FE1 Exam Thread (Read 1st post!) NOTE: YOU MAY SWAP EXAM GRIDS

awsah

desk404 wrote: »

I am not at all happy at how the Law Society has decided to roll out 'proctoring' software without providing us with any information about the nature of this software product.

The chosen proctoring software is Proctorio (based in the US). BetterExaminations (based in Ireland) provides the platform to do each of the exams and Proctorio provides its software to add on the supervised element.

It works by recording the student's video and audio during the exam, their screen, records an ID and, depending on the settings used, requests the student to show the webcam around the room prior to the exam.

The key part of the Proctorio software is that it tracks the student's eye movements and using machine learning generates a score to predict the likelihood that the student is cheating. For example, if it detects the students eyes constantly moving away it will generate a higher score, suggesting that perhaps the student is cheating.

Much of this has yet to be explained by the Law Society to us. It gives rise to several concerns:

- Who has access to video and audio recordings? Is it just the Law Society?
- How long will that personal data be stored for?
- Will examiners interpret results from Proctorio's assessment? What is considered acceptable eye movement?
- Has the Law Society received adequate assurances from the company after the CEO of Proctorio apologised after posting the content of student support messages on Reddit? (Article on The Guardian's website (1st July 2020) 'CEO of exam monitoring software Proctorio apologises for posting student's chat logs on Reddit')
- At what point did we consent to handing over personal data (email address and other info) to either of these companies?
- Is our data being stored inside or outside the EU?

While it is understandable that the Law Society has had to come to some sort of workable solution during the pandemic, it is unfortunate that students are required to surrender aspects of their privacy in pursuit of maintaining the "integrity" of exams. This is the only way to enter the profession and it is a shame that students need to agree to this. If someone prefers the traditional exam format and wishes to delay, they may end up delaying or forfeiting their training contract. Moreover with only 15 days to the first exam, we have not been made aware of any of these privacy implications.

Ha ha ha ha ha oh my god I have to laugh! so to keep the integrity of the exams we are going to be watched by a robot. like what if u have a habit of always looking to the ceiling or behind the screen when ur thinking, what if your eyes get tired after 3 hours of staring at the screen and u stop looking at the screen.

Also the privacy thing is a big enough issue, the new email stated we shall receive an email form better examinations, this means they have already provided our information to a third party, is this something we agreed to allow when we signed up for the FE1s? Also it says that you then have to login, does this mean we have to create an account with them, what kind of permissions do they request that you allow. If we agree to allow a software company to record us, do they have that ability even when we have finished the exam?

Hazel774

desk404 wrote: »

I am not at all happy at how the Law Society has decided to roll out 'proctoring' software without providing us with any information about the nature of this software product.

The chosen proctoring software is Proctorio (based in the US). BetterExaminations (based in Ireland) provides the platform to do each of the exams and Proctorio provides its software to add on the supervised element.

It works by recording the student's video and audio during the exam, their screen, records an ID and, depending on the settings used, requests the student to show the webcam around the room prior to the exam.

The key part of the Proctorio software is that it tracks the student's eye movements and using machine learning generates a score to predict the likelihood that the student is cheating. For example, if it detects the students eyes constantly moving away it will generate a higher score, suggesting that perhaps the student is cheating.

Much of this has yet to be explained by the Law Society to us. It gives rise to several concerns:

- Who has access to video and audio recordings? Is it just the Law Society?
- How long will that personal data be stored for?
- Will examiners interpret results from Proctorio's assessment? What is considered acceptable eye movement?
- Has the Law Society received adequate assurances from the company after the CEO of Proctorio apologised after posting the content of student support messages on Reddit? (Article on The Guardian's website (1st July 2020) 'CEO of exam monitoring software Proctorio apologises for posting student's chat logs on Reddit')
- At what point did we consent to handing over personal data (email address and other info) to either of these companies?
- Is our data being stored inside or outside the EU?

While it is understandable that the Law Society has had to come to some sort of workable solution during the pandemic, it is unfortunate that students are required to surrender aspects of their privacy in pursuit of maintaining the "integrity" of exams. This is the only way to enter the profession and it is a shame that students need to agree to this. If someone prefers the traditional exam format and wishes to delay, they may end up delaying or forfeiting their training contract. Moreover with only 15 days to the first exam, we have not been made aware of any of these privacy implications.

