Fire alarm went off during LSAT

[rohan]

 

 

I guess this ought to be posted in "Horror Stories" but it doesn't seem like there is much activity over there.

The fire alarm went off in the building during section 4. At first, the proctor suggested that we just do our best to work through it. Work through it?? It with annoying flashing lights and a deafening alarm that is supposed to be so distracting you can't work?! Ha! By the time they stopped the section, we had about two minutes left on the clock. Sigh. Everyone evacuated and we stood outside for about 15 minutes in 30ish degree weather. The fire department showed up, and then we rambled back in for the last two minutes of section 4, section 5 and the writing sample.

It's so laughable, I'm having a hard time crying.

[authority11]

What is standard protocol if a fire alarm goes off?  That's insane if it's "don't worry guys, just keep going!".

[lalalagirl007]

omg, you are kidding!!!!! Work through it?!?! WTF?! Was she JOKING?!? Did you guys get extra time?? PLEASE TELL ME YOU GOT EXTRA TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MHLM]

Wow, dude, that is a real LSAT nightmare. What are you going to do?

[Solid_Rock]

File a complaint to LSAC and they will take care of it

[MHLM]

File a complaint to LSAC and they will take care of it

Yea but still the best outcome is that s/he'll have to retake in Feb. That pretty much screws you for this cycle...I feel really badly for the OP.

[rohan]

I wish that I were kidding.

I'm not sure what I am going to do about this cycle. This is my first LSAT; I am applying mostly to Tier 1 mid- and lower- end and have been scoring in the 160's. I probably scored in the mid 150's; I'm an older applicant/non-trad, so I'm also not in a huge rush, but would like to start in this fall and not next. There were a lot of folks retaking from Sept., or June and earlier exams and they were really banking on this one to be great. Can you imagine if this were the third time you were taking it? Oy!

Not too much time passed between the alarm going off and the proctor calling it quits. Maybe a minute at the most (know how a minute can feel v. v. loooong??) But, we were definitely worried that the rest of the test was going to be under these conditions and completely lost focus. I know that they are reporting it to LSAC, but I am going to file my complaint/issue/whatever it's called with them as well.

In the meantime, my plan is to drink wine. Lots of wine. 

oh, and aside from the two minutes that were added back on so that we could complete section 4, no... we did not get extra time.

[ladivina]

I was also there in that building today, perhaps in your same room because we also had a couple minutes left on section 4.  Frankly, I was appalled at the way it was handled.  As we were standing outside in the cold for what was actually more like 30 minutes everyone was talking about the test.  This maybe was not a big advantage for us who had only 2 minutes on that section when we came back in, but my friend in another room had 15 minutes left in the section, which is plenty of time to change you answers after discussing with other test takers.  Up until that point, I was feeling great about how I was doing, but I was so frazzled when we came back in that I lost focus, making an already hard RC section absolute hell.  This was a retake for me, I have some applications in, but wanted to improve on my score.  I intend on giving LSAC an earfull on Monday. 

My questions for you all are these: Is there any actual recourse in these types of situations?  Would LSAC EVER allow someone to see their score before deciding to cancel?  Will law schools even care if you write an addendum explaining why you canceled a score under these circumstances?

To the OP: If we were in the same room, the fire alarm was not the only problem.  That proctor kept making a racket and actually went up to people in the middle of the test and made them get out their ID (not me) even though she hadn't told us to keep it out in the first place (I knew because it wasn't my first time . Ridiculous.  I am so mad and afraid that nothing will be resolved properly.

[authority11]

I'm shocked it doesn't happen more often to be honest.

[rohan]

To the OP: If we were in the same room, the fire alarm was not the only problem.  That proctor kept making a racket and actually went up to people in the middle of the test and made them get out their ID (not me) even though she hadn't told us to keep it out in the first place (I knew because it wasn't my first time . Ridiculous.  I am so mad and afraid that nothing will be resolved properly.

Oh, I think we might have been in the same room. Brazil? Orange hat? She was the worst! But since I have nothing to compare this experience with, it didn't occur to me until now that these irregularities are all that egregious. I spoke with my DH about all of it this morning (I told him about the fire alarm yesterday, but not the proctor stuff) and he was pretty appalled. For all of the restrictions they place on us for the exam, it's amazing that a proctor thinks nothing of interrupting students to see ID's once the test has begun, ripping open writing sample packets (grab a few pieces of paper, crinkle them up and imagine you're doing this in the middle of a silent room of test takers), scooting mail bins across desks, and heaving them onto other desks with a loud thud -- all of which occured during timed sections.

I was too stunned yesterday to be po'd, but now, I'm getting there. Also, I spent $100 yesterday on a sitter for our son (DH was taking another exam), plus in addition to testing materials, I have spent close to $500 sitter costs just to study and take practice tests for the December exam. What a waste! And now, I might have to do it all over again.

I almost forgot -- Just to further drive the point that our proctors were pretty unaware. During the time it takes to bubble in all of your personal data, the guy infront of me was apparently not too strong in his active listening skills. He opened the booklet to section 1, and left it open for about 10 minutes, would occasionally read it, go back to bubbling his bio-data, flip ahead to section 2. One of the proctors finally closed the booklet when she came by his desk to help him with something.