Bar school students fell victim to a cruel April Fool’s joke yesterday when a message was sent out announcing that examinations would not be postponed until August after all – but would kick off next week, as originally planned.

Although hundreds of students had previously urged the regulator to reinstate the spring exams, this news was not well received. Revision-based panic ensued.

The Bar Standards Board was quick off the mark, tweeting that the message was ‘bogus’; that exams would not be taking place online this month; and that students shoud not click on any links in the message in case they are malicious. Law schools were somewhat sterner, with City Law School’s Professor Stuart Sime lambasting the hoax as ‘totally unprofessional’.

Perhaps Google – which usually indulges in plenty of tomfoolery come 1 April – had the right idea when it cancelled its annual pranks. This year, things are weird enough already. 

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