Online law students 'had to use bucket toilet' in exams

Law students taking their exams remotely could not leave the room or break eye contact with their screen

Aspiring barristers have claimed they were forced to urinate in bottles and buckets in front of their laptops while taking their online bar exams remotely.

The students said they were told they could fail their two-hour and 45 minute paper if they left their seats or did not maintain screen eye contact.

The Bar Standards Board said it had provided "straightforward guidance".

Some students had to use the receptacles while being monitored by a remote invigilator through webcams.

One student from Hull described the situation as "ridiculous".

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Aspiring barrister Sophie Lamb, 28, who studies at the BPP University Law School in Leeds, said she was forced to use a bucket as a toilet while sat in front of her laptop in her kitchen during the test.

Miss Lamb, who lives near Hull, East Yorkshire, said: "To be honest it was a bit ridiculous - the fact that this is an organisation that is meant to be promoting our ethical standards, but also our welfare."

She added: "I had to put the bucket under the chair and I was wearing a long dress and had to squat down, but make sure my face was still on camera."

The professional ethics exam, which was set by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), is one of three centralised tests they must sit as part of the Bar Professional Training Course.

Bar student Tian Juin See said he had to urinate into a bottle while maintaining eye contact with his laptop screen so he would not be accused of cheating.

The 23-year-old, who was taking the online exam at his home near Farringdon, central London, claimed he "pleaded" with his invigilator to let him use the bathroom.

He said: "I was forced to empty the contents of my water bottle on my carpet to make space."

The BSB said students who opted to take the exams at home were provided with "straightforward guidance" making it clear they would not be allowed to leave their rooms to protect the integrity of the test.

Its guide instead urged students to "prepare yourself for not being able to leave the room for the duration of your exam, for example by going to the toilet as close to the start of the exam as possible", a BSB spokesman said.

Students who opted to take the exam in a test centre had access to a toilet.

The BSB said some 5,211 centralised examinations were due to take place this month.

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