, a female asked a proctor if she could quickly use the restroom as she felt
extremely nauseated. The proctor disallowed the girl to leave the room stating, No. If you get up and leave the room at this point, you will
not be allowed to take this Bar Exam. Seconds later the girl barely got her purse open and threw up 2-3 times inside of her purse. Ridiculous.
Situation #2: Female was 15 minutes from finishing up her final day of the Bar Exam. Unfortunately her cell phone made some type of
tone/noise. The proctor discovered that it was indeed her cell phone and said, Please hand me all of your testing materials and quietly exit
toward the back. You are done and must re-try the Bar Exam in February. While Situation #2 was harsh, I feel less sympathy for her as we
were all extremely well-apprised about all the Bar Exam Dos & Donts. We were told to not even bring a cell phone into the room.
By dmbatty97 on 2012 08 05, 2:01 pm CDT
dmbatty97 (85) - do you usually refer to men and women and male and female? ... I mean, seriously, a female asked a proctor ... If I ever
run into a motion along the lines of, the female requested the driver to exit the males own vehicle ill know who wrote it.
By ToBeorNotToBeEsq. on 2012 08 05, 3:09 pm CDT
I broke my right arm walking into the exam. I slipped on black ice in front of one of the piers where the NY bar used to be held. Before I
freaked out a Port Authority cop told me better to go in and try to pass given all the preparation Id put in would be wasted. Besides waiting for
an x-ray in emergency would take all day. Fortunately I was left handed. I passed but J ohn F. Kennedy didnt.
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By Leftie on 2012 08 05, 7:46 pm CDT
J FK J unior, sorry.
By Leftie on 2012 08 05, 7:49 pm CDT
@Liz, 81, you assumed that I saw the ladys forearm through a crack in the bathroom door? No. Nothing in my tale implies that.
I wrote I caught a glimpse of her forearm through the opening above the button on her shirt cuff ... she had blue ink writing all over her
forearm.
In life as in bar exams, careful reading of the facts goes a long way. :-)
By K. on 2012 08 05, 11:48 pm CDT
I saw two strange things while taking the bar exam at a NY law school. The first was a classmate of mines who had a huge cigarette addition.
She took the bar exam with six cigarettes pactches on each arm. The second strange occurance was a man who took the bar exam in his striped
bath robe and slippers. Underneath was his boxer shorts and t-shirt. I guess he wanted to feel comfortable as if he was at home.
By Deb on 2012 08 06, 9:55 am CDT
K #89, I thought you told the story very informatively in the first place. Ive never seen real Muslims with their distinctive garb askew, and I
got right away your point in mentioning that. No defense needed.
And if someone thinks the NY bar exam was given at law schools, and cant spell addiction or occurrence, I could believe theyre #90 (or
even that theyre 90) but not that they got as far as taking the bar.
My conclusion is, some folks arent worth responding at! If theyre for real, theyll figure things out soon enough.
By Avon on 2012 08 06, 2:41 pm CDT
Most days I cant spell Agraphia, much less Addiction or Occurrence.
You might score a point for where they give the NY bar exam, but Ive known lots of lawyers who passed the bar and couldnt spell at all.
@ #85: Id have just thrown up all over the floor and left the proctors to deal with it.
@ #87: Thats pretty awesome.
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By Esq. on 2012 08 06, 3:35 pm CDT
#91, #87, and a few others - you make me wish there was a Like button.
I thought
By K. on 2012 08 06, 4:11 pm CDT
#85, I heard a similar story from one of the proctors before taking the Illinois bar a few years ago. A woman had apparently decided she didnt
have a chance at passing and left the test at lunch. She waited until the test was over to call her friend who was also taking the test that day.
Unfortunately, she misjudged the time and called her friends cell phone during the final minutes of the test. Her friend (perhaps the same
person you mentioned?) was dismissed from the test and had to retake it in February.
By North Michigan Ave on 2012 08 06, 7:53 pm CDT
My bar exam was two days long. The evening after the first day of the exam, I went out to dinner by myself with some notes to look over. As I
left the restaurant, I was just about to step off the curb to cross the street when two cars moving very quickly from perpendicular directions
SLAMMED into each other right in front of my face sending one of them spiraling across the street into a concrete barricade. I began running
back and forth from car to car, checking on the occupants, running back into the restaurant and yelling for them to call 911. I ran back out and
was extremely relieved to see a tiny girl that had been in one of the cars, walking around, apparently okay. I ran over to her, she was crying and
shaken up, and I knelt down and asked her, Are you okay? She looked over at me, paused in her crying, pointed at her familys car and said
in adorable two-year-old pronunciation, Look! It was hard to shake an almost retroactive adrenal reaction to what had almost happened to
this beautiful child, but I had to get back to my hotel room and do just that, over my notes once again.
