LSAT test-takers unhappy

When senior Erin Borg arrived at 8 a.m. Oct. 7 to take her Law School Admission Test at the Kelley School of Business, she said she thought there might be a problem.\nOf the 150 or so test-takers, students in at least two of the 10 rooms used for the test had similar worries.\nIn their testing rooms, a noise vibrated in the floor and the walls. Borg said it was intermittent, stopping in short spurts, on and off. But it was distracting.\n"It was early in the morning, so it took me a while to figure out what the noise was," said senior Stephanie Akin, who also took the test. "I finally realized it was a jackhammer."\nIt turns out construction workers were also up early -- and working across the street.\nThe noise and vibrations were from the machinery excavating rock to make way for the new business building.\n"The jackhammering reverberated in the entire room," Borg said.\nAnd the proctors knew it would be a problem, she said. Before the test, the proctor said the conditions would be reported to the Law School Admission Council, the organization that administers the LSAT, Borg said. But there was nothing that could be done that day.\nThe LSAT is a standardized test required for admission to 197 member law schools of the Law School Admission Council. The test is given four times a year at locations around the world.\nThe test has problems on comprehension and analytical thinking, said Kevin Robling, assistant dean of admissions for IU law school.\n"I think (distractions like the noise) could have a huge impact on someone's ability to adequately take the test," he said.\nSome proctors provided ear plugs for students who wanted them, said Ed Haggerty, Law School Admission Council media relations specialist.\nBut ear plugs are listed as prohibited in the Law School Admission Council test information book.\nAfter the test, under normal circumstances, a complaint about a testing site would have to be mailed to Law School Admission Council within six business days, Haggerty said.\nIn this case, all affected students (those in rooms 421 and 103) were given three options: keep the score, cancel the score and retake the test for free, or keep the score and have a letter explaining the adverse testing conditions sent with their scores to law schools.\nPre-law adviser Mac Francis said most students are choosing the third option, in part because the experience of the nearly five hour test is so unpleasant, he said.\n"It's very difficult to improve (on this test) if you've prepared for it," Francis said.\nStudents, however, wonder whether law school admissions will consider a letter describing adverse conditions.\nMost schools would give a letter some consideration, Robling said. \nBut he said he's never received such a letter, and there are exceptions.\n"Some schools won't take (testing conditions) into consideration," Robling said. "When (a law school) turns those numbers into the American Bar Association, those are their numbers."\nAkin said she's worried that taking the test in December will delay her admission to an out-of-state law school.\n"They place a tremendous amount of importance on that score," Akin said. "It could actually affect the schools I get into, since I'm applying so much later, not to mention the (December LSAT) is two weeks before finals."\nRobling said few schools consider applications before January. He said that, at IU at least, taking the test in December would not set a student back with admissions.\nBorg was also dubious about options after the test. But she will keep her current score, she said.\nAkin said she will likely take the test again.\n"I'm not really sure who to be upset at, but it's incredibly frustrating," she said.\nRobling said someone should have made sure there were no distractions at the site.\n"I would think someone from LSAC (Law School Admission Council) should have the responsibility to check the facility to make sure its adequate for the task at hand," Robling said "If they didn't, I would think someone should."\nThat responsibility falls on the University, Haggerty said.\n"The LSAT depends on the university to choose an appropriate location for the test," he said. "Another location would have likely been found if they had known in advance about the construction and the noise."\nThe responsibility for setting up testing like the LSAT on campus falls to the Bureau of Evaluative Studies and Testing, part of Instructional Support Services.\nBy the time they knew about the noise, it was too late to move the test, said Edith Richardson, a psychometrist evaluation specialist with the bureau.\n"When we scheduled the business school, we were not aware (the construction workers) worked on Saturdays as well," she said.\nEven if she had known in advance, there are few options for other testing locations, Richardson said.\n"We are unable to secure other buildings on campus that would be suitable for testing on Saturdays," she said. \nThe Education Building, Jordan Hall and Ballantine Hall aren't adequate, she said.\nAkin might take the test in Indianapolis the next time around, she said. She hopes to avoid repeating the first ordeal.\n"There is an organization that deals directly with assessing the needs for these tests, and the both fortunate and unfortunate thing about this is that there's new construction going on adjacent to the only building this organization deems available for the test," said Sue Dillman, IU director of media relations.