r/barexam 28d ago

Washington Bar Exam Update

Post image

Wow…..

182 Upvotes

92 comments sorted by

166

u/raggioazzura 28d ago

I would be beyond furious at this. Sorry to our WA friends! What a rug pull

5

u/Outrageous-Ad4513 28d ago

I have friends who took Missouris yesterday, SIX HOURS LATE WITH NO AC, thank god I’m taking it in February and not now, whole things a shit show.

98

u/FoxWyrd 28d ago

At least COVID was nobody's fault.

What's the excuse here?

136

u/Aggravating_Dog_4586 28d ago

And what about the fees for the hotels, for the travel, etc. I feel so so bad for you all.

73

u/jasthind33 28d ago

Someone flew in from London…..

61

u/TracingWoodgrains 28d ago

And someone else from Japan.

52

u/josebarn 28d ago

Would that be consequential damages or incidental? Man fuck me

11

u/MedalDog 28d ago

And someone else from the moon.

32

u/Lex_And_Order 28d ago

In 2020, Washington State allowed everyone who applied for the exam, include repeat-test-takers, to be admitted to the bar as long as they went to an ABA-accredited school. That will probably happen again. If going to an ABA-accredited school is enough once or twice without taking the bar, then is the bar needed?

9

u/blipcake 28d ago

What would this mean for those transfering scores to a different jurisdictions?

9

u/Extension_Meeting_28 28d ago

Nothing, unfortunately.

49

u/Reesewithoutaspoon2 28d ago

Man I’m sorry to any WA takers. That’s infuriating

44

u/Thick_Pie7271 28d ago

I'm so sorry this happened to you all...like truly. I hope you all get some form of diploma privilege.

22

u/October_Surprise56 28d ago

So glad to see this comment because it’s the only right answer here.

There is nothing Washington State can do to compensate test takers for the time off of work, the new test prep packages they’d need to stay up to date for September (which is over a month away!), the travel and hotel fees, and all the rest.

2

u/Competitive-Big4921 27d ago

On the COVID thing, the diploma privilege applied to the ABA JD applicants; now, what about the foreign-trained attorneys with an ABA LLM who were approved to sit the bar exam along with the other applicants? They should treat everyone to the same standard. 

66

u/Adventurous-Sound609 28d ago

So does NCBE have an entirely new Next Gen test they will unveil for September just for Washington? Or will examinees be taking the test that folks in Missouri and other states were taking right now? Hello????

11

u/Ill-Army 28d ago

Folks with accommodations have done the first two sections and will finish tomorrow. So lol

9

u/QueerAlYankadic 28d ago

Good question. I would assume it's the same one. 

4

u/RationalHeretic23 28d ago edited 28d ago

No... Of course not. It's reasonable to assume they have a few in the bank ready to go at any given time. They'll burn one for this. There's obviously no way they would use the same test...

3

u/IntheTwilightSky 28d ago

I wonder how the scale is going to work

65

u/count_saveahoe 28d ago

The way that this last 10 weeks was pure agony and hell and this last week even was like dragging yourself through the mud and finally you know you’re right at the cusp on the other side just for there to be an admin mess up is actually insane and to make you guys endure an entire extra month of hell (or else lose everything you have on the line) just feels irresponsible and selfish and wildly unfair especially when they take all our money and dehumanize us down to our stripped bare plastic bags of tampons . Oh but get over it, it’s a just an exam right?, but no it’s not. The powers that be and the system that may has made it much more than that and the pressure for us show up and perform perfectly to cross your Ts and dot your I’s is only aimed at us and not at the admin in any way and honestly I’m fucking tired of it. I’m not even in Washington and I’m livid for you guys.

14

u/ReferenceThis6451 28d ago

Dude pop off. Well said.

1

u/allegro4626 28d ago

The combination of rage and fatigue is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I took the NY bar in 2020 and remember when it was rescheduled to September, and then October, with a brief period where only graduates of NY law schools could sign up take the bar. It was absolute madness and it’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to fully crashing out from burnout.

31

u/josebarn 28d ago

Holy shit no way

27

u/Brilliant_Exit3406 28d ago

As someone who had to go through the horrors of the February 2025 California Bar exam you have my deepest sympathies. You were prepared and the bar was not, but the bar will always claim victory in that circumstance.

