(Radio Iowa) – More than 170 recent law school graduates are slated to in a Des Moines hotel to take the 12-hour bar exam this week. Recent University of Iowa Law School graduate Karla Olivas and her colleagues petitioned the state Supreme Court to make changes to the exam, but were denied.  “Just the thought of having to go and sit in a room with dozens of other people who are coming from all across the states is really scary,” she says.

She says you don’t know if they other have been taking the same precautions that you have all summer long to avoid the virus. Emily Schott says not taking the exam is not an option for those hoping to start jobs and pay down student loans. “Postponing the exam, you know, is a theoretical option, but it is not a practical one for us. I don’t…so when you say what would that look like? The truth is I have genuinely…you know…if I couldn’t get barred, I don’t know what I would do,” Schott says.

Graduates say they still have concerns, even with preventative measures in place such as taking temperatures at the door.

(By Kate Payne, Iowa Public Radio)