HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Students are speaking out after a woman taking the bar exam at Hofstra University in New York suddenly suffered an apparent heart attack, and they say proctors wouldn’t stop the test.

It happened Wednesday in an auditorium at Hofstra where about 1,000 students were taking the exam.

Witnesses say a young law student from Fordham Law School, believed to be in her 20s, collapsed, stopped breathing and turned blue.

The proctors of the exam, the New York State Board of Law Examiners said, “This event occurred only a few minutes before the scheduled end of the exam session. Our staff came to the examinee’s aid as soon as they were alerted to the situation.”

However, that is not what witnesses say happened.

“The students around her were telling the proctors, ‘Why are you refusing to seek assistance?'” a witness identified as “Isaac” said. “And she kept on saying, ‘shut up, and continue with the exam.'”

That witness said he thinks it was more than seven or eight minutes before someone came to administer CPR.

According to a spokesperson at Hofstra, the law student did survive. They stated:

“Hofstra Public Safety officers immediately provided life-saving emergency care, including CPR and defibrillation, until paramedics arrived and transported the individual to a local hospital.”

But test takers said the delay and callousness of the whole situation has sat with them ever since.

“It was a really significant incident, you could say, ‘You know, we wish her the best recovery, our hearts go out for her,'” Isaac said.

He described how they were then instructed to step over her for their lunch break.

“It’s a total disregard for human life,” Isaac said.

They then returned to finish the afternoon exam.

A Hofstra Law professor sent an email to their students afterwards, which seemed to recognize the incident, “may have been distressing.”