By Adamius on 2012 08 06, 8:14 pm CDT
Its a shame #91 that you have to resort to immature remarks (Did I spell immature correctly?).
By Deb on 2012 08 06, 8:35 pm CDT
I took the Georgia Bar exam in February of 2000. I think the number of exam takers then was about 900. This was held in a convention center
which has since been obliterated by the 5th runway at Hartsfield Airport. When I took a break and walked to the bank of rest rooms at the far
side of the testing center I saw one test taker off to the side of the room who had been provided with special accommodations. She was standing
at a podium completing the exam, and behind the podium was small mattress on the floor with a blanket for her use.
When I took Florida in 2010 I was 53 years old, about 2x the median age of the nearly 3,200 who took the test. While standing in line to get
into the testing facility I had to listen to all the bitching about student loan balances and job prospects. My employers paid for my law school
expenses, so I graduated with no debt, but these kids were talking balances which were approximately the average mortgage balance on a home
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in FL. I looked around and imagined that I was close to the oldest taker at that exam administration, but then I got into the convention hall and
saw almost immediately a fellow who had 10-12 years on me. No door prize for age, I relaxed.
By Emil Blatz on 2012 08 06, 8:42 pm CDT
Prior knowledge of tattoos goes a long way too, K ;)
Im a woman. Ive been in bathroom stalls. I know exactly how likely it is that someone could distinguish between, say, a sanskrit prayer tattoo
and an arm without either taking a pretty close look, or having a weirdly gaping bathroom stall opening.
As for the rest of the humble brag posts congratulations. You win the gold star. Yay.
By Liz on 2012 08 07, 1:29 am CDT
In J une 2003, I took it in the J avits convention center (NYC), which was basically a huge room. At some point, in the absolute silince, I hear a
crash!. I look up, and a guys chair had collapsed underneath him. The proctors had to come over and deal with it. It was far away from me,
so it did not distract me too much. But I am sure the person sitting next to him was quite distracted for a few minutesnot to metion the poor
guy whose chair collapsed.
By Crash on 2012 08 07, 8:41 am CDT
One of my professors swears that when she took the bar, someone in her room stood up and yelled IM A COVENANT THAT RUNS WITH
THE LAND!! before bolting out the door.
By AP on 2012 08 07, 12:18 pm CDT
AP #101,
I roomed with law students in 1981, one of whom came home one night and reported that it had just happened at his school (Georgetown Law).
The way he told it, the school library was full of anxious, cramming students shortly before final exams (not the Bar), and the Property exam
was supposedly notoriously fiendish, costing a lot of GTown students of the era some serious GPA damage. Well into the evening, a student
suddenly started yelling Im a covenant and Im running with the land, and, holding one or more thick tomes on top of her head, ran back and
forth through the main study area loudly repeating the line. Avoiding the few people who tried sympathetically to intervene, she ran out - and,
my roommate later reported, was not seen at the school again.
I never believe stories like that. But I believed my housemate - and I still believe it. (If your prof graduated from Georgetown, Ill grin real
wide.) The story got around among law students in DC, and I heard of it at my own law school. I never heard of anyone claiming to debunk
the tale. The fact that in 30 years the details have morphed doesnt affect me a bit - its what true stories do.
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By Avon on 2012 08 07, 12:32 pm CDT
I took the NY bar in J uly 2011 at the J avits Center, which many commenters have already noted feels like a series of airplane hangars and hosts
something like 5000 exam takers. Three things stand out:
1. We were told to arrive at the exam site 30 minutes earlier than any other exam takers in the state, ostensibly to give extra time to process us.
Unfortunately, no one seemed to have notified the proctors of this, because they didnt show up to start checking people in until about 8:1545
minutes after we were told to arrive. The intervening 45 minutes consisted of about 3000 people trying to form some semblance of a line where
there was no space to do so or downing lattes from the tiny starbucks stand in the lobby. Not surprisingly, I along with 2000 of my closest
friends decided to show up at 8:15 on day 2 and had no problem getting to our seats in time.
2. The entire second day of the exam I kept hearing something that sounded like a steam roller through my earplugs. Fortunately, it was
muffled enough that I could ignore it and didnt give it much thought. I found out afterward that there had been a convention in the room above
us whose display cases they decided to disassemble during the exam. I would respectfully call this bad planning.
