If you managed to focus on the rest of the exam, hopefully the one question won’t kill you. I find it a little unsettling that Examsoft still can’t get its software to run smoothly after all these years. Good luck!

I just finished the gruelling three day exam today.

The morning of Tuesday went fine with me as far as Softest is concerned. In the afternoon, when I was about to put in my password to pull the file for the performance test. It said I can’t open it up, since I downloaded the files in a different computer. When I attempted to open the file it said, I can’t open it and I am using the wrong computer. Further, the file of the performance test stated it was the "wrong file".

The California bar changed the system whereby the applicants are no longer given diskettes. After the written portions, it is the applicant’s duty to upload the files to softest by a given date.

Going back to the nightmare I am narrating. I have never written by hand a law school exam let alone a performance test exam. When I practiced for the law school exams and for the bar exams’ essays and performance, I always used my laptop since I write with confidence when I type. My penmanship and hand cramps tend to slow me down.

It was an absolute nightmare that pushed me to just walk away. I was tempted to just walk away and take the bar exam the second time next February 2008. I was distraught and depressed. This is my first sitting for the bar. I just wrote through the agony of writing a three hour performance test even if I have not answered an performance by handwriting it.

I thought I was in the twilight zone. I never anticipated that I would take a performance test by writing it.

I have prepared for almost six months. Invested thousands of monies to enroll in a bar preparation course. Borrowed monies to be able to finance time off for the bar preparation. I am working law student. A small glitch in the bar jeopardized a clean shot at passing the California bar in one attempt.

I am sure that performance is flushed down the toilet. I pulled myself together for the next two days. It is not over until it is over. I may be down in the canvass in the first round but I am going to slug it out on the next two rounds come hell or high water. One big fight, as my alma mater’s motto goes.

With God’s Holy Spirit, Thursday went just fine without any Examsoft issue. I flowed smoothly from the beginning to the end with time to put a lipstick on the pig (ie., aesthetics such underlining code, case law, elements).

I am thinking of writing to the California bar and beg them if I can re-take the performance of Tuesday and narrate my story.

I am aware that I am only 1 of the approximate 5,000 people who took the bar this July 2007 and there is a big chance they will not pay attention to one individual, I will perhaps take chance and see what happens.

Realistically, I am preparing for the likely scenario to re-take the February 2008 exam.

Tanking one performance test pretty much does pulls the rug underneath me.

Anyway, thanks for providing a venue for me to vent out.

Ian

Anyway, first to Ronald: don’t let my experience discourage you from using a laptop for your exams. When everything works, using a laptop allows you to organize your thoughts, correct errors, and avoid hand cramps. The testing software only locked out other software when it was in use. I hope you did well on your exam.

To Ellie: I’ve since taken the old laptop back to the store where I purchased it (Fry’s Electronics) because I had gotten their extended warranty. They sent the machine back to the manufacturer, who ended up replacing my motherboard, hard drive, and keyboard. Unfortunately, they didn’t upgrade any of the features in the process. :\

Your story reminds me of study week just before my end of year exams last year - my laptop’s fan also made a suspicious noise, was slower than it usually is, and - lo and behold - the keyboard decided to “lift” itself from the mechanism underneath, thus causing the spacebar to whizz along the page with the slightest tap and for the “h”, “f” and “w” keys to type “1″, “z” and “9″ respectively…all a week before the Australian Federal Constitutional Exam! Needless to say, I have a back-up full sized keyboard at the ready should the same happen again this semester (which it did, by the way, but I managed to get it working again by poking a pencil down the keyboard…it’s still holding so far *touch wood*…)

I will be taking the June 03 First year exam but I am scheduled to do it the old fashion way by writing.

Ron