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Should I Sent this Complaint to the LSAC?

christori97christori97 Member
in General 31 karma

I would like to first note that I am not looking to cancel my score nor am I looking to getting anyone in trouble. I simply am looking to get proof for prospective law schools of the conditions I had to go through in taking this particular LSAT.

Before the exam started (so during the "bubble in your name" period) I raised my hand to ask if I could go to the restroom. I was not aware nor told of being unable to leave the room for the restroom during this time, but to be safe I asked a proctor of this. The proctor said that I can, led me out of the room and pointed me to the restroom. And so I went, obviously thinking that it must have been okay to do this.

But from returning to the test room (still during the "bubble in your name" period) a different proctor stopped me, told me that I wasn't allowed to leave the room during this time, and said that he would report me to LSAC. Expectedly I was shocked and confused, since another proctor had told me a minute ago otherwise.

Still in a confused, shocked, and frankly frightened state (as I had no idea what a report would do to my future) I had to take the first three sections of the LSAT. While it is hard to blame or prove that all of my anxiety came from this event, I most certainly couldn't concentrate as much as I wanted with thoughts about possibly not being able to be a lawyer ever lingered and hindered my logical reasoning.

During the break I went up to the proctor who said that he would report me. He told me that, as another proctor had told me that I could leave the room, that he would NOT report me. While this was good news, I'm sure you can understand my frustration from not doing as well on the first three sections as I hoped to do over what ultimately ended up to be nothing.

Once again, I am not looking to blame anyone or to have my LSAT score cancelled (or held for that matter). I would, however, like to have my struggle and condition in taking this LSAT realized and would like some sort of proof (a letter?) of this so that law schools can realize that this LSAT score may not be reflective of my abilities.

...is what I'm thinking of sending. Thoughts? (I'm sort of worried that maybe the LSAC would consider me leaving the room, despite a proctor clearly letting me do this, a reason to have my score cancelled)

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Comments

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    Do you think you'll need to retake? If not, then maybe a complaint can help. But if you were going to retake anyway, there won't be much of a point in it. How did you feel like you did? Do you feel like it can hit your target score? Do you feel like you performed well enough to reach your average PT score?

  • Leah M BLeah M B Alum Member ⭐
    8392 karma

    I think that the only remedy that LSAC would give you is to cancel your score and give you a free retake. I think it's unlikely they would write a letter describing the circumstances. You could have your own email sending in this incident as evidence, but I don't think LSAC would do much other than contact the proctor involved to reprimand/clarify, and offer you a free retake. I'm sure that it could have affected your nerves, but typically LSAC's remedy for test day issues is just a free retake so I don't know how much help you'd be giving yourself.

    Also honestly, I don't really think the schools will consider documentation of this all that much. If you legitimately think this caused you to tank this test, you could cancel your score. If you accept the score, and it turns out that you did significantly tank it, then a short addendum (like, a couple sentences) explaining the misunderstanding causing you to have extreme anxiety would maybe be warranted. If you get the score and are just a few points lower than your average, then I wouldn't add anything. They're not going to want to read an explanation for dropping like 3 points. Just not necessary. That's in the range of typical anxiety.

    I'd also be very careful about how am addendum is worded. The bathroom instructions are available in advance and when I've taken the test, there was a loud announcement to use the bathroom before checking in or you have to wait until break. I understand how that could all be missed, I think you'd likely have to be careful about tone though to not make it sound like you're avoiding responsibility or hadn't read the instructions. I'd focus more on the fact that you were told wrong information by a proctor than saying that there weren't any instructions.

  • MissChanandlerMissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐
    3256 karma

    The rules (on the admission tickets) say that you can’t leave to use the bathroom after you check in until section one of the test starts. The proctor was correct, so I wouldn’t want to tell law schools about it.

  • christori97christori97 Member
    31 karma

    I ended up guessing around 5 questions... but from what I read it seems like it's best for me to not send the complaint and if I do end up tanking I should write CAREFULLY an ammendum?

  • samantha.ashley92samantha.ashley92 Alum Member
    edited September 2018 1777 karma

    I really wouldn't write an addendum. Based on what has already been said, stating that you did not know the rule about using the bathroom doesn't mean that the proctor who let you go was right to let you do so. You might be able to call and ask if there is a possibility for a free retake, but I doubt it if the rule is actually on the admission ticket. I view this situation like if you were driving 65 in a 55 and got pulled over. Saying that you didn't see the speed limit sign doesn't change the fact that the speed limit was actually 55. Also, some schools explicitly state that they do not want an addendum related to LSAT scores. I think it's because they really don't care unless the reason is pretty serious.

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