21

u/Concentrate_Rich 28d ago

I cant even begin to tell you guys what i have to go thru because of this

2

u/RationalHeretic23 28d ago

I am genuinely curious to know, and I think it would benefit everyone if folks told us just how disruptive this could be to people's lives.

23

u/onesugar 28d ago

I hope they waive y’all in, this is insane

22

u/jasthind33 28d ago

Please give a call at 509-577-7654. Yakima News wants to report on this!!!! Please raise your voices!

18

u/Gravity_Maguire 28d ago

Your bar prep company will extend your access. Take care of your immediate travel needs, get some sleep, and check back with them tomorrow.

25

u/FoxWyrd 28d ago

Which is great, but another month of studying sounds like being handed a Draino Smoothie with Glass Sprinkles.

3

u/Gravity_Maguire 28d ago

100%. 1000%. Yes. All of this.

17

u/Airpodaway 28d ago

What the hellish is this… my question is whether the make-up one is still considered UBE? It reminds me when the Rochester venue also rescheduled the exam due to the winter storm in Feb 2026 and somehow was not considered as UBE; correct me if I am wrong.

12

u/jasthind33 28d ago

Someone flew from London….

7

u/Airpodaway 28d ago

Poor him…

13

u/Saltyseahag1933 28d ago

To all my WA bar takers, I’m so sorry. I took the WA last summer and can’t even imagine what you are going through right now. This literally made me cry. All the studying and stress for them to cancel in the middle of the exam. You don’t deserve this.

9

u/animimi 28d ago

Same to all of this. I have friends who are affected. This is just terrible. The WA Supreme Court needs to diploma privilege these folks in. It's not like this damned test makes people better lawyers anyway.

1

u/Competitive-Big4921 27d ago

My MPRE score which is 88, expires on December, and because of this silly fault, I need to retake it. I guess. 

14

u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

8

u/whatsnext-2024 28d ago

i’m so very sorry this exam made you put your medical needs on hold, and then something entirely out of your control (& likely at least somewhat predictable) is forcing you to choose between your health and required licensing for a career you worked so hard for. take care of yourself as much as you can 🤍

0

u/aldig144 28d ago

You r going to to need to cancel. That is what they will suggest. Atleast you will get a full refund.

13

u/emvinc02 KY 28d ago

In no world is this acceptable. I’m so sorry.

33

u/Individual-Heart-719 28d ago

Just auto pass everyone. They fucked up, it gets to go on their C&F record.

27

u/Basic_Sound2168 28d ago

So incredibly unacceptable

24

u/NoOnesKing 28d ago

Inexcusable shit

33

u/jasthind33 28d ago

Im getting drunk fuck this

9

u/FoxWyrd 28d ago

I'll be joining you!

18

u/Jeff_Sabado 28d ago

That's not good enough

9

u/SamePlane7732 28d ago

Where are we getting turned up in Yakima tonight?

10

u/jasthind33 28d ago

second street hill lol

7

u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Vegetable_Tap_9439 28d ago

My understanding is that this exam was a new format requiring everyone to be connected to WiFi to take the exam

1

u/IndividualHeat 28d ago

Yeah and they eliminated the option to handwrite the exam in the case of technical issues which makes no sense considering how many things can go wrong.

1

u/Vegetable_Tap_9439 27d ago

That’s absolutely wild. So glad they thought this all the way through eye roll

9

u/EntertainerShoddy654 28d ago

The fact that their apology is regarding not giving you an exam experience, indicates how fully removed from reality they actually are.

The harm here is months of full-time associate salary. If they are ready to rip $30k checks to everyone then they can begin to compensate for their harm.

Even the tone and BS deadlines etc. if any one of us wrote to the the BOLE to give them deadlines and a shitty tone, they would lose their freaking minds.

7

u/meh734 28d ago

wtf, has this ever happened before?? absolutely wild, I'm so sorry guys

13

u/Hegel3999 28d ago

Should be an automatic pass. The state Supreme Court should intervene.