That sounds so strange
I was under the impression that we would have been remotely monitored through software like zoom where someone is just watching us on the webcam the whole time. But from the email and the BetterExaminations website it seems as though they are recording us throughout the exam and storing that recording. Obviously I won't be doing anything during the exam that I shouldn't be, but it's uncomfortable to think that they are just storing that recording, particularly since we have to hold our ID up to the camera at the start.

Not too impressed that we're being made to install monitoring software onto our laptops which we don't actually know anything about

Angela21

awsah wrote: »

Ha ha ha ha ha oh my god I have to laugh! so to keep the integrity of the exams we are going to be watched by a robot. like what if u have a habit of always looking to the ceiling or behind the screen when ur thinking, what if your eyes get tired after 3 hours of staring at the screen and u stop looking at the screen.

Also the privacy thing is a big enough issue, the new email stated we shall receive an email form better examinations, this means they have already provided our information to a third party, is this something we agreed to allow when we signed up for the FE1s? Also it says that you then have to login, does this mean we have to create an account with them, what kind of permissions do they request that you allow. If we agree to allow a software company to record us, do they have that ability even when we have finished the exam?

Also not sure how the eye movement will work when you have a legislation for most subjects. We will all be accused of cheating 🀣🀪😟

law_struggles

I'm looking to add academic commentary to my tort notes from the likes of McMahon & Binchy, Quill, etc. if anyone knows where I can get them.

Thanks!

lawgrad2020

Sorry reposting this as still confused and need to order my legislation today.

Hello, did everyone doing company order their legislation from opw or did they get the companies act binded book?

I'm so unsure which of the books are usable/out of date and so confused and stressed

Would be so appreciative of any guidance.

Iso_123

lawgrad2020 wrote: »

Sorry reposting this as still confused and need to order my legislation today.

Hello, did everyone doing company order their legislation from opw or did they get the companies act binded book?

I'm so unsure which of the books are usable/out of date and so confused and stressed

Would be so appreciative of any guidance.

I ordered mine from book depository I got the bloomsbury 2018 version but i understand you can order from the OPW too

starfishxxo

I would opt for the Bloomsbury as its more compact. The OPW is A4 in size, and large print. I dont think there's any significant price difference

Aoibhin511

lawgrad2020 wrote: »

Sorry reposting this as still confused and need to order my legislation today.

Hello, did everyone doing company order their legislation from opw or did they get the companies act binded book?

I'm so unsure which of the books are usable/out of date and so confused and stressed

Would be so appreciative of any guidance.

My legislation from the opw got lost in the post because the warehouse messed up the address, they sent it out again for free and it arrived two days later, but I think they're very short-staffed in there. If you're tight on time perhaps the Bloomsbury edition might be safer as you can track shipping

Al1501

lawgrad2020 wrote: »

Sorry reposting this as still confused and need to order my legislation today.

Hello, did everyone doing company order their legislation from opw or did they get the companies act binded book?

I'm so unsure which of the books are usable/out of date and so confused and stressed

Would be so appreciative of any guidance.

Here is the link for the Companies Act from Bloomsbury:

https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/ie/companies-act-2014-2018-edition-9781526509222/

Also, the code STUDENT should knock 20% off the price

Lealaw

Iso_123 wrote: »

I ordered mine from book depository I got the bloomsbury 2018 version but i understand you can order from the OPW too

If you are sitting it in November might be worth getting it somewhere that can guarantee shipping date. Last few times I've ordered from book depository/ Amazon they are quite delayed. Don't think I'd bank on it arriving in time for early November

lawgrad2020

Thank you so much everyone - I have ordered the bloomsbury edition from legalbooks.ie and they have guaranteed quick delivery so fingers crossed it will be here by the end of the week/ early next week.

honeybadger123

lawgrad2020 wrote: »

Thank you so much everyone - I have ordered the bloomsbury edition from legalbooks.ie and they have guaranteed quick delivery so fingers crossed it will be here by the end of the week/ early next week.

Lets just hope its not a LS "end of week/early next week" or the edition you ordered will be out of date by the time it arrives!!

