Here at the university, we all get the opportunity to take our tests the “proper” way, by scratching our answers onto sheets of pressed wood pulp with sticks dipped in ink (most students use the newfangled self-dipping sticks). Some would say that this is the way god intended it. If he had intended for us to do it any other way, he would not have issued us bluebooks and ballpoint pens.
Oddly enough, even though the computer is a relatively new and troublesome invention, causing great confusion to the masses, and rarely working for more then ten minutes at a time before inexplicably “crashing” and destroying all current work, previous work, and sometimes bursting into flames and immolating the hapless user, it is acceptable by the school as a medium of test submission.
Of course, as lawyers-to-be, all students are trusted not to in any way commit fraudulent acts regarding tests. We’re all adults here, and afforded every benefit of the doubt in consideration of our future duty to hold ourselves to a high moral standing.
Actually, that’s bullshit. We’re allowed to carry a couple of pens and maybe a bottle of water into the testing room, whereupon proctors keep an eye on our every move, just hoping that we’ll step out of line so that we can be brought up on charges before the school’s tribunal. We’re told that we will be reported to the ABA shortly after we clear airspace on the way to camp X-Ray. This is because they assume that your average law school student believes that smuggling their 800 page outline into a class in order to answer a 4-issue Torts program will improve their grade.
They do not, however provide computers for the students: they allow us to use our own. Aha! You say, then I’ll be able to cut and paste a prescripted answer into my essay! Nope–they’ve got that covered, too. A company called ExamSoft has created software that reboots your computer into “Secured Test Mode", so that you have no access to your desktop. Pretty slick – as long as it works. And trust me, they’ve got quite the disclaimer for you to read before the test indicating that if it doesn’t work, you’d better be ready to whip out a pen and start bluebooking, pal.