I thought nobody bought these though? So why the policy?
Seems like a "new scary" technology for these guys. You can cheat with any tech nowadays.
Oh this so vividly brings back the memory of being stopped from taking a new fangled calculator (a Sharp I recall) into an advanced physics exam. "Only slide rules are allowed" I was told, "real mathematicians and scientists will always use slide rules."
This is a slide rule for the folks that have never heard of one...
Of course, any real mathematician or scientist does still use a slide-rule...
When I was at Uni, some exams did prohibit stored program calculators, which given the proliferation of the 15C, was kind of a bummer. Still, as I pointed out above, most exams weren't too concerned about numerical results. The physics department, specifically permitted "self-contained, silent calculating devices" (because they were a bit pretentious), and one guy I knew spent ages trying to work out how to make his Mac 512k meet those requirements. (I think it involved a car battery, and powering it on before entering the exam so the "bong" wouldn't be heard. All hypothetical, of course.)
I was a trifle confused about allowing a student to use a computer, but disabling the Touch Bar, but I think that's been adequately explained. It would still be preferable for them to use a standard computer provided by the examiner, rather than the examinee, but in the current climate of slashing public budgets, it's easy to see how it ended up this way.
I thought nobody bought these though? So why the policy?
Seems like a "new scary" technology for these guys. You can cheat with any tech nowadays.
Oh this so vividly brings back the memory of being stopped from taking a new fangled calculator (a Sharp I recall) into an advanced physics exam. "Only slide rules are allowed" I was told, "real mathematicians and scientists will always use slide rules."
This is a slide rule for the folks that have never heard of one...
My high school chem teacher use to do logs in his head faster than anyone could punch it up on our calculators. He use to do molar conversion on the board and ask use what the number was and before we could answer he was writing the number on the board. Yeah we though memorize problems but be proved it to us ask some one to give him a number and he would tell you immediately the log of the number. I also had a teach who use to show off his slide rule skill in class.
When we do state testing (NYS Regents) we do have students that are allowed to use computers during testing. I disable their internet so they cannot access anything and we log them into a generic account which also doesn't have internet access. I'm sure there's actually a terminal command that can be run to disable it as well. In a school environment, this would make it much easier to disable during testing and you can lock down the system preference so it cannot be re-enabled in the Keyboard system preference.
Within the next couple of years we are going to implement computer based testing where all tests are taken on the computer. These have to be state approved devices with keyboards and they will run a special browser that locks the entire computer down and all you can get to is this browser, even if you restart the device.
Lots of ignorance about this topic. Examsoft software is widely used on bar exams. It locks down the whole computer and you can't do anything but the test until you exit. The software supports both mac and windows but there is always a delay with new operating systems and innovative hardware until the integrity of the system can be verified.
Also, for those saying the state should provide... we're talking about nearly 8000 people take the exam... why would the state buy that many secure computers to provide to applicants when there is a perfectly good software solution?
And for those saying there shouldn't be computers at all... I'd like to remind you that the July 2016 administration of the California Bar Exam included 12 hours of written session in excess of the multiple choice. Sample answers are like 30-40 pages of typed material... imagine handwriting that. Some people do but come on.
Nothing weird about this and no bias towards apple here. Also, folks taking the test know new computers and operating systems won't work so it's on them if they buy the new stuff when they've known these constraints for years of law school.
Source: Me... a July 2016 California Bar Exam taker who used Examsoft on a Mac
Comments
Of course, any real mathematician or scientist does still use a slide-rule...
When I was at Uni, some exams did prohibit stored program calculators, which given the proliferation of the 15C, was kind of a bummer. Still, as I pointed out above, most exams weren't too concerned about numerical results. The physics department, specifically permitted "self-contained, silent calculating devices" (because they were a bit pretentious), and one guy I knew spent ages trying to work out how to make his Mac 512k meet those requirements. (I think it involved a car battery, and powering it on before entering the exam so the "bong" wouldn't be heard. All hypothetical, of course.)
I was a trifle confused about allowing a student to use a computer, but disabling the Touch Bar, but I think that's been adequately explained. It would still be preferable for them to use a standard computer provided by the examiner, rather than the examinee, but in the current climate of slashing public budgets, it's easy to see how it ended up this way.
Lots of ignorance about this topic. Examsoft software is widely used on bar exams. It locks down the whole computer and you can't do anything but the test until you exit. The software supports both mac and windows but there is always a delay with new operating systems and innovative hardware until the integrity of the system can be verified.
Also, for those saying the state should provide... we're talking about nearly 8000 people take the exam... why would the state buy that many secure computers to provide to applicants when there is a perfectly good software solution?
And for those saying there shouldn't be computers at all... I'd like to remind you that the July 2016 administration of the California Bar Exam included 12 hours of written session in excess of the multiple choice. Sample answers are like 30-40 pages of typed material... imagine handwriting that. Some people do but come on.
Nothing weird about this and no bias towards apple here. Also, folks taking the test know new computers and operating systems won't work so it's on them if they buy the new stuff when they've known these constraints for years of law school.
Source: Me... a July 2016 California Bar Exam taker who used Examsoft on a Mac