3. I wore a loose t-shirt, exercise pants, and sneakers to the exam and brought a sweatshirt. I thought my choice of ensemble made
senseuntil I arrived. As a lifelong New Yorker, everyone and their MOTHER from my past ended up being there. It was like a surprise high
school reunion. Which was nice, but I looked like crap. Apparently some of my friends anticipated what I did not, because there were plenty
wearing completely inappropriate sundresses and heels. I hope they had sweatpants with them - the room got cold! So on day 2 I learned from
my mistakes and worea slightly nicer loose t-shirt, exercise pants, and sneakers.
By NYC on 2012 08 07, 1:33 pm CDT
J uly 1979 at the University of Tennessee student center, 2 hours to go, the FIRE ALARM goes off. Nobody moved.
By Christopher R. Ralls on 2012 08 08, 8:51 am CDT
IL J uly 2010 - saw a dude smoking what appeared to be a joint during our lunch hour.
By JJ on 2012 08 08, 11:25 am CDT
@31; I am not a lawyer but I am confused by a few things. Why would your odds increase by someone leaving the exam? I thought the bar was
mutually exclusive to each person and passing was dependent upon that persons ability to successfully write their own answers?
@24; how could that girl cheat? Arent bar exam questions random? So having a bunch of post cards with answers seems like a waste of time.
What are the odds at having any one post card with the correct answer on your exam question? What I mean is, if youre given a question about
one breaking a law dont you need to apply the correct law to fit the situation? But what is an additional circumstance comes into play in that
scenario, well dont you have to reassess what law youre considering and maybe use another? Seems like the best way is to memorize them so
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you can pull them out of your head at any moment.
By Sd on 2012 08 08, 12:40 pm CDT
I took the Colorado bar in 92. Got there early and decided to have a cherry juice drink, the one in a cardbord box with a straw you poke into the
top. I set the drink in between my legs and reached in the back of my car to get a snack. When I twisted, I squezzed the box and cherry juice
went all over my crotch (white shorts of course). Walked in with a pillow covering my front side, I dont think anybody noticed, but I was still
embarrased. Passed the exam.
By Chris on 2012 08 08, 3:37 pm CDT
@106 Sd in re #24
Yes, memorization is probably one of the best ways, but desperate people sometimes do desperate things.
The entire room shaking severely and many (but not all) bar-takers heading for cover during a major earthquake.
By Faulhaber on 2012 08 08, 4:34 pm CDT
The convention center for the May 1997 OK bar exam was under construction. In addition to the constant sound of jack-hammering and other
construction noises, I had the added distraction provided by the roaches I watched climb all over the large trash can (and the backpack lying on
the top) just beyond my desk.
By OKBarred on 2012 08 09, 8:06 am CDT
Make that J uly 1997 bar examgraduation was in May.
By OKBarred on 2012 08 09, 8:37 am CDT
When our group took the bar exam in Pennsylvania [we went to Rutgers in NJ ], we met for lunch at half time. Someone we didnt know joined
us at our table for lunch. He proudly announced, This isnt so hard! I finished more than half the questions this morning, and we still have
another three hours this afternoon! We all looked at each other, wondering if we should tell him that that was only one half of the test.
Someone piped up that the other half of the test would come that afternoon, and was different. We thought the guy would stroke out! (He was
not someone any of us would hire!)
A friend of mine took the test elsewhere. He said that the testee beside him fell to the ground in an epileptic seizure. My friend gallantly
tended to the afflicted person. They did not give him additional time for his sacrifice, but he passed.
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The following day we traipsed over to NJ to take their essays. Our instructor for the NJ essays assured us that although there were
twenty-some areas of law up for grabs, they never tested on Zoning. So he skipped that part. Well, one of the six essay questions was
onguess whatzoning! My fellow students gasped, but I, as an older student, had the advantage of having served for seven years on our
local zoning board, and I whizzed through that easily. Not fair, I know, but thats life.
By Rosanne Barrett on 2012 08 09, 8:51 am CDT
Wow,,, 1981? That brings back memories when I first hit college. I used to only listen to Supertramp daily on my walkman and study. Strange
days but filled with great memories. Never experienced anyone running and yelling IM A COVENANT THAT RUNS WITH THE LAND!!
. Thats classic but knowing the era, there were a lot of stoners and hippies back then so it does not surprise me.
By Sd on 2012 08 09, 1:58 pm CDT
Yeah, theyre still telling the Covenant that runs with the land story at Georgetown law as of 2007. And the property exam is still a bitch.
By OneElle on 2012 08 10, 10:27 am CDT
Thanks, OneElle! Im not surprised. (But for awhile I felt like my credibility was hanging out there.)
