MacBook Pro Touch Bar Use Barred from North Carolina Bar Exam -- Campus Technology

Breaking News

MacBook Pro Touch Bar Use Barred from North Carolina Bar Exam

By Sri Ravipati
01/31/17

The Board of Law Examiners of the State of North Carolina issued a notice Tuesday to all North Carolina Bar Examination applicants using the latest version of the MacBook Pro, requiring students to disable the device’s Touch Bar for the exam.

While the board did not provide an explanation for the requirement, it is presumably to prevent cheating. The Touch Bar replaces physical keys with context-sensitive touch commands. The software behind these commands could conceivably be rewritten by programmers to display test answers.

Test taking software company ExamSoft in a post explained that the predictive text can “compromise exam integrity” and offered instructions on how to disable the Touch Bar. Users need to open “System Preferences” and select “Keyboard.” Next, open the drop-down menu for “Touch Bar Shows” and choose “App Controls.” Then, open the drop-down menu for “Press Fn key to” and select “Show F1, F2, etc. Keys” to fully disable the Touch Bar.

The Touch Bar must be off prior to entering any Bar examination site. A proctor or ExamSoft technician will inspect all MacBook Pro laptops prior to the exam to ensure it is disabled.

North Carolina isn’t alone in barring the Touch Bar. Colorado, California and New York, Fortune reported, have banned the laptops entirely from exam rooms.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

E-Mail this page

Printable Format

Featured

Report: Hybrid and AI Expansion Outpacing Cloud Security

A new survey from the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and Tenable finds that rapid adoption of hybrid, multi-cloud and AI systems is outpacing the security measures meant to protect them, leaving organizations exposed to preventable breaches and identity-related risks.
Columbia Engineering Researchers Develop Cloud-Style Virtualization for Quantum Computing

Columbia Engineering's HyperQ system introduces cloud-style virtualization to quantum computing, allowing multiple users to run programs simultaneously on a single machine. Learn how it works, why it matters, and highlights from other recent quantum breakthroughs from leading institutions and vendors.
Microsoft Updates Windows 11 with Faster Recovery, Redesigned Restart Screen

Microsoft has released two new features in the latest version of Windows 11 that aim to reduce downtime and improve system recovery.
Nonprofit to Pilot Agentic AI Tool for Student Success Work

Student success nonprofit InsideTrack has joined Salesforce Accelerator – Agents for Impact, a Salesforce initiative providing technology, funding, and expertise to help nonprofits build and customize AI agents and AI-powered tools to support and scale their missions.