Everything you need to know about taking laptop exams at UH Law
Your laptop needs to meet a few basic requirements. Here's what's compatible:
Windows users: Windows 10 ended support on October 14, 2025. Future EBB versions may drop support. It is highly advisable to upgrade your laptop to Windows 11 if it meets the hardware requirements. Click here for more information about Windows 10 end of support
Mac users: Only MacBooks from 2020 or later with Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, etc.) are supported. If you have an older intel MacBook, you'll see an incompatibility error when you try to install. To check your MacBook's age, click the Apple icon (top-left corner) and choose "About This Mac."
Sorry — no iPads, tablets, or Chromebooks.
Seriously — don't skip this. Run through a practice exam so you know EBB works on your laptop before it counts. When you test it, use only the practice exams in EBB — never a real one. And don't bother typing anything meaningful in a test run — you won't be able to read the file afterward since it's encrypted.
Your laptop should be running well and virus-free before exam day. If you know something's off, get it fixed before exam week.
If your laptop has been on for days, it can get sluggish. A fresh restart on the morning of your exam keeps things running smoothly.
Adjust your power settings so your laptop won't go into sleep or hibernate mode during the exam. A mid-exam screen shutdown is the last thing you need.
Before opening a blocked exam, close whatever else you have running. It probably won't cause problems, but why risk it?
Nobody wants an iMessage or Facebook messenger ping mid-exam. Turn off notifications or enable Do Not Disturb before your exam starts. Go to System Settings > Notifications.
If you have more than one keyboard language set up, there may be a shortcut (Control + Space) that can accidentally lock up your typing in blocked mode. To avoid this, remove extra input sources or disable that shortcut: System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources.
Click here for instructions to change your keyboard and region settings to EN-US
First, try restarting your laptop. If it still won't open, ask the proctor for a paper bluebook and handwrite your exam instead.
Press and hold your power button until the computer turns off, then turn the computer on again. When you click on the EBB shortcut to start the program again, the EBB recovery feature will ask you if you want to go into an existing exam. If recovery doesn't work — or if your previous answers don't show up — ask the proctor for a bluebook and keep writing by hand. Your typed work is most likely not lost; IT can help recover it after the exam.
Please visit the third-floor help desk.
Take a breath — the next screen lets you go back to your exam. You're fine.
Check the message on the screen and follow the steps in the "How to Finish and Submit Your Exam" section above.
No exam software can guarantee 100% recovery in every situation. That's just the nature of using technology. It's rare, but it's worth knowing — which is exactly why you should test EBB beforehand and keep an eye on those backup confirmations.
If there's a problem printing your exam, the Office of Student Affairs will reach out by email or phone. Make sure you're checking your UH email even after exam week.
When you're done, click Finish Exam.
Accidentally hit Finish too soon? The next screen will give you a chance to go back. Once you've fully exited, though, you're locked out for good (the file is encrypted for security).
EBB will automatically save your exam to your Documents/Bluebook/Exams folder and try to upload it to the network.
This means your exam saved successfully to both the network and your hard drive. You're done!
Read the message carefully — here's what to do:
EBB (Electronic Bluebook) is secure exam software made by CompuTest. You download it onto your laptop and use it to type your law school exams.
Yes. EBB needs an internet connection to load your exam and save your answers to the server — even if you're in No Internet mode. If you can't upload at the end, a Law IT staff member can help you after the exam.
EBB couldn't connect to its servers to load your exam list. Check your internet connection, then close and reopen EBB to try again. This can also happen when you are logged in too early for the designated exam time, the exam will appear around 10 minutes before the actual exam time.
The questions aren't in EBB — you'll get a paper copy from the proctor. When you're done, hand it back (unless your professor says otherwise). You don't need to retype the questions into your answers unless your professor specifically asks you to.
That's expected in No Internet mode — your Wi-Fi was disabled during the exam. Just wait a minute for it to reconnect on its own, then click "Retry Network Save." If it doesn't reconnect automatically, manually reconnect first, then retry.
If you're using Adobe Acrobat Pro (part of Creative Cloud), it needs internet to verify your subscription — which won't work in No Internet mode. Instead, open your PDFs in Microsoft Edge (Windows) or Preview (macOS), which both work offline.
You'll need to add EBB as an exception in your antivirus settings. Other security software might cause issues too — that's why testing EBB ahead of time is so important.
Maybe — if it can run in English mode. But you must take a full practice exam to see whether it works. Don't leave this to the last minute. It is highly advisable to change your language and region to EN-US.
No — UHLC doesn't provide laptops. You'll need to bring your own, borrow one from a friend, or handwrite your exam in a paper bluebook.
Nope. It's completely free for law students.
Yes – typically during the install it will add an exception to your firewall, otherwise when you launch the app for the first time it will prompt you to allow access to the internet.
No. EBB blocks pasting from outside the app. You must type everything directly in EBB.
EBB won't flag typos as you type, but you can run a spell check whenever you want during the exam. Just be sure to use it before you finish.
EBB saves a backup to your laptop's hard drive every 30 seconds and to the network every 3 minutes (if you're connected). If something goes wrong, your work can probably be recovered.
Your exam ID and course information are automatically added to every page. You don't need to type them yourself — EBB handles it.
EBB shows a timer, plus page, line, character, and word counters. These are just for your reference — they won't cut you off or penalize you.
You can cut, copy, and paste within EBB using shortcut keys or the toolbar. Just know: You can't copy text in from outside EBB (like from Word), and you can't copy text out either. Drag-and-drop doesn't work.
You can bold, underline, and italicize text using the toolbar buttons or keyboard shortcuts. Standard punctuation works fine. However, Word shortcuts, macros, and function keys won't work in EBB — only EBB's built-in options are available.
Accidentally deleted something? Hit Undo. EBB supports up to 20 prior actions, so you've got a safety net — just don't wait too long.
Each page fits 24 lines. Need a new page? Click the New Page button or press Ctrl+N (Windows) / Command+N (Mac).
Your exam looks single-spaced on screen, but it prints double-spaced in Courier font automatically. You don't need to format anything yourself.
One important habit: Don't hit Enter at the end of every line. Let EBB wrap the text for you — a hard return tells EBB to start a new paragraph when it prints.
Two options here:
