NY Bar Group Assailed for Not Aiding Test Taker Who Needed CPR

The New York state agency that administers the bar exam is under fire after test-takers said their attempts to get help for an examinee who required CPR were ignored by proctors.

Students who sat for the exam July 30 at Hofstra University are calling for the New York State Board of Law Examiners to better train proctors on medical events. They are asking questions about how their scores will be impacted by an emergency that disrupted the high-stakes test.

Caroline Johnson told Bloomberg Law she heard a commotion in the room even through her earplugs but tried to keep her focus — until she eventually saw emergency personnel enter with a defibrillator.

“For something so regulated — they have warnings on everything from speaking about the test outside of the exam room to keeping a water bottle off your desk — there seemed to be no emergency protocol,” Johnson told Bloomberg Law. “The extent of the emergency directions we received were, ‘Please take note of the exits.’”

“It didn’t seem like the proctors were at all equipped to handle an emergency situation. They just kind of stood there and didn’t administer any sort of care until the public safety officers from Hofstra came. And then we left without being told what was going on. People were crying. People were confused.”

Four test-takers there that day told Bloomberg Law the emergency began around 10 minutes before the 12:30 test break.

A Board of Law Examiners spokesman said in an email to Bloomberg Law that staff are trained on how to handle “exam incidents including when an examinee may become ill.”

“In this instance, when there was only a few minutes remaining in the exam session, the exam supervisor was notified that an examinee had become ill,” the spokesman said. “The exam supervisor went to assess the situation and promptly determined that the examinee required medical assistance. The exam supervisor immediately called university security for assistance.”

“The priority was to obtain immediate aid to the stricken examinee, which is what occurred,” the spokesman said. “Before a decision could be made to stop the exam, the exam session concluded at 12:30 p.m.”

Asked if the organization planned any changes to their emergency protocols, he said it was gathering information to “determine whether any changes should be made before the next examination is administered” in February.

Pleas for Help

The test-takers on site dispute the board’s account, however, saying proctors were slow to respond and dismissed calls for help.

A graduate of Hofstra Law, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions as he seeks to become barred, said students called out to proctors for help when they saw a student faint, about 10 minutes before a break. He told Bloomberg Law he was seated a few feet from the woman who had the medical emergency. Students stopped their tests to wave over proctors, he said.

Students were “trying to call the prompter over to be like, ‘This person fainted!’ The proctors were saying, ‘Be quiet, people are testing.’”

The proctors didn’t take the situation seriously until some three minutes in when the student starting “groaning and making gasping sounds,” the Hofstra graduate said.

Another test-taker seated near the woman, a St. John’s Law graduate — who also asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions as he seeks bar admittance — said he sought to file a complaint with the Board of Law Examiners after what he witnessed.

Another student “was waving to a proctor” when the woman slumped over, “and they were like, ‘Just keep doing your test. Keep quiet,’” he said.

It was a “real moral dilemma” for test-takers, he added, to decide whether to help the woman or continue their exams.

The St. John’s graduate said after he called the board Monday to file his complaint, he was told they “only accept complaints by letter or fax.”

The three students all said the incident was a distraction that could affect their scores. They all said they were distracted by the morning’s emergency when they returned from lunch to complete the test. But their larger concern was for their fellow test-taker and the feeling that no emergency plans were in place.

Hofstra said in a statement its public safety officers provided “life-saving emergency care” to the test-taker, “including CPR and defibrillation, until paramedics arrived and transported the individual to a local hospital.”

Fordham Law School said the test-taker was a graduate. It has “been in touch with the family to monitor the graduate’s health,” the school said in a statement.

Broader Debate

The incident spurred debate on social media over how it was handled and whether proctors prioritized administering the exam over a test-taker’s emergency.

A spokeswoman for the National Conference of Board Examiners, which develops the test, said it provides “jurisdictions with suggestions about how to balance our exam security policies with the urgent needs that can arise during the exam.”

“How each jurisdiction handles these emergencies is determined by the jurisdiction itself, including deciding whether to pause or stop the clock,” the NCBE spokeswoman said.

The incident comes amid a broader conversation about alternatives to the exam and the pressure of the test. When problems have plagued past tests, states have offered a free makeup exam. The California State Bar allowed examinees who failed or withdrew from a botched February licensing exam to take the test in July.

A second Hofstra graduate taking the test that day — who watched her fellow test-taker get chest compressions — said the distraction took time away from a test where every second counts, and students should be able to retake the test for free.

“I don’t care if that’s me using this as an excuse for why I failed,” she said. “Because besides actually having the heart attack, who in that room had a better reason for failing?”