Bar Exam Locations in Texas Forum

[Jericwithers]

Anyone have any recommendation on where to take the bar exam in Texas? I heard the bigger cities should be avoided. Any thoughts on Waco or San Antonio?

[kalvano]

Why would you avoid the bigger cities?

Just what I want to do after melting my brain for 9 hours is spend the night in a motel in Waco.

[Jericwithers]

Why would you avoid the bigger cities?

Just what I want to do after melting my brain for 9 hours is spend the night in a motel in Waco.

To avoid sub-par testing conditions. Any bad stories about the big cities (Houston, Dallas, Austin)?

[kalvano]

Why would you avoid the bigger cities?

Just what I want to do after melting my brain for 9 hours is spend the night in a motel in Waco.

To avoid sub-par testing conditions. Any bad stories about the big cities (Houston, Dallas, Austin)?

Like what? I'm curious where you're getting this from. Why would an exam administered in the largest cities be worse than one in the smaller cities?

[TheGreatFish]

Like what? I'm curious where you're getting this from. Why would an exam administered in the largest cities be worse than one in the smaller cities?

Hotel rooms are more expensive, traffic is a nightmare, and parking can be limited. Even the testing centers themselves can be congested. If your testing center is a hotel in the middle of a large city, it's probably going to be packed, even before the addition of a few hundred students taking the bar exam.

[kalvano]

Like what? I'm curious where you're getting this from. Why would an exam administered in the largest cities be worse than one in the smaller cities?

Hotel rooms are more expensive, traffic is a nightmare, and parking can be limited. Even the testing centers themselves can be congested. If your testing center is a hotel in the middle of a large city, it's probably going to be packed, even before the addition of a few hundred students taking the bar exam.

There's no such thing as a Texas city in which traffic doesn't suck, and if the hotel it's at is expensive, well, larger cities have more choices.

With as many people that take the Texas bar, each location is going to be pretty full. Pick whichever cities are closest to you. I only had to designate a first and a second choice.

[Jericwithers]

I would imagine a TON of more people take the exam in Houston or Dallas than some place like Waco. I just want to know what the testing centers are like (enough room).

For example: last year the test was held in the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Palmer Events Center in Austin, Alzafar Shrine Temple in San Antonio, and Baylor Law School in Waco. There has to be serious differences between the environments at these places.

[TheGreatFish]

I would guess that a law school will be best equipped to provide a comfortable testing environment. I took the MPRE at a convention center. It was just a large room filled with whatever tables and chairs they could find to accommodate 500 students. Most of the tables had a ridge pattern on them so you couldn't even write directly on the table. You had to put your scantron on top of the question book to bubble in answers, otherwise the pencil would rip a hole in the page. About halfway through the test a construction worker started using a jackhammer to tear up the street outside.

For the best testing conditions, you probably want to go for something remote and comfortable.

[alphasteve]

Like what? I'm curious where you're getting this from. Why would an exam administered in the largest cities be worse than one in the smaller cities?

Hotel rooms are more expensive, traffic is a nightmare, and parking can be limited. Even the testing centers themselves can be congested. If your testing center is a hotel in the middle of a large city, it's probably going to be packed, even before the addition of a few hundred students taking the bar exam.

The summer administration of the bar for the D/FW area is often in Irving. I took it there, and literally walked to the testing site from the hotel. Less than 100yds, covered. There are a ton of hotels close, as well. It was isolated enough from both Dallas and Fort Worth that you didn't have any additional issues.