Law Schools

Oof! The Latest LSAT Administration Was A Nightmare

It was the Fyre Festival of standardized testing.

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The LSAT is a pretty big deal, assuming, of course, that you are interested in going to law school. Sure, there are other factors that go into a law school’s decision to accept a particular student, but admission is largely dependent on the test scores. So, it’s a pretty big deal when thing start going wrong during the test.

Fresh off the news that LSAC, the organization that administers the LSAT, had to cancel scheduled tests at 30 locations in advance of Monday’s administration of the LSAT, it turns out even more students’ test day was a disaster. Above the Law tipsters referred to it as the Fyre Festival of standardized testing. Yikes.

So what exactly went wrong? Basically, everything. As Dave Killoran, CEO of PowerScore, tweeted, LSAT test centers across the country experienced issues. In some places, proctors didn’t show up, others had router issues, and still other centers were short on the number of tablets (which is how the digital exam is administered), leading in some locations to a delay of the exam and outright cancellation in others.

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I spoke with Jay Thomas, Executive Director of Admissions Programs for Kaplan Test Prep, about the snafu and he thinks it is part of the LSAC’s “growing pains” as they move the traditional law school into the 21st century with all-digital administrations of the exam. He also noted there was “staggering” demand for the November administration of the LSAT. Thomas points to the transition to the digital LSAT as part of the reason for that demand. You may recall in the lead up to the all-digital version of the LSAT, the administration of the LSAT was done half digitally and half on paper. Due to the unique status of that administration, LSAC offered a one-time deal that let students cancel their scores and re-take the exam, hence, the off-the-chart demand for the November test date. Thomas is hopeful these kinks will be ironed out by the next administration.

When reached for comment, Kellye Testy, president and CEO of LSAC, provided the following, apologizing to those affected and offering some make-up options:

While most candidates had a smooth test day, we had significant staffing and equipment delivery issues that caused excessive delays at several test centers and prevented candidates from taking the exam at others.

This is completely unacceptable, and we are deeply sorry for the problems our test takers experienced. We are going to do whatever is necessary to fix the situation, so our candidates get the smooth and positive test-day experience they deserve.

Our first concern is for the affected test takers. We are reaching out directly to each of them to extend our sincere apologies and to offer them an expedited make-up test or other options, whatever is best given their individual needs. They will also receive four free law school reports, in recognition of the problems and inconvenience they experienced.

Our staff have moved quickly to nail down make-up test administrations on December 8 at a number of key locations in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. This will be a nondisclosed, paper-format test, given how quickly we need to administer it. There is no additional cost for this make-up test, and scores will be released as originally scheduled on December 19. We will be communicating these make-up test locations to candidates as they are finalized, and we will continue to be in direct contact with candidates to ensure their needs are being met.

We have never experienced the level of staffing and equipment-delivery issues that we saw this month. These vast majority of these issues are not related to the digital test. They are issues we will fix through better communication and tracking, and operational improvements.

Again, we want to express our deepest apology to the candidates who were affected by the problems at our test centers. Any affected test takers who have questions or concerns should contact our candidate services team directly at LSACinfo@LSAC.org or 215.968.1001.

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The fact remains it sucked for those affected. Hopefully, they’re able to regroup from the snafu and get the LSAT score they’re hoping for.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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