Test Accommodations Good News/Questions

[BYUgrad06]

yeah ADHD is definitely not a diversity factor and if you are a BYU grad then you are most likely white and from a middle to upper middle class family which means you have absolutely no diversity

I'm from a low middle class family, thank you.

[BYUgrad06]

yeah ADHD is definitely not a diversity factor and if you are a BYU grad then you are most likely white and from a middle to upper middle class family which means you have absolutely no diversity

I'm from a low middle class family, thank you.

yeah well all that matters is that you're white...

I white but please explain.

[walkaway]

He's just making false assumptions about people with white skin.


mainly that white=you have money

[Lindbergh]

ADHD is a chemical imbalance in the brain. the other limitations you listed are not. those with ADHD may in fact have a superlative IQ, and often do. With medication or accommodation, as seen fit, they can function as well or close to as well as someone with no limitations.

If this is the case, then they shouldn't need extra time though, right?

[Majmun]

ADHD is a chemical imbalance in the brain. the other limitations you listed are not. those with ADHD may in fact have a superlative IQ, and often do. With medication or accommodation, as seen fit, they can function as well or close to as well as someone with no limitations.

If this is the case, then they shouldn't need extra time though, right?

IIRC you can get time accomodated for other reasons.  For example you have no thumbs so bubbling is a mofo.

[Majmun]

ok well should I use them or not. I can bring my score up 7-9 points by studying with distractions. I can bring my score up 14-17 points by getting accommodations.

If that is your true spread, I'd probably go accommodated.

[Majmun]

my problem is this statement on the lsac.org site

Candidates who seek additional test time on scored sections of the test should pay particular attention to the following:

If you receive additional test time as an accommodation for your disability, LSAC will send a statement with your LSDAS Law School Reports advising that your score(s) should be interpreted with great sensitivity and flexibility.


Scores earned with additional test time are reported individually and will not be averaged with standard-time scores or other nonstandard-time scores.


Percentile ranks of nonstandard-time scores are not available and will not be reported.


All information related to your request for accommodations will remain confidential unless you authorize its release. If you want this information to be sent with your law school reports, you must complete and submit the Authorization to Release Information Form included in the Accommodations Request Packet.

Yep...basically you have to decide how many points the * is worth.  5, 10, 20?   Ivey seems to think that if you can do much much better accommodated then you should.  Personally I'm not so certain.

I could have gone accommodated but chose not to and my score was everything I hoped for.  Had it not been, I would have busted ass to do better.  But if your spread is as dramatic as you seem to think it is, You must at least entertain the Idea.  Unfortunately for you, you already took it once unaccommodated and they are going to see that.  It's a  tough one.  Sorry I'm not more helpful, but it's anyone's guess what adcoms will think of your app with one of each type of LSAT score.

[chucky]

ask bernie about the results of her untimed 180 challenge. it's a myth that extra time will allow a sweep of the test for anyone.

i have severe adhd and have taken tests timed and untimed, with and without meds, and i can assure you that there is not an appreciable difference in score. i am not getting an advantage (I'm *not* taking it accommodated, just for the record).

look, this is all a part of the "someone is unfairly taking my spot at law school" hysteria. trust me, you aren't competing against heavily advantaged adhd kids. the ones you should be worried about are the "normal" kids using adderall. they are getting an unfair advantage. and most likely displacing you or someone like you in the law school game.

Where can I find Bernie's untimed 180 challenge...(both where it is and what the results of it were).

[Barnum]

The 180 challange was given to our students.  What we gave them was 1 complete LSAT that they had not been exposed to previously and asked them to take as long as they needed to work out each question.  If they weren't sure, they should put that question aside and come back to it later.  Most students worked on it a little each day for between 1-2 weeks.

We call it the 180 challange for all the people who presume time is their biggest enemy.  We basically ask them to prove it by taking a test completely untimed and tell them to try to get a 180 then.

The test is due back to us at the time they take their second diagnostic exam, so that we can compare their untimed results with their timed results.  Although people obviously do better given all the time in the world, the results of their untimed vs. their timed had an extremely high correlation.  This means that although they scored better without time constraints they did so relative to everybody else. 

As a general rule of thumb, the number of questions missed timed was double that untimed.  This means that if you are shooting for a 160 timed (about 30 wrong), you need to be able to take an untimed test and miss only 15.

[SergioCQH]

ADHD is a bull disorder.