Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 31, § 70

The commission and the administrator shall maintain on file a record of their proceedings. Such records shall be open to public inspection pursuant to the rules of the commission. An appointing authority may inspect applications and references in connection with a certification of names; such applications and references shall be preserved for a period of two years and may then be destroyed. The question and answer sheets of examination papers, other than essay questions and answers, shall not be open for inspection and may be destroyed as determined by the administrator. The papers used by an applicant in an examination may be destroyed as determined by the administrator, except that they shall be preserved while a request for a review of a marking or finding in relation to such examination or an appeal from the decision of the administrator after such review is acceptable or pending pursuant to sections twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four.

Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, an applicant's examination papers may be inspected only by such applicant or his designated representative upon presentation of a written authorization from the applicant. Such inspection may take place only while a request by such applicant for a review of a marking or finding in relation to such examination or an appeal from the decision of the administrator after such review is acceptable or pending pursuant to sections twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four. No inspection of any examination papers may be made in connection with a request for a review of whether the examination was a fair test of the applicant's fitness to actually perform the primary or dominant duties of the position for which the examination was held, made under section twenty-two, or of examination papers to which sections twenty-two and twenty-three do not apply.

No question shall be copied except one on which the applicant received less than full credit in the marking of the examination. In such case, both the question and answer may be copied.