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Touch Bar MacBook Pros Are Being Banned From Bar Exams Over Predictive Text (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: When it launched late last year, the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar was largely reliant on first-party applications to show off what it could do. Since then, a number of other companies have jumped on board, helping the secondary screen grow into something more than novelty. Of course, as with any new technology, there's going to be some unanticipated downside. Test taking software company Examsoft, for one, believes the input device could help facilitate cheating among students taking the bar exam. What's perhaps most interesting here, is that the company's calling out one of Touch Bar's more mundane features: predictive text. "By default," the company writes, "the Touch Bar will show predictive text depending on what the student is typing, compromising exam integrity." It's hard to say precisely how the company expects a standard feature on mobile devices to help students pass one of the more notoriously exam out there, but The Next Web notes that some states have already taken action. North Carolina, for one, has required test takers with the new model MacBooks to disable the Touch Bar, while New York is banning the machines altogether.
real lawyers are stuck using windows XP on a 8 year old HP, cause its the newest thing that interfaces with the criminal justice system
Why are professional level tests being taken on a personal laptop? Shouldn't these tests be taken on the test company devices? Sort of like, I don't know... the SAT, ACT, GRE, and every other test?
"help students pass one of the more notoriously exam out there..."
Perhaps if the author had a MacBook, they would have made a less notoriously error.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I am surprised that they would allow anyone to use their own computer. If the test taker controls the device, the opportunities for cheating are unlimited. And they can't rely on the honor system, since, hey, they are lawyers.
Open book law exam in the past, now its open laptop.
"Open book" still requires the test-taker to do their own work. With "open laptop", they can be in collusion with another person who actually answers the questions. Lack of Wifi doesn't fix the problem because they could still use the cellular network, or have an ad-hoc network between two test-takers in the same room who share answers.
Disclaimer: When I was in college, I made money taking tests for other people. In a 200 student lecture hall, nobody notices that. So I think I understand the "cheater" mentality. Many people will put more effort into cheating that what would have been needed to just study and pass legitimately. Part of it is just the thrill of "beating the system."
The testing software takes over the computer ("securely" according to the instructional video, FWIW) and doesn't let you switch out to other programs while you are in the test environment. It looks like the TouchBar bypasses that restriction.
Multiple choice type questions are of course easy to put on a test. There are many other choices, though. Cisco does a reasonably good job of testing skills on their certification exams. Even the entry-level exams include simulations and questions that require you to understand how and why things are as they are. Cisco's most advanced certifications *combine* a computerized test with in-person interviewing.
It looks like the TouchBar bypasses that restriction.
It looks like they're too lazy to learn the API and turn it off. Software updates are for startups. Surely the program in focus has control at the OS level, right? You'd want the same for the rest of the keyboard (mostly).
My buddy Andy did the "write exams for other people" thing. He wrote the English 100 final exam about 10 times. Of course they check ID. The always did. You left your student card on your desk and while you were writing someone would walk up and down the rows checking ID. The thing is, Andy was Han Chinese, about 5'6" with medium length dark hair and glasses, so he looked like every second guy at the Uni who was writing the test.
I guess what I'm not getting, and since you've taken them maybe you can shed some light on it, is why it's bring your own device. I've taken dozens of computer based exams before, but always on the testing companies equipment, never my own. That just seems like it's asking for trouble.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
My first thought on reading this was "the hell??? Since when have computers been allowed in exams?" We weren't even allowed calculators in our exams at uni.
That reminds me of something my calc I prof told us before our first exam: "Bring any technology you want, I know the limits of your calculators and mathematics software. I write my exams accordingly." He wasn't kidding. If you knew the material you could finish his exams by hand easily. Try to slide by and use a graphing calculator or even something like Mathematica and you probably wouldn't finish the exam before the end of class, much less pass it. Really loved that class.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Is this a "all asians look the same" anecdote?
No, it's more an anecdote about how id photographs are a very Caucasian-oriented biometric, given that our salient identifying features are more likely to be clearly visible in a small, slightly-blurry photo that often doesn't look a lot like the person it depicts. i.e. Caucasians have wide differences in hair and eye colour, and in hair type, and the same is not true to the same extent in non-white populations.
Note also that the GP specifically said "Han Chinese", which is a lot more specific than "Asian", and once you're into a very specific ethnic group, other features like face shape and nose structure do tend to get more similar (which is true regardless of whether you're talking about a white or a non-white group) making cheating by impersonation easier.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'