Accommodations: Really, not trying to start anything, just want honest opinions

Comments

• Little Grasshopper Member

  October 2019 232 karma

  There will be some who will game the system through dishonest means. There are two sides of this argument. One side is that there could be there are more people that have legitimate disabilities that have an opportunity to take the test that would have been denied to them in the past. ADA in 1989 was passed to cleared the way where businesses have to make reasonable accommodations. If businesses do not make the accommodate, they would find themselves being sued.

  I am going to be careful because I don't want to create 3 fallacies: sampling/overgeneralization, causation and certainty/reality. Having more time on the LSAT, it does not guarantee that higher score is going to happen. Moreover,a person can still not do well and have the accommodations that specific to their disability. Maybe they took an LSAT course that did not the right techniques to pass the exam like Kaplan or Princeton Review. It just made things worst with their disability and how their brain processes information on the LSAT. After all, passing the LSAT and having disability are two big hurdles to overcome. The problem may be that there are instructors who are not trained in teaching people with disabilities, and the results can end up poor.

  On the other side of this argument, there will be people who think if we just make the test even harder that it will filter out the people trying to game the system. It is reasonable to want to ensure fairness for everyone taking the exam. If a person has the proper documentation that LSAC requires, it should not a be an issue. The other side will want a much narrower definition of what constitutes a disability and what criteria should be met as to what is a legitimate disability and what is not. i can see why having good set of criteria can that help.

  I guess more sympathetic to people with learning disabilities and physical disabilities from my own experiencing of working and teaching them.
• Mario Robo Alum Member

  October 2019 266 karma

  I'm not really sure what's going to happen but I know that its pretty upsetting that so many game the system. I have a friend who decided to get accommodations and his reasoning was if you can't beat 'em join 'em. While I personally didn't do that cuz I feel its not right, I hear his perspective because there are so many people gaming the system which put me at a disadvantage. I always did better on LR when I had more time and I could have gotten much closer to 170 or even 170 if I did that.

  It's one thing to have accommodations I just think there needs to be a way to filter out those people who are gaming the system. I don't know if this is the right way but I definitely think that something should be done.

  PS It's also a huge issue in colleges themselves and law schools
• lexxx745 Alum Member Sage ⭐

  October 2019 3190 karma

  @"Mario Robo" said:
  I'm not really sure what's going to happen but I know that its pretty upsetting that so many game the system. I have a friend who decided to get accommodations and his reasoning was if you can't beat 'em join 'em. While I personally didn't do that cuz I feel its not right, I hear his perspective because there are so many people gaming the system which put me at a disadvantage. I always did better on LR when I had more time and I could have gotten much closer to 170 or even 170 if I did that.

  It's one thing to have accommodations I just think there needs to be a way to filter out those people who are gaming the system. I don't know if this is the right way but I definitely think that something should be done.

  PS It's also a huge issue in colleges themselves and law schools

  Do you think the LSAT will become harder over time to hedge against those that game the system?
• Mario Robo Alum Member

  October 2019 266 karma

  I'm not sure.