Worst Testing Conditions Ever!

In November, Elysa had to go to Richmond to take the MPRE- the national ethics exam for attorneys. The scores ranges from 50 to 150, with 100 being the mean of all exam takers. In most states the hurdle you have to clear is around 75, so the standard is pretty low. But that doesn't mean you can waltz in there and take it with your eyes closed, one hand tied behind your back.

In the UVA Law Weekly (The Law School student paper), we read about an example of one person's misperception of the average MPRE test question:

While at the local strip club, Larry Lawyer kills Clarence Client while drunk and hazed on Angel Dust. This behavior can best be described as...

A) Good
B) Bad
C) None of the Above
D) Fraggle Rock

The actually test is very technical in procedural rules. So you do need to study.

We drove to Richmond the night before, spent the night and got Elysa to the testing site by 8:00 AM. We should have know things were bad when, a few days before, Elysa was notified that her original testing site at the Marriott Conference Center had been moved to the Comfort Inn Conference. If you didn't just groan, then either you have stayed in too many Comfort Inns or too few Marriotts.

It turns out, the ethics test was bumped because the state GOP decided to hold a last minute fund raiser that weekend before the election. Personally, if you want to know why the GOP lost the Senate, I think you can blame a few hundred law students that asked God to curse the GOP for the following experience.

Elysa was dropped off at the Comfort Inn and noticed that the lobby is freezing. Richmond, the night before, had seen the thermometer drop below 20° F. It turned out that the hotel's heat had been broken for three days. Yet, the testing officials couldn't do anything about it, so the students were taking a three-hour test in, what I can only estimate, had to be somewhere around 50° F.

Testing officials led the students to the testing halls, where, it was discovered, there was less seating available than there were students. So they scrounged up some other chairs and crammed everyone onto the tables. Elysa had to straddle one of the table legs the entire time.

As the test began (the timed test, mind you), students pointed out that there was no visible time keeping device, something they were promised. Resigned to the fact that this was not their day, test administrators said they couldn't do anything about it.

And to top off the event, about half way into the test, in the conference hall adjoining the ad hoc testing center, "Fire for Christ" starts a 30 minute revival/prayer meeting. As you can deduce from their name, "Fire for Christ" didn't exactly choose the most reverent music to worship.

Aside from all that, Elysa received the score back from the test. She scored impressively high.