On the second day of the most recent administration of the New York State Bar Exam, a candidate at the Hofstra University test site, collapsed, falling out of her chair shortly before the lunch break, according to a statement from the New York State Board of Law Examiners.
Test proctors did not pause the exam while the woman struggled, and the clock kept ticking for all test-takers.
Staff came to the test-taker’s aid, and when the morning portion of the exam ended, “the proctors collected the exams and the candidates were dismissed from the room so that EMTs could provide the needed medical care to the candidate. That session concluded as our staff was obtaining medical aid for the candidate,” the New York State Board of Law Examiners’ statement reads.
The agency is now gathering information about the incident, including which candidates may have been impacted, and “it will carefully review the information and will formulate an appropriate response in due course,” the statement says.
According to Hofstra University, its public safety officers “immediately provided lifesaving emergency care, including CPR and defibrillation” to the woman. Local emergency services transported her to the hospital.
The ill bar candidate graduated from Fordham Law School.
“We were saddened to learn of what happened to one of our graduates during the New York bar exam and have been in touch with the family to monitor the graduate’s health. Our thoughts are with the graduate and the family, and out of respect for their privacy, we do not have any further comment,” Joseph Landau, Dean of Fordham Law School, said in a statement.
The bar exam resumed after the lunch break as scheduled.
No staff from the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) were physically present at any New York test site, according to Sophie Martin, the NCBE’s Communications Director. A supervisors’ manual covers how to administer the test, with suggestions about balancing exam security policies when faced with an emergency.

“We have listed the priorities that we believe should be top of mind in an emergency situation, the first of which is to protect the examinees and staff,” Martin explains.
The manual includes having a special announcement ready for proctors to read in case of an emergency, such as telling candidates to stop working on the test and/or moving locations. But how specific situations are handled is ultimately determined by the states, according to Martin.
“The jurisdiction decides whether to pause or stop the clock based on the specific circumstances at the time,” she adds.

You can read more about this incident here.

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