Fe1Student20

Al1501 wrote: »

Here is the link for the Companies Act from Bloomsbury:



Also, the code STUDENT should knock 20% off the price

Thank you very much, I've just used this myself. Not been given a delivery date initially, but it said 5-7 working days on the website prior to ordering so hopefully all will be fine

Al1501

Fe1Student20 wrote: »

Thank you very much, I've just used this myself. Not been given a delivery date initially, but it said 5-7 working days on the website prior to ordering so hopefully all will be fine

No bother. When I ordered mine last month it came very quickly, so fingers crossed it should be there soon!

fe1student2803

Would anyone have an up to date criminal law exam grid please?

ellachapman96

does anyone have the criminal law report for spring 2018 they could give me please? would really appreciate thanks

Twinings2016

Super concerned about this proctoring software. As per what previous posters mention, I often stare off into space when trying to think/formulate answers. This will be one hundred per cent the case this time around also. Is it an automatic fail if the software detects something suspicious? Can we not dispute this? Also what about rough work and legislation, if our eyes are off the screen and looking down.. ? From what I can see online with this software .. if they detect anything suspicious like the above re. eye movement you fail automatically. This is madness in my opinion for these exams and is seriously stressing me out.

Jeremiah25

Twinings2016 wrote: »

Super concerned about this proctoring software. As per what previous posters mention, I often stare off into space when trying to think/formulate answers. This will be one hundred per cent the case this time around also. Is it an automatic fail if the software detects something suspicious? Can we not dispute this? Also what about rough work and legislation, if our eyes are off the screen and looking down.. ? From what I can see online with this software .. if they detect anything suspicious like the above re. eye movement you fail automatically. This is madness in my opinion for these exams and is seriously stressing me out.

I do the exact same, remember they can ask you to show around your room if any issue arises, I highly doubt that a robot can or will fail anyone automatically. They have to take legislation and other factors like this into consideration.

FE1new

Just got that email for the Betterexaminations there.

Says I have no upcoming exams...huh. God I'm just very done with all of this.

Healyjhow

FE1new wrote: »

Just got that email for the Betterexaminations there.

Says I have no upcoming exams...huh. God I'm just very done with all of this.

I got this email too went in to set my password and now it says link is expired and only valid for one use within 24hours ?

Healyjhow

Healyjhow wrote: »

I got this email too went in to set my password and now it says link is expired and only valid for one use within 24hours ?

Anyone else have this issue

WesternC123

By the looks of the 'practice exam' section on Better Examinations , it doesn't seem likely that there will be an option to write our answers.

maggie95

FE1new wrote: »

Just got that email for the Betterexaminations there.

Says I have no upcoming exams...huh. God I'm just very done with all of this.

Mine's the same. Guessing they haven't registered us to our exams yet...

LawStudent999

Mines already giving trouble. I followed the link and set a password. It then asked me to log back in with my new password which it said was wrong? Anyone else having a similar issue?

I requested a new link under the 'forgotten password' option but that never arrived.

Doesn't give me much hope for the system.

WesternC123

LawStudent999 wrote: »

Mines already giving trouble. I followed the link and set a password. It then asked me to log back in with my new password which it said was wrong? Anyone else having a similar issue?

I requested a new link under the 'forgotten password' option but that never arrived.

Doesn't give me much hope for the system.

I'm having the same problem. I followed the link, set a password and then tried to log in and it's saying wrong username or password.. i give up.

Supermax1988

Twinings2016 wrote: »

Super concerned about this proctoring software. As per what previous posters mention, I often stare off into space when trying to think/formulate answers. This will be one hundred per cent the case this time around also. Is it an automatic fail if the software detects something suspicious? Can we not dispute this? Also what about rough work and legislation, if our eyes are off the screen and looking down.. ? From what I can see online with this software .. if they detect anything suspicious like the above re. eye movement you fail automatically. This is madness in my opinion for these exams and is seriously stressing me out.

Listen, obviously it's normal to be stressed out given the drip feeding on information on the format of the exams but I'd say not even the Law Society would be so bad as to give out automatic fails for people looking into space every now and again. It's probably only to dissuade people from doing anything stupid.

jus_me

They can’t make us sit there for 3 hours and not use the bathroom surely ..

feliznavidab

Some of the people on this thread honestly need to learn when to stop whinging and just get on with things ...

bkm2020

I am not comfortable at all with the audio and video recordings part of it. Prefer "real time" invigilation where someone would obviously know you were looking into space to think of things...

Jeremiah25

jus_me wrote: »

They can’t make us sit there for 3 hours and not use the bathroom surely ..

If I need to go I certainly will be, they can join me on the laptop webcam if they'd like