Test takers in Michigan broke the ice Tuesday morning by taking the first-ever online bar exam. However, it didn’t go as smoothly as some would hope, as many people taking the test were unable to log into a portion of the test, LAW.com reports.
Infuriated test-takers took to Twitter to say that they couldn’t log into the second of five test modules.
“The online #MichiganBarExam is currently malfunctioning,” Tweeted recent University of Michigan law graduate Kerry Martin. “The website where they post passwords for each of the modules has crashed. Only finished 1 module. I’m taking the test near 3 other people having the exact same problem. IT hotline won’t answer.”
Test-takers were not able to access the second module of the exam temporarily as the website that distributes passwords crashed. The Michigan Supreme Court said the issue was quickly resolved.
A spokesman for the Michigan Supreme Court, John Nevin, told LAW.com that after the first module was complete, the site technology vendor ExamSoft used to distribute passwords to bar exam takers crashed, meaning they couldn’t access the second exam module.
“The vendor support line and Board of Law Examiners office were giving out the password and around 200 people were testing within 10 minutes,” told LAW.com “ExamSoft pushed out an email with the password and everyone was able to get into the second module and start testing shortly thereafter. As a result of this delay, test takers were notified via email that the testing day will be adjusted to allow additional time and account for those who got in late.”
Nevin told LAW.COM that ExamSoft was supposed to send the passwords to test takers for the remaining modules via email. Within an hour, ExamSoft posted a universal password on its website to allow candidates to access the second test module. But the delay left some rattled.
“The fact that I had to get a password… to the bar exam module… from a Facebook post… from another examinee, says it all. #abolishthebarexam #michiganbarexam” wrote one Michicigan test-taker.
“Really frustrating,” wrote another bar exam taker on Twitter. “Especially after we expressed concerns about whether ExamSoft could handle the #mibarexam and were repeatedly told there was nothing to worry about. Phones are busy. Still nothing.”
Michigan, Indiana, and Nevada were supposed to be the first three jurisdictions to administer the online bar on July 28. However, Indiana and Nevada both pushed back their online exams on July 24 to a later date after their software vendor, ILG Technology, ran an update that caused glitches in the exam.
Many other states including New York, California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, and Ohio plan to give an abbreviated online bar exam in October.