Thursday, November 15, 2007
More South Carolina Bar Exam stuff
As I posted below (semi-coherently), in March of this year the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an order changing the SC appellate court rule regarding bar examinations. Initially I posted, erroneously, that the new rule added a section prohibiting failing applicants (and their agents) from contacting the bar examiners or members of the Supreme Court about their grades, etc. Actually, that "prohibited contacts" section was in the old rule. What the Court did in the March, 2007 rule change was to remove the provisions allowing applicants to appeal a failing grade.
As part of my blogger public service I give you the pertinent provisions of the rule before the Court changed it:
As a result of the Court's March, 2007 order, section (5) and (6) above were removed and replaced with this language:
(emphasis mine).
The "Prohibited Contacts" section was revised as follows:
So, as a result of the amendment (read the whole thing here), applicants who can no longer review the essay exams that they failed and the model answers, and they can no longer request regrading (though they are still allowed to request verification of the "MBE" portion of their exams - the MBE is a section of multiple choice questions, graded by computer; the other bar exam sections consist of essay questions).
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As I posted below (semi-coherently), in March of this year the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an order changing the SC appellate court rule regarding bar examinations. Initially I posted, erroneously, that the new rule added a section prohibiting failing applicants (and their agents) from contacting the bar examiners or members of the Supreme Court about their grades, etc. Actually, that "prohibited contacts" section was in the old rule. What the Court did in the March, 2007 rule change was to remove the provisions allowing applicants to appeal a failing grade.
As part of my blogger public service I give you the pertinent provisions of the rule before the Court changed it:
Rule 402(i) Bar Examination
(5) Review of Failed Essay Sections Within fifteen (15) days of the date of the letter of notification, an applicant failing the Examination may, in writing, request permission to review the essay questions, model answers, and the applicant's answers for each essay section that the applicant failed. The request shall be accompanied by a filing fee of $25. The review shall be conducted in the Bar Admissions Office in Columbia, South Carolina, and the applicant will be notified of the date and time when the review will be conducted. No review or inspection of the Multistate Bar Examination will be permitted nor will the applicant be all,owed to copy or remove the essay questions, the model answers, or the applicant's answers. An applicant who receives 110 or less on the Multistate Bar Examination shall not be allowed any review of the essay questions, model answers or the applicant's answers.
(6) Re-grading. After reviewing the essay section, an applicant who feels an error has been made in grading may petition the Supreme Court to have the section re-graded. An original and two (2) copies of the petition, accompanied by a filing fee of $50, must be filed with the Clerk of the Supreme Court within ten (10) days of the applicant's review of the essay section and must enumerate the alleged errors in grading. No briefing or argument is permitted. The only identifying mark to be placed on the petition is the identification number previously assigned to the applicant. Any reference to the applicant's other scores, economic status, social standing, employment, personal hardship, or other extraneous information is prohibited. If the petition is granted, the section shall be re-graded by the member or associate member assigned to the grad the section, and the Clerk shall notify the applicant of the results of the re-grading.
(7) Request for Verification of Multistate Bar Examination. While no review or inspection of the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) will be permitted, an applicant may request a hand grading of the MBE. Any such request must be filed with the Clerk of the Supreme Court along with the applicable fee within fifteen days of the date of the letter of notification in (4) above.
(8) Prohibited contacts. An applicant shall not, either directly or through an agent, contact any member or associate member of the Board of Examiners or the Supreme Court regarding the questions on any section of the Bar Examination, grading procedures, an applicant's answers, or review or re-grading of any Examination. This provision does not prohibit an applicant from seeking a review, re-grading or verification in the manner provided by (5), (6), or (7) above.
As a result of the Court's March, 2007 order, section (5) and (6) above were removed and replaced with this language:
5) Access to Examination Answers; Re-grading or Other Review. No applicant shall be given access to the answers the applicant submitted during the examination. The results reported by the Board of Law Examiners are final, and no applicant shall be allowed to seek re-grading or any other review of the results of the examination.
(emphasis mine).
The "Prohibited Contacts" section was revised as follows:
(7) Prohibited Contacts. An applicant shall not, either directly or through an agent, contact any member or associate member of the Board of Law Examiners or any member of the Supreme Court regarding the questions on any section of the Bar Examination, grading procedures, or an applicant's answers. This provision does not prohibit an applicant from seeking verification of the MBE score as permitted by (6) above.
So, as a result of the amendment (read the whole thing here), applicants who can no longer review the essay exams that they failed and the model answers, and they can no longer request regrading (though they are still allowed to request verification of the "MBE" portion of their exams - the MBE is a section of multiple choice questions, graded by computer; the other bar exam sections consist of essay questions).
