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Any discussion that one possible rise in LSAT inflation is people cheating online?

in General 211 karma

The recent rise in LSAT scores after flex has been factors like this:

  1. People studying more (lol)
  2. People more comfortable (that explains the 6 point boost!)
  3. The unweighted advantage shifted to doing 1 LR

While I can see 2 and 3 as plausible, I have a hard time believing that 100 or so students aren't just cheating through tech (won't explain how). I'm pretty sure that the "tech" people monitoring who make $9 an hour aren't super vigilant on eye movements or on something that is suspicious.

This isn't the craziest thing people have done for the sake of improving. People cheat on the SAT/GRE/online classes all the time with similar tech that's a joke to enforce.

The amount of people that improved on the 170s tremendously and wouldn't be surprised jumped the line having the percentiles changed.

Comments

  • angelaylee97angelaylee97 Member
    226 karma

    But I don’t see how it’s really possible to cheat on the LSAT though. The LSAT doesn’t test you on your knowledge of certain content. It’s a skill set you have to learn and apply to the questions.

  • tahurrrrrtahurrrrr Member
    1106 karma

    I'm struggling to visualize what kind of cheating would even be helpful for this kind of exam. Unless you had a smart friend who could also see your screen answering the end questions for you while you worked from number 1?

    But even if cheating happens, what good does it do for you to speculate about it?

  • seturajputseturajput Member
    14 karma

    Only cheat you can possibly do on digital LSAT, is if someone smarter and more experienced than you in LSAT takes your exam.

    Now that level of cheating is way more sophisticated than you think, they have your photo already and they ask for your ID upon start of exam so if you plan to have someone take it on your behalf you need some serious makeup :lol:

    Another possibility is if someone doing calculations/answers for you but in that scenario they should be able to see your question which again is very tough because the software can detect screen sharing.

    So yes there could be some ways but my point is, its not really simple to just cheat, you really need to be really smart with Technology to able to beat the software and do it or be a really good makeup artist and hope someone can write the test for you who look like you.

  • sarakimmelsarakimmel Member
    1488 karma

    My bf works is tech and handily explained how it could be done. I was kinda shocked, and would never repeat what he told me, but it does seem possible, no disguises needed.

    Those of us in that first category are likely too stubborn to cheat, I wanna know I can do it. But I wonder if anyone has as well. Talk about C&F issues!

  • 211 karma

    @tahurrrrr said:

    But even if cheating happens, what good does it do for you to speculate about it?

    I'd be concerned since if people cheat we all lose our prestige of our scores.

  • giulia.pinesgiulia.pines Member
    466 karma

    In my opinion, this is really not a productive argument. So 100 out of how many thousands of students figure out a way to cheat technologically? I can't imagine that truly shifting the percentile and they have to live with what they did even if they don't get caught.

    Just focus on you.

  • WhatIsLifeWhatIsLife Member
    810 karma

    In my opinion I don't see a reason to even have this discussion, all it will lead to is paranoid thinking about others having an advantage. At the end of the day, all that is in your control is how you prepare for this test. Why worry about others?

    Plus, a 170 on the test is still 96th percentile. It is not as if the value of 170 is now magically nonexistent.

  • yesprimeminister0937yesprimeminister0937 Core Member
    5 karma

    I don't know why the existence of cheating would surprise you. They are underground industries everywhere in the world that assist students to cheat on exams. Back in high school, I knew someone who bought the answers to questions on SAT they were taking. But the point is: even if a few guys succeed in getting into top law schools by cheating, they most likely won't survive the rigorous studies there. So it's a mug's game.

  • studyingandrestudyingstudyingandrestudying Core Member
    5254 karma

    If they get caught, they may not be able to go to law school, or if they do, they risk being kicked out, or if they don't get kicked out, they risk trouble with the bar, and if they don't get into trouble with the bar, they might have an issue with not providing good representation to clients, in which case they also get in trouble with the bar. Not fun things to have on a person's conscience.

  • megzy217megzy217 Core Member
    67 karma

    I think fatigue is a huge factor. With one less section (and let's say the ungraded is earlier), it's not as exhausting of an exam. From a technology point of view, also seems like a tough exam to cheat on.

  • trisdhaliwal1trisdhaliwal1 Member
    89 karma

    How do we know the most recent scores/improvements of people? lol Where are you finding out that so many people are improving their 170s score?

  • WhatIsLifeWhatIsLife Member
    810 karma

    @trisdhaliwal1 said:
    How do we know the most recent scores/improvements of people? lol Where are you finding out that so many people are improving their 170s score?

    https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/30208/2020-2021-lsat-percentile-shift-a-piecemeal-chart

  • Ashley2018-1Ashley2018-1 Alum Member
    edited October 2021 2249 karma

    I don't even see the point of cheating. If anything, I think it will backfire. This test is supposed to be a pretty good indicator of how well you'll do during your first year in law school. If you cheat and are admitted on the basis of a fraudulent (and inflated) score, you're probably gonna get hammered when classes begin and depending on how badly you cheated, I think you'll likely fail the bar exam.

    And you'll have deprived someone who likely spent months (or even years) studying and preparing for this whole painful process of a seat. I personally can't live with that.

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