The second stage of Taiwan's judicial officer and bar examinations will switch from handwritten to computer-based answering, and the Ministry of Examination has brought its new answering system online — a significant practical change for those currently preparing for the exams.

• Each question in the legal specialty subjects and Chinese provides 8 pages of electronic answer sheets, with a limit of 5,200 characters.
• The new interface adds paginated answering, preview, itemised numbering, quick indentation, and four levels of undo.
• Numbered paragraphs can be nested up to six levels, and candidates can indent using the Tab key, keeping the experience as close as possible to the habits of pen-and-paper answering.
• Once the exam time reaches zero, the system counts down a further 20 seconds, then automatically saves and ends the exam.
• The Ministry of Examination has opened a mock answering website and released an operating manual so candidates can practise in advance.

Outlook: Candidates' focus going forward will be on becoming familiar with operating the new system, so as to avoid losing marks in the actual exam because of the shift from handwriting to typing.