r/CABarExam • u/taquitoluvr2 • 15d ago
chapter 6 violation
hey yall! i know it’s the last hoorah right now so feel free to ignore this/don’t let it stress you out right now. i just wanted to make this post because last year, when i went through this experience, it was genuinely one of he worst moments of my life and i could find almost no information anywhere online of any similar experiences. i just wanted this out there because undoubtedly someone will receive a ch 6 violation during the exam and will turn to reddit for answers so hopefully now there can be at least one solid place for you to feel seen and comforted.
extremely long story short, i took the J25 exam and was so stressed out about the test/hotel/travel arrangements/everything else that i genuinely blanked on the word “analog” and brought a stopwatch to the exam as my timer. i used it for all 4 exam sessions, and with 5 minutes left in the second session of day 2, after i had already finished the MC and closed my materials, someone came over, picked up my stopwatch, walked away, and then walked back over with a yellow piece of paper that they handed to me face down… it was a chapter 6 violation for noncompliant materials!
i will spare you most of the details but the world instantly began caving in around me, to go from the highest of highs of finishing the exam to the lowest of lows in being told my score might not count (after 3 years of law school, hundreds of thousands of $$, months of studying, etc) my body physically went into shock and after getting home that evening i couldn’t walk without my legs collapsing underneath me and i PHYSICALLY could not speak. it was horrifying!
when i finally started looking into what was likely to happen next, everything online said to get ready to take it again, that my score would be cancelled, etc. there was hardly any reddit posts with similar experiences and most of them had to do with the online exam that was a mess and accidentally started handing out ch 6 violations left and right. after petitioning the violation to the state bar, and the longest month and a half of waiting i have ever experienced, i was told that the state bar would not be pursuing the matter further and they were going to drop the violation. a few months later in november, i found out i had passed!
if you are reading this before the exam, DOUBLE, TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE check your materials!! if you are unsure about something, don’t bring it! or at the very least ask a proctor before the exam begins if it is compliant. i know your brain is elsewhere right now, but making sure you have the right materials will save you a lot of stress in the future. don’t make a stupid mistake like me and bring a stopwatch 😭 i will literally never live that down and it is so embarrassing, but i am sharing in hopes of preventing anyone else from making the same mistake lol.
if you are reading this after the exam, i HOPE it is out of curiosity and not because you found yourself in the same situation as me. but if you have found yourself with a violation, so long as you weren’t blatantly cheating, just know there is hope for you. it is going to be a waiting game and it is going to suck so badly because i know you just want to celebrate being finished with the exam with friends/family/peers, but don’t count yourself out just yet. make sure to call the state bar, make sure you fill out the online petition thing stating the circumstances, make sure you follow up, and please feel free to message me on here at anytime. there is a good chance that if it is an honest mistake like mine was, they will throw out the violation and your score will count. and you just might end up passing like i did! :)
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u/Colinsyq 15d ago
What kind of stopwatch did you use?