I'm going to go through PABOLE's brief and show you why they're wrong. Buckle up for this thread, it will be long. https://twitter.com/BarExamTracker/status/1298320637459681282

This supervised practice order does nothing to fix our problems. We will still have to study for the bar exam in a pandemic, without adequate childcare, without incomes, and for many, without health insurance. No one will hire us unless we are barred.

PABOLE claims that the test-taking space requirements will not be a problem because people are volunteering spaces for test-takers.

Here's how few there are:
https://www.pabar.org/public/testingspace/

Here, they ask for volunteers until Sept. 11, so this is pretty much it. For around 1,000 test-takers.

https://www.pabar.org/site/Get-Involved/Volunteer/Bar-Exam-Testing-Space

But we can't use physical scrap paper on the MBE or any of the essays. We're being assured of "digital scrap paper" but literally do not know what that consists of. How is fair to people with disabilities?

Who will spearhead such a study? PABOLE? Who have significant financial interests in the bar exam and cannot provide adequate statistics that this protects the public? Also, studies are great, but we have the problem we have: people are in limbo during a pandemic. We must adapt.

So the fact that I graduated from an ABA-accredited law school in Pennsylvania is not good enough. If the bar exam is the indicator of such competence instead, then why do we even require people to attend law school before taking the bar exam?

How is this better than additional CLEs and requiring someone to work for a year and then receive the stamp of approval from their employer? Why is this exam a better indicator of my competence than literally asking the judge I am going to clerk for?

PA has never used ExamSoft in this way, where almost 40,000 people will be using ExamSoft at synchronized times.

And here's when ExamSoft glitched in 2014: chaos.
https://abovethelaw.com/2014/07/bar-exam-disaster-examsoft-makes-everyones-life-hard/

How? And how long will that take? And what about detailed reports about how AI facial recognition performs worse for people of color? Doesn't that mean that they'll be subject to increased scrutiny?

https://www.wired.com/story/best-algorithms-struggle-recognize-black-faces-equally/

The ExamSoft upload glitch led to some of the lowest scores in a decade. This is not a coincidence. Around 40,000 people will be trying to upload these files.

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/examsoft_settles_barmageddon_suit_did_problems_lead_to_lower_exam_scores

From NBEX themselves:
Without further research, scores from an abbreviated version of the MBE administered by remote testing cannot be considered comparable to the standard, paper-based, full-length MBE administration...

such comparability being an essential requirement for equating and scaling. https://www.ncbex.org/ncbe-covid-19-updates/

This is misleading. While we won't need constant internet access, we will need it for multiple points in the day.

Here's the schedule from PABOLE themselves. We'll need internet access at all of these start times to be able to take the exam.

https://www.pabarexam.org/bar_exam_information/CBTRemoteExamFAQ.htm

An expanded re-read pool in the bare minimum. Additionally, why can't we see this report? Where is it? How did this person come to this opinion?

...Until September 11th.

This is all they have right now, as of when they wrote this letter claiming that they have enough space for people. How does this make sense? This is the solution? This supports the bar exam in a pandemic?

Please refer back to my issues with the lack of physical scrap paper. And the fact that we don't know what the digital marking up even looks like, and we can't practice with it.

This is shameful. The solution for people who disabilities is for them to be given the privilege to take this exam in person in the midst of a literal global pandemic? This is how we treat soon-to-be lawyers with disabilities? This is your official position?

This completely flies in the face of research showing that AI facial recognition is racist.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/technology/facial-recognition-race-artificial-intelligence.html

Oh, but at least there's a citation?

Their source is ExamSoft and it's an ExamSoft guide that's written for the public.

This is disturbing. You know what my school told me PABOLE told them? That looking at the ceiling is a flag. A child talking is a flag. A dog barking is a flag. Hair twirling? Flag. Shifting in your seat? Flag.

So we're supposed to just trust a board member with these determinations? How do they decide how many points to take off and why? What about racial bias? How long does the appeal process take? What does it consist of?

Meanwhile, if we fail due to "cheating" that we disagree with, won't that stay on our character and fitness? Can I be deemed a cheater just because of someone's casual determination?

So we just have to trust them. Even though a low pass rate makes the board more money and allows them to say, "look at all these incompetent attorneys, society needs this exam."

See supra previous tweet somewhere above. This is a joke.

This is also a joke and is the end of their section addressing how they understand our economic hardship. See supra some tweet above.

There is no information regarding how ExamSoft is different technologically.

You never used ExamSoft like this. And you cannot cite Saudi Arabia as a success story. I still have students from Saudi Arabia responding to my DM's about how ExamSoft's failure ruined their lives. Don't worry, people are getting them translated.

Here's a thread with problems described in real-time: https://twitter.com/EtecKsa/status/1272950346600583168

And one of the sources is literally future-looking.

Why is "hack" in quotes when ExamSoft admitted it themselves? And it's being investigated by the FBI? And it's my understanding that the lack of data being compromised hasn't even been told to MI exam-takers.

https://twitter.com/ExamSoft/status/1291002698792341504

How do we know that this is true when the 2014 ExamSoft glitch caused a record low pass score?

There are no sources for this assertion.

We never used it like this and PABOLE still have not provided us with specific information regarding our testing environment requirements. All I know is that my school told me that I have to figure out someone to take my dog.

This is misleading. They have not used ExamSoft like it is being planned to be used in October.

Let's look at that policy.

Highlighting is my own. Looks like they can just keep it for however long they'd like.

I get what they're trying to say, but it's an online exam. Point blank. It's an online exam that may not require constant internet access, but it's an online exam nonetheless.

This is blatantly incorrect.

Pennsylvania is failing those with disabilities, as discussed previously.

This is only real basis PABOLE provides for administering the bar exam: because it's what we do.

Thanks for following along. In summary, PABOLE is choosing to fail those with disabilities in Pennsylvania, as well as ignore realities associated with AI facial recognition and race, among many other issues. The public deserves better than this.

One last receipt: the PA Bar Association just posted about this for the FIRST time, nine hours ago. PABOLE never had any interest in trying to secure these spaces. And, PABOLE can't even be reached via email for non-technical reasons.

@dmaultsby53