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My LSAT horror story... looking for advice.
ProgressNotPerfection
Member
Hey everyone,
This is my first post here... I've been kind of been hanging out in the 7sage shadows for a couple months now. I'm looking for some advice on how to process and/or handle what happened to me during (and leading up) to test day.
So my LSAT nightmare started last Tuesday. I was granted accommodations (extra time and a small group setting) in August. On my accommodation letter it had the name and phone number of my supervisor on test day. The letter instructed me to call this individual at least 48 hrs in advance of the test. This letter, as well as my ticket, had Saturday's test date listed on it. I called my supervisor on Tuesday of last week and he informed me that I was in fact writing on Monday (Sept. 18) because that's when he will be acting as supervisor. Ok. Fine. The OSAC information regarding accommodations states that test dates and times can change and that's why you're to report to a supervisor beforehand. The supervisor also informed me that LSAT would not be issuing me a new ticket with Monday's test date since I had been talking to him. Fair enough.
So Sunday night, the supervisor calls me (at 10:45 pm) and the first thing he says to me is "are you sure you're writing tomorrow"? Cue panic. He assures me everything will be fine and to meet him and my proctor tomorrow in front of a particular building at 8:30 am.
The first thing I do the morning of the test is lock my keys in my car. I let it go pretty quickly as I was already in LSAT world in my mind. I was determined to not let anything get in between me and this test. So my proctor shows up early (around 8:15 am) and we get to talking. Turns out they were ready to accommodate me on Saturday and even went looking for me/called my name out a bunch of times. Kind of annoying. But oh well... I kept telling myself: I'm here now right? Not going to let this get in my way.
So the supervisor shows up just after 9 am. The two other students who were writing with me cancelled, and one sabbath observer showed up who they had never even heard of. By the time they tracked him down, got me a room, and basically got their shit together.. it was after 11 am. So there goes all the food and liquid intake I had been planning for optimal performance. Still, I did not let this break me. I was ready for the test.
The room they stuck me in with the proctor was in probably the busiest building on this college campus and I swear the walls were made of paper. There was constant traffic in the halls... people were blaring music outside. I could literally hear all the conversations going on in the offices surrounding the room. Security was going up and down the halls with they walkies going off. Speakerphone convos were going on right outside the door. It was CONSTANT noise. I couldn't focus on keeping one line of the question stem straight, let alone an entire question.
Now keep in mind, one of my accommodations is small group setting because distractions can seriously affect my ability to concentrate and essentially remain sane. I tried to fight it but with ten minutes left in my first section (LR1), I cracked. Full blown panic attack. The whole nine. I had answered probably 5 questions by this point but with the distractions it became clear to me that all the breathing exercises in the world weren't going to get me out of this one. It was bad. The proctor stopped the time. Turns out she had been texting with the supervisor trying to get me another room the whole time because of the extreme noise levels.
By the time they were able to secure me a new and quieter room, it was over an hour later. So post-panic attack and sobbing for about an hour waiting for a room, I was left with essentially doing the whole first section in 10 minutes. I probably guessed about 3/4 of the entire section because of the time constraint. At this point I was ready to walk. But I gave the second section a go.. and I swear that LG section was sent to me from up above lol. It gave me my grove back and I don't feel super horrible about the rest of the test, despite the nightmare that preceded it.
My issue and question is whether or not I should report this to LSAC. They explicitly say that they will not be responsible for issues with test centres that are out of their control. I'm not super into the idea of cancelling my score because I want to see how I did on sections 2-5 of the test. My biggest fear is having them penalize me for the irregularities. The supervisor said that he will report it all as a formality, but I do not really trust him (for reasons that I think are pretty obvious lol). I'm not going to lie though, I was pretty crushed when I realized that my first section was not experimental. My biggest fear is seeing something like a 140 (or less) appear as my score. I'm just so torn on what to do. I've already signed up for December but I'm just super bummed out because I feel like this could have been avoided. I should have just shown up on Saturday. I'm beating myself up hard over this and I don't know what to do.