By Avon on 2012 08 10, 11:24 am CDT
When I sat down for the first day of my handwritten bar exam in California I arranged my pencils, erasers, and timepiece on the table. There
were no clocks in the room and it was up to each test taker individually to track their time on the exam. I noticed the girl next to me had also
placed her supplies on the table - a rosary. That was it. Not even a pencil. Shortly before the exam was to start she asked if she could borrow
one of mine. I gave her a pencil, but I dont think it did much good - she only finished about half of the MBE questions in each session before
time ran out. But I remain impressed with her strong showing of faith in the power of the rosary. Perhaps she went on to a religious avocation.
By rampton on 2012 08 10, 12:49 pm CDT
In 1970, Georgia permitted smoking in the exam room. To save money during law school, I learned to roll mild pipe tobacco into acceptable
cigarette substitutes. To save time during the bar exam, I rolled an ample supply before going to the Atlanta Convention Center for the three day
marathon. I passed, but am not at all sure about the long haired young man in the tie-dyed T-shirt who kept staring at me as I chain smoked my
stash.
By dd on 2012 08 11, 9:40 am CDT
My bar exam experience was quite dull and boring, compared to what I have read here! That is probably due to the fact that I was sequestered
in a hotel with others who were granted time extensions, mine due to physical disability. I was alone in a hotel room, just me and the proctor,
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which did a lot to relieve my stress, and probably helped me focus and, thankfully, pass in May 2009. I do, however, remember getting to the
second question, Civil Procedurea question on discovery, which was scarcely, if ever, tested on the CA bar. I began to laughprobably out
of exhaustion. I think my proctor thought I was nuts. I got lucky, though, on the focus of the question, and maybe I blew that essay but rocked
everything else. Ill never know
My dad, on the other hand, has this vivid memory, 40 years later. He took the bar in San Francisco, and, apparently, there was a young man
who walked in about an hour into the Tuesday morning session, looking frazzled and roughed up. It turns out that he was walking across a busy
street with his face buried in his study materials and was hit by a car. He asked the proctors if he could have extra time, and they told him he
could either have the time remaining, or he could come back in February and try again. I asked my dad what happened, and my dad said he
didnt even care because he was so focused on taking the examand passing!
By kmcaretti on 2012 08 11, 12:32 pm CDT
NY during the 2010 summer bar I was sitting behind a girl who was having obvious and quite dramatic issues starting up the Exam Soft
program onto her computer, as it was operating in Chinese characters. After flagging down a tech, a few minutes later, she shouted in tears: I
have to take the test in English???
By LD in NY on 2012 08 13, 3:01 pm CDT
This is not what I saw, but what I did, which is rather strange. My fourth state bar examination was in New York. I had to go to Albany, in the
winter, and it had been a few years since I sat for a bar exam. I did not study much, or even know the format. The first day was the NY
portion, and I finished early in the morning, had lunch, and watched people propped up in the hall studying for the afternoon. That makes me
more nervous. I also saw that the next day was a blood drive, so after finishing the multi-state early, I ate lunch, and went to give blood. I told
them why I was there, and they didnt send me away. Then, they waited. After about a half hour, I got up to leave, and told them I had to
return to the exam, so of course they rushed to take me. I guess I got nervous about the time, and when they pulled out the needle, I fainted. I
had to be escorted back into the exam room, late, so everyone else was already seated. It was quite embarrassing. But I did pass the multi-state
exam that day, and drove about 5 hours to get home. I obviously was not thinking clearly.
By Nik on 2012 08 13, 3:43 pm CDT
Chriss story at #107 reminded me of a funny story of mine while taking an exam in law school. I had spent most of the night studying and
with just a few minutes left before the exam (I lived minutes from the school), rushed to hurry to get dressed and run over and take my exam.
I think I must have spent a little too much time studying and not enough getting dressed. As I struggled to put on my pants, I could not button
them up - for some reason, the button would not go in the hole. After a few minutes of trying to figure it out, I gave up and ran to my exam,
holding up my pants and chalking everything up to exam nerves and figuring I would be able to button up my pants on the way there. Halfway
there, I looked down at my pants and couldnt figure out why I could see the seams. I actually marvelled at why I had never noticed the seams
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on these pants before. It was only when I had almost arrived at the exam that I figured I had put my pants on inside out. Like I said, too much
studying, not enough time spent dressing.
By Bad Dressing on 2012 08 13, 4:19 pm CDT
During the two days of bar exam, the person at the table across the aisle to the right of me seemed to be struggling, but he made it through the
1st day. I didnt expect him to be back the morning of the 2nd day, but he showed up when the exam started. We broke for lunch around noon,
and he sat off by himself at a table without saying a word to anyone. When they called us back to begin the 2nd half of that exam day, he got
up, threw away his lunch and just walked out of the room, never to return. All I could think was- you just sat through 3/4th of the entire exam,
why leave now?
By Talmu on 2012 08 13, 4:43 pm CDT
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