Missouri bar exam finishes Wednesday after internet issues caused delays on Tuesday
COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ)
Missouri Bar exam was completed on Wednesday, after long delays from internet connection affected the start time to Tuesday's portion of the exam.
Missouri is one of the first states in the country to test out new exam software called NextGen and hosted the exam at the Wyndham Executive Center on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A statement from the hotel said the Board of Law came into the hotel prior to the exam and tested the internet to ensure it was stable for test-taking.
"Our internet was confirmed by their hired technicians to meet the requirements for this event," Zachary Nelson, assistant General Manager at the Wyndham, wrote in the statement. "The NextGen software reportedly has a higher requirement than stated / what was tested for, and that is what caused the delay yesterday."
Test takers ABC 17 spoke with said some students had a six-hour delay to their start time because not everyone was able to connect to Wi-Fi.
Jack Wolthuis, a tester at the facility, said he arrived at 7:30 a.m. but wasn't able to start the exam until the afternoon on Tuesday.
"So we were in there until lunch and didn't start. They did let us out for lunch, which was nice," Wolthuis. "I think when they were about to give up, some miracle happened and the tests started working.
Another tester, Andrea Miller, said each room had a different experience when it came to the delays. Some testers in her room weren't able to start their exams until after 3 p.m.
Miller said the Board addressed the issue on Tuesday night when connectivity problems started to arise and allowed them to continue for lost time today.
"The Missouri Board of Law Examiners did a phenomenal job of addressing the issue last night where we can continue to take the exam today," Miller said. "We started 30 minutes early, and immediately after starting, they asked if anyone had issues, and not a single person in like a 400-person room raised their hand."
Wolthuis had a similar experience and said announcements were made frequently to update the testers about their exams.
"I think the people in the room weren't the decision makers, so it was a bit of telephone, and they'd have to leave the room, and so they'd get up on there was a podium up front with a mic, and they'd just make announcements every hour," Wolthuis said.
Although delays did leave some testers frustrated, both Miller and Wolthuis said they were excited to be taking and finish the exam. Test taker Daniel Slaybaugh wrote that things went smoothly on Wednesday.
"I think some people were upset when we sat inside for 7 hours and now had two tests all of a sudden. But I think a lot of us were just happy to actually be taking the test," Wolthuis said.
