This is unbelievable. ExamSoft, the program used by bar takers nationwide, has gone Obamacare. Test-takers nationwide are unable to upload their exams. Check out David Lat’s post, which highlights the madness.

My prayers are with those who are suffering through unnecessary panic and stress on what is probably the most stressful time of the entire law school experience.

I had a minor version of a technical snafu when I took the Virginia Bar. The first essay question had five subparts. I put the answer to Part A in the first question box on the software, Part B in the second box, etc. When I got to the second question, I realized that there were only five boxes total. Crap. And, thanks to the geniuses at the VA Bar, the cut and paste feature was disabled, so I couldn’t move stuff around. So what did I do? I typed the other four answers into the final question box. I wrote instructions to the bar examiners of what I did. Others made the same mistake, and told me they manually rewrote their first question into the other boxes. I considered that briefly, but thought it would be an abject waste of time. I panicked a bit, but it was fine.

Even if ExamSoft gets their shit together by tomorrow, this is causing so many unforeseeable negative consequences. Now students, instead of resting and getting ready for day 2, are glued to their computers trying to upload their exams.

I hope someone does some regression to show what the impact of this bullshit is on test takers, comparing the scores of those who typed their exams, and those who hand-wrote them. If the typists have a statistically significant higher rate of failure compared to previous years, we know who to blame.

And for crying out loud, this is serious business. Failing the bar in this economy is a 6-month sentence of unemployment. Somewhere, a plaintiff’s lawyer is putting together a class-action suit for those who used exam soft, and failed.

Good luck everyone!

Update: Paging Alanis Morissette (Ironic was released in 1995, close enough).