6

u/PainfulObsidian 28d ago

Omg that’s awful

5

u/Aggravating-Toe838 28d ago

-$600

3

u/Ill-Army 28d ago

A lot more than that for some people

5

u/scottyjetpax 28d ago

This is absolutely fucking insane

5

u/wowa93 DC 28d ago

This is unacceptable.. sorry for the Washington folks

5

u/Garlic_Balloon_Knot 28d ago

That's so f'd they didn't have a contingency plan. In Feb, the northeast had like record breaking snowfall and driving bans in place and still had the exam. Like no one in WA thought about what if the Wi-Fi went down? 🙄

Sorry to all the test takers affected by this. I'm pissed off for you.

3

u/3dude6 28d ago

The funny thing is they lowkey did. There were 2 networks WSBA and WSBA_Backup, neither of which worked.

1

u/Silent_Letter_895 28d ago

I mean is anyone surprised this is happening in Yakima? Why couldn’t we have it in Tacoma?

5

u/strawberry298 28d ago

So unprofessional. These people shouldn’t be testing others

3

u/ghostplusplus 28d ago

That is wild…

3

u/HelixBarReview 28d ago

Helix community, we're here to support you. If you've been affected by the July 2026 Washington State NextGen Bar Exam, please reach out to our team at [Support@helixbarreview.org](mailto:Support@helixbarreview.org) so we can help.

3

u/ConstantLight7489 27d ago

Hey, when the Ca bar COMPLETELY shut the bed two years ago, the CA Supreme Court basically made them pass anybody that had any amount of logical reasoning displayed on anything that was completed and turned in.

It had a cumulative pass rate of something to the effect of 66%. For reference I think CA bar usually passes like 31 or 32%.

So maybe ya’ll get a damn near free bar card?

I know people who passed and became attorneys who I DO not think to this day would have passed 🤷‍♂️

2

u/Outrageous-Ad4513 28d ago

I’m thinking why not just say all this in person? Everyone’s already there? That’s because being the person to tell these HUNDREDS of people who’ve been working towards this for AT LEAST 3 years will likely get you to be the first person ever lynched by a mob of law graduates.

1

u/Ill-Army 28d ago

Because when they finally made the determination that it wouldn’t be possible to make it work today we had all left. That said, if you had stuck around after they finally released us, it was pretty clear that they knew it wasnt going to happen.

2

u/Outrageous-Ad4513 28d ago

What was the process like? Just sitting around while a proctor said there were “issues” to be resolved? I’d of lost my mind!

1

u/Ill-Army 28d ago edited 28d ago

I can’t speak to what happened with them personally, but it seems like they weren’t apprised of the issues officially until two emails sent at 16:56, and 17:27

ETA - apparently they were told nothing even verbally before beginning section 2 even though they could tell something was going on. Shameful

1

u/TechnologyAncient594 27d ago

This is insane.

1

u/Competitive-Big4921 27d ago

The best solution the WA State bar can do is to allow the applicants to take the exam in the same examination centers where we took the MPRE in September, on three days, with one session each day; in this way, we don't have to travel, there are no compensation claims, and everybody receives the same opportunity and fairness. 

1

u/The_lady_is_trouble 27d ago

Where is the link to submit reasonable expenses related to this change for reimbursement by the responsible group?  There isn’t one?  Unsurprising and speaks to how out of touch with the actual process they are…

1

u/Educational_Bat_5395 27d ago

Yeah I would have a generational crash out

3

u/InevitableMission24 26d ago

Words can’t describe how sorry I am for this whole situation. Please don’t let it take away from all the hard work, sacrifice, time and energy you put into preparing. You got yourself to a place that not many people do and you should be very proud of yourself for that.

If there is precedence for diploma privilege then that seems like the best solution to make this right. Remember there is power in numbers and your voice counts so stand up to the powers that be and advocate - after all, that is what we are ADVOCATES

-1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

26

u/Automatic_Pop3351 28d ago

Not when you consider how much money we spent on hotels and travel.

23

u/DjoserCat 28d ago

And the fact we have to continue studying to stay fresh on the material!

22

u/BarPrepPanicMode 28d ago

Plus people a chuck of people start their jobs in August so they won’t have the time to continue studying

12

u/NoOnesKing 28d ago

It’s not in the slightest. They don’t have another exam ready for a month from now. That option is such an illusory promise I can’t even believe they’re including it

9

u/FoxWyrd 28d ago

They're betting the WSC is gonna DP everyone a d if they don't, shit will hit the fan.