Find a Lawyer Get Certified FAQ's Forms Exam Guides Newsletter Links Board Members Contact Specialization Profiles Home

Instructions Governing the Specialty Examinations

Please read carefully all of the following instructions:

l. Applicants should report to the McKimmon Center or off-site location in time for check in at 8:30. Signs will direct you to the check-in area.

2. Applicants will be required to show their driver's license or some other form of identification that has a recent photograph of the applicant.

3. After being admitted, applicants should choose a seat in one of the examination rooms. Applicants may sit anywhere they choose but must use the same seat for all examination sessions. At the first session, applicants will be given an envelope containing a perforated card upon which an examination number has been written. Applicants will be asked to separate the card, print their names on one half of the card and seal that half in the envelope that will then be handed to a proctor. Applicants should retain the other half of the card on which they have written their exam numbers. This examination number is to be written on all examination booklets by the applicant. The applicant shall not place his or her name or initials or any other form of identification on the examination papers or booklets.

4. Before taking a seat, applicants will be asked to leave all books, papers, and personal effects on a table in the examination room. All specialty examinations are closed book examinations.

5. The examination room will be set up classroom style. If an applicant requires any special seating arrangement, he or she should let us know ahead of time.

6. A separate room will be provided for applicants wishing to type the exam. Applicants who are typing their exams are asked to remain for all instructions before going to the testing room designated for typists. Typists will be given staple removers to disassemble the examination booklet. Each applicant must reassemble the papers at the conclusion of the examination. No lap top computers or typewriters with memory capabilities may be used.

7. On the afternoon of Exam Day 1, applicants must check in for the second part of the specialty examinations. Check in will begin at 1:30 p.m.

8. On the morning of Exam Day 2, applicants taking the commercial section of the real property examination and the appellate section of the criminal examination will need to report to the exam location by 8:45 a.m. (please call for exam time at off-site locations.)

9. Scratch paper will be distributed before the examination begins to anyone who needs it. Applicants should supply their own pens and typewriters.

10. A proctor will be on hand to assist in the administration of the examinations. The proctor is not authorized to answer questions about the examination.

11. The examinations will begin when announced by the proctor. Applicants will have three hours from the time each examination session begins in which to answer questions.
The applicant may not need to use the entire three hours to complete the examination.

12. Answers to examination questions should be given in terms of the substantive law as it exists on the day of the examination. All recent developments are fair game.

13. To prevent disruption in the testing area, please do not use watches that emit a periodic beep. The proctor will inform you of the time remaining in each examination session.

14. Only estate planning and probate specialty applicants may bring a pocket calculator to the examination. Any such calculator must be silent.

15. Applicants will not be permitted to leave the testing locations until they have finished a particular session of the examination. Any applicant leaving the testing location during any examination session will not be permitted to reenter during that session.

16. When an applicant completes a part of the examination, the proctors will collect the examination booklet and any scratch paper. The applicant is to leave the testing area
and return at the next session.

17. Coffee and soft drinks will be provided in the examination room at the McKimmon Center, and applicants may get refreshments from that table at any time during the exam but talking is not permitted at the refreshment table. Applicants may also leave during the examination to go to the restrooms but may not take the exam materials with them and may not talk to other applicants. Applicants should return promptly to the exam room.

18. Applicants may not congregate at the refreshment area or in the rest room while the examination is in progress.

19. Applicants seeking certification in both real property subspecialties (residential and commercial transactions) and applicants seeking certification in both bankruptcy
subspecialties (consumer and business) will be graded separately on each examination for the two subspecialties. An applicant will be certified as a specialist in only one of the two subspecialties if the applicant passes only one of the examinations.

Smoking is prohibited in all examination rooms during the examinations.