On Sunday August 16^th, 2020 the Florida Board of Bar Examiners announced around 11pm that the Florida Bar exam scheduled on August 19^th has yet again been postponed. The Florida Bar explained that, “[d]espite the board’s best efforts to offer a licensure opportunity in August, it was determined that administering a secure and reliable remote bar examination in August was not technically feasible.” This news was decided just two days before the exam was supposed to be administered. Many test-takers are recent law school graduates who have not stopped studying since graduation. With all of their time and energy being spent on studying for this exam, this news can only come as a big disappointment and let down. Being unable to take the Florida Bar has put a huge obstacle between these recent grads and their future career paths.

This announcement has come as an unfortunate shock since this is the second time that the Florida Bar exam has been cancelled and postponed. It was announced on July 1^st, that the Florida Bar exam originally scheduled for July 27^th and 28^th, would be cancelled and administered in an online platform in August. With the panic of the current coronavirus pandemic, test takers across Florida have been in a state of anxiety and stress for this exam too. Many test takers had jobs waiting for them post-bar which created an extra three months without income for some individuals. Plans have had to be altered and the unknown future has generated fear. The Bar Exam is the last step in order for these individuals to be licensed to practice law. The last thing they excepted in 2020 was for their dreams of becoming a licensed attorney to be put on hold.

Luckily, on August 24^th, 2020, the Supreme Court of Florida issued an administrative order, allowing a supervised practice program that will allow some August 2020 Bar Exam applicants to work in the legal field under the supervision of a licensed attorney during this pandemic. This program allows applicants to work until February 2021 due to the pandemic and the failures with the online testing system without having had completed the bar. Thankfully, this has created some hope for test-takers since their future plans have been abruptly put on hold. A few days later, on August 26^th, 2020 the Florida Supreme Court notified applicants that the Florida Bar Exam has been rescheduled for October 13^th.  The exam will consist of 100 multiple choice questions and three essays on the online platform, ExamSoft. With the Coronavirus pandemic still ongoing, one can only hope that the third time’s a charm and that the Florida Bar Exam will be a success on October 13^th. Will October 13^th, 2020 be the charm for the 2020 Florida Bar test takers?