Bar Exam Error Handled Differently in 2003
The quandary over how to handle a scoring error on the South Carolina bar exam is similar to a problem that surfaced with the Multistate Bar Exam in 2003. But the solution adopted by South Carolina Supreme Court differs with the tougher approach adopted by some state bar authorities four years ago.
When the South Carolina Supreme Court learned that an applicant had accidentally received a passing grade on the portion of the exam dealing with wills, trusts and estates, the court decided to toss the entire section of the test. As a result, 20 more people passed the exam, including the daughter of a judge and a state legislator.
The court said its decision was not motivated by favoritism or by public or private outcry, ABAJournal.com reported in a prior post.
But when state authorities learned of a scoring error on a 2003 MBE question, some corrected the error by retracting congratulatory letters that had been already been sent, the Associated Press reports. As a result, fewer than a dozen test takers learned they had actually flunked rather than passed the exam.