Sorry for the long winded post. Any advice would be much appreciated, just please try to be respectful.
Thanks!!
Comments
First, that sucks man, really sorry it all went awry on the big day.
As far as advice, I would say (1) contact LSAC ASAP to see if there is anything they can do. (2) If it comes down to taking the affected score or canceling, I would honestly and carefully evaluate each section now and try to predict realistically what kind of score you are likely to receive. I know that's tricky, but do your best. If you think that there's minimal chance of getting the score you are capable of, cancel. If you feel like you rallied and have a shot at a decent score (whatever that is for you) consider keeping it. If October brings a bad result, you have an incredibly compelling addendum to attach with your much improved December score. Which brings me to (3), take a few weeks off, breathe, and go run with the bulls or whatever. (4) Jump back into studying for the December test which you are likely going to need to take.
additionally, I wonder if taking the test without accommodation is a possibility worth considering? Obviously I don't know what your limitations are, but it seems to me that the accommodated tests introduce a lot of variability and potential for catastrophes like what you experienced. In my two tests so far, and from the majority of what I've heard on these forums, the testing environment is very regulated, quiet, and distractions are honestly minimal, certainly less than what you've described.
Thank you so much for your feedback!! The extra time is pretty critical for me because of the nature of my challenges. And with that, the small group setting is basically automatic because of the time differences. My doctor just requested it as a formality.
For December, I've signed up for a different location so I'm hoping that helps. I'm kicking myself because if I had just shown up on Saturday, this whole thing could have been avoided since there's essentially no one on campus Saturdays. The score variation is something I was chatting with a friend about today. Like what if I get a 135 or something stupid for Septand then a 160+ (my goal and what I was consistently scoring) in Dec? That would definitely need some explaining haha
I will be calling LSAC tomorrow to discuss my options and to get a feel for their position. Thanks again
And as for calculating my score, I really don't know. I'm really not good at evaluating myself like that. I honestly feel like I may have gotten a -0/-1 or -2 at most for LG which literally NEVER happens. I've never felt more confident about an LG section before. LR is tough to know, especially since I can't for the life of me figure out which of the LRs was my experimental, all the questions are jumbled together. RC was pretty rough for me, but then again I got my first RC -2 in PT 81 when I thought I bombed it.
So it really is a toss up I think.
I'm thinking that perhaps that LR was the experimental, which would complicate your situation even more--in terms of what to do going forward:/
@ProgressNotPerfection Wow, so sorry all that happened! I was going to say I wouldn't cancel because you'll have to get all accommodations forms signed and submitted again but since you've already registered for Dec. you'll have to do that anyway. I would keep the score and submit the addendum, if necessary.
I agree with @tanes256 It seems like you've got at least a chance of receiving a solid score, which would be a shame to throw away after all you've been through. And I truly believe that if you apply with a 135 and a 169 after December, your addendum will effectively erase the 135. Admissions reps understand the lsat, nobody's score fluctuates by 30+ points after 2 months without some extenuating circumstances!
So my worst fear has come true. Grey day has come and went.. with no score posted on my account. I think that this nightmare scenario has translated into a lost test. I've called LSAC and they are apparently "investigating".
This is honestly having such a toll on my health (I have accommodations for a reason), and I'm at a point where I may just walk away from my dream of law school all together. This is too much right now..
Easy for me to say but stay positive and wait this one out. Stay on LSAC with calls and even faxes.
Sorry to hear about what happened.
Namaste
Don't give up! You can do this. Another test will come if this doesn't work out. Law school will always be there for you to tackle.
I just received my score... 158! While that's still under my goal of 160+ (I have a 3.8 GPA), I am pretty proud of myself for being able to achieve that under extreme duress. The most important part of it though, is that I know that my goal is within reach. Thank you all for your ongoing support and encouragement!
December 2017.. let's get it!!
Congrats!! So happy that you received a solid score. Now go crush in December!