The New York State Board of Law Examiners recently announced that it will not allow its examinees to take the bar exam on their Macs. Apparently, the
exam software is designed to only run on Windows systems, and the board included this clause in its laptop policy, warning in capital
letters: “We do not support Apple products in any form including
Intel-based laptops running Boot Camp — no exceptions.” As if it’s not stressful enough taking the bar exam, in my opinion, being forced to do so on a Windows PC should be considered "cruel and unusual punishment."
Source: "A Windows-Based Bar Exam Policy: No Macs Allowed" by April Dembosky, published in The New York Times.
I actually took the Florida Bar Exam in 2007 and had the same experience, it’s nothing new. The Florida Bar Examiners use a program called ExamSoft, which I believe is likely the same on used in New York. We also used this same software at my law school where I participated in a test program with Macs using Boot Camp. In speaking with the IT folks at my college I learned why they were so hesitant to support Macs in Exam Soft.
Apparently, if a computer looses power (such as a restart or a battery failure) the computer is designed to re-boot back into the secure exam software where a student can continue from where they left off. With a Mac running Boot Camp, if you power off or restart your computer, you can hold down the option key to restart into the Mac OS, completely outside of the secure exam environment. The fear was if a student started the exam in the secure ExamSoft environment they could intentionally power down their computer, restart into OS X and take a peak at their notes and then restart into BootCamp which would bring back up the exam. So it is easier to cheat with a Mac running Boot Camp vs just a regular PC.
Now, I personally think there are much easier ways to cheat than go through all this trouble. Especially considering the “locked down” environment of a Bar exam where there are literally dozens of test monitors strolling the aisles. I would suspect if someone tried this rebooting into OS X trick and pulled up their notes they’d be caught a lot easier than the kid who brought in a cheat sheet.
Anyway, that’s where the fear comes from.
The same thing happened with the Ohio Bar Exam, and I was given the same reason. I had just bought my first MacBook (used) about 3 weeks prior and was looking forward to using it for the bar; however, when I was mailed the instructions it was very clearly stated that Mac’s were not allowed. To me the problem lies with the software publisher.
I wonder if the availability of Boot Camp or programs like it is causing software companies to refrain from designing their products to work on OS X? It seems like kind of a cop out to me.
Do you remember the National Lampoon’s version of the New York Bar Exam?
It looked like a standard blue book complete with a seal to be opened with the eraser end of a No. 2 pencil.
When you opened it it said, “Do not look up! You are in.” The rest of the time was to be spent filing out crossword puzzles and looking worried. All of the African-Americans received real (and impossible) exams except for one guy “in the back whose father is a federal judge.”