EXTREME URGENCY !!!!OCT 5, 2002 LSAT

[[name removed]]

Dear members of this discussion room, I seek assistance from you on a very urgent matter to me and possibly to you as well. I studied hard for a test, its called The Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Previously, I took it twice before October 5, 2002. On the December 2001 test I scored a 137 due to lack of studying. On the June 2002, I scored a 134 due to unstructed manner of studying the material. After that I hired a private tutor, and I put my heart and soul into it. I studied for 3 straight month. I did tons of problems and many actual LSAT practice tests, and on all of them my score was generally in the area of 150-155. On my worst day taking the practice test, I scored a 148.I have just found out my score and I don't believe it is the correct score.They are saying that I recieved a 137 after all the intense hard work and effort that I put into the LSAT; frankly I believe in my heart that the score is incorrect. I found out my score through an automated telephone service. I am pleading with you, if you or someone you know that has taken this test on October 5, 2002, to please contact me via email my email address is [address removed].This is no joke or anything even resembling it. I have thought about this during the past few hours and I have come to the only logical conclusion that I can come up with at this time until further evidence. My conclusion is that they made a mistake on my score, but even more importantly they might have made the same mistake on other people's score who also took the test in the United States and it is their second or third time taking it. I took the test at Santa Clara, CA University School of Law, the very same school that I soo desperately want to attend in the fall of 2003 with the grace and compassion of God. Please, if you have any information, suggestions, or advice regarding this urgent situation, please contact me via email. You help is extremely appreciate in the utmost manner.

[name removed] (Future U.S member of Congress)

[tara michelle]

[name removed], you can ask them to handscore the test if you really think that they mis-graded it. I took it on Oct. 5th my second time but I don't really have reason to believe it was mis-scored. I am sorry, but I do know that they will handscore it upon request and that will clear up any discrepency. Best of luck to you and I hope everything works out...
Tara

[Anonymous J]

They'll send you all kinds of information about the test: question by question grade, the test book, your answer sheet (so you can look for scantron errors) etc.  That should be all the evidence you'll need to see if there was an error.  It's more likely that the phone reporting system was messed up than that your test was misgraded.  Good luck.

[Montcalm]

The LSAT is an aptitude test that combined with undergad GPA is an indicator [although not surefire] of how an applicant will do in first year law school.  It is not an intelligence test, nor is it really a test you can study for [unlike an actual subject].  

Studying and prep helps you understand how to take the test better, how to recognize question types and how to structure your time.  

A low score due to poor studying or illness [or other extenuating circumstances] may suggest that a re-write would be in order.  Given that you wrote the test multiple times, all with low scores, you may want to accept that law school may not be the best option for you.  If your aptitude as measured by the LSAT is so consistently low, you may find that law school itself would be a real struggle for you.  

[lp4law]

The important thing is to get into at least a state-accredited law school and start kicking ass.  No one can keep you from becoming a great lawyer, even if you don't get into an "upper tier" law school.  It really comes down to how agressively you absorb and apply the material presented in class.  Additionally, the LSAT and your GPA do not measure one of the most critical elements of good lawyering: your ability to understand what motivates people and your effectiveness in VERBALLY communicating the merits of your case.

In my situation, my outlier is my undergrad GPA.  I have a 2.6 to deal with (from 6 years ago).  Everything else in my application is rock solid.  But instead of waiting on pins and needles to hear from the ABA schools I've just applied to, I've already started at a local California Bar Accredited law school.  I have to say I've been very impressed with the quality of instruction, and the benefits of sharing a classroom with people who bring decades of life and work experience to the table.  If I happen to hear good news from one of the ABA schools that I've applied to, wonderful.  If not, I'll just become a great lawyer from the school I'm at now.

So, don't freak out about your LSAT.  You'll have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself down the road, regardless of which path you take.

lp

[bobby bob]

The important thing is to get into at least a state-accredited law school and start kicking ass.  No one can keep you from becoming a great lawyer, even if you don't get into an "upper tier" law school.  It really comes down to how agressively you absorb and apply the material presented in class.  Additionally, the LSAT and your GPA do not measure one of the most critical elements of good lawyering: your ability to understand what motivates people and your effectiveness in VERBALLY communicating the merits of your case.I like eggs i like jam i like jam on eggs.

In my situation, my outlier is my undergrad GPA.  I have a 2.6 to deal with (from 6 years ago).  Everything else in my application is rock solid.  But instead of waiting on pins and needles to hear from the ABA schools I've just applied to, I've already started at a local California Bar Accredited law school.  I have to say I've been very impressed with the quality of instruction, and the benefits of sharing a classroom with people who bring decades of life and work experience to the table.  If I happen to hear good news from one of the ABA schools that I've applied to, wonderful.  If not, I'll just become a great lawyer from the school I'm at now.

So, don't freak out about your LSAT.  You'll have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself down the road, regardless of which path you take.

lp

[Q]

[name removed] (Future U.S member of Congress)

"Future U.S. member of Congress"? As opposed to future Chinese or Canadian member of Congress?

[Ivy_Hopeful]

There are many solutions to your problem, but I am afraid that blaming the administartors or scantron or even telscore is not the best way to go about it, handscore, and asking for verifiable information like the test book, scratch paper, score analysis breakdown or all of the above should straighten out the matter. You must also keep in mind that if you don't take real LSAT's your wasting your time and energy becasue simulations do not help nearly as well as ACTUAL LSAT's. Note: Also that your raw score is first converted to a composite scaled score.  But then after this occurs LSAC goes one step further to ensure performance accuracy and issues a Score Band this shows a scaled score of approximately 3 to 4 points above what you got and 3 to 4 points below making your band a little more impressive then what you received (you got a 137 but your score band is about 141-133 scaled).  Hopefully you can get to the bottom of this and go to law school either way best wishes -- Ivy

[LSAC_BURN_IN_HELL]

I have to agree with lp4law on this one.

As Montcalm said, "If your aptitude as measured by the LSAT is so consistently low, you may find that law school itself would be a real struggle for you."

It's funny.... When I did bad on the SAT, I heard the same damn thing. However, I got into the school of my choice and I kicked some major ass.

Now I stand before you with a 140 on the LSAT. To those people who believe that getting a low grade on the LSAT is an indicator that law school might be hard or might be impossible for me, BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS!!!!

The LSAT is the biggest bull of all time. I am going to get into law school. I am going to transfer to a damn good school. I am going to kick ass in law school and upon graduation, I might just SUE THE *&^% out of LSAC for being such monopolistic bull.

Touchy subject... I never do well on standardized test but again... we'll see how LSAC feels about my aptitude to study law when I graduate and sue their ass into the ground.

[Ivy_Hopeful]

Right.... Are we grown up yet or what?