The most striking thing about the LSATs, is how important they THINK they are. I received multiple emails reiterating the rules and regulations governing behaviors and procedures on test day. Bookbags and purses were not allowed. You could only bring a clear, plastic, gallon-size Ziploc bag. In it you could have standard non-mechanical pencils, erasers, a highlighter (but no pens), a snack (to be eaten during the break time ONLY), a beverage in a bottle (up to 20oz, and again, only for during the break time), a wallet, keys, an analog (not digital) watch, and any medical or hygiene products you required. Under no circumstances were you allowed to have any cell phones or iPods, digital watches, any watches that had alarms or beeped on the hour, etc. No scraps of paper of any size were acceptable.
When we arrived, we sat around, waiting to be led into the testing area. I had already dropped off my non-essential belongings with a trusted soul at the library and was in possession of my plastic bag items only. A woman came out and reminded us to check the many signs on the walls and be sure not to have any of the prohibited items with us*. We lined up, IDs and test forms in hand, and sloooowwwwwwwwwly filed into the room. They compared our IDs to the name on the test form**, and then told us where to sit, placing us in every other seat. I ended up with an aisle seat, which was awesome. Then a different girl came by to have us give a thumb print and to slice off the top portion of our enrollment form and leave us with a slip of paper (which they strictly reminded us could not be on our desks during the test) confirming that we had been signed up, shown up, etc.
They kept seating people, though, filling up most of the empty seats. One of the explicit rules was that you could not choose where to sit. The tables were wide, so there was no risk of bumping elbows (or uglies, for that matter, although I don't think that was ever much of an issue). They seated a gentleman to the left of me, but he didn't stay there long. After the proctor began speaking and asking if there were any questions to this point, the gentleman raised his hand.
"Yes, you in the back?"
"I have a question, but could you come back here? It isn't necessary for the whole group to hear it."
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"I have a question, but could you or someone come back here?"
The proctor looked to her proctor assistants, trying to make sense of it. Finally one of the assistants headed back. Now, the gentleman kept his voice low, but his problem had to do with the lighting over his particular seat, that it was either too bright or too dark. I was right next to him, and I did a quick survey, finding that the gentleman had not inadvertantly sat in the one seat where light did not penetrate, nor did he have a small micro-sun hovering above him, burning out his retinas and melting the printed word right off of the page. In fact, I couldn't distinguish any differences at all between the light at his seat and at mine. But they moved him to the back and began the test.
Even if I remembered, verbatim, every question on the test, the angry emails of procedural conduct preclude me from discussing them. Basically, there were five sections and a writing sample (each lasting 35 minutes, with a single 15 minute break after section two or three). One of the sections was an unscored experimental section to decide what will be on future tests, and it was easily identified by the fact that it was the easiest section on the test. The writing sample is unscored but is sent along with your test scores to give prospective schools an idea about your ability to write in favor of an argument. I don't really know what to say about it all. It was a lot like the practice tests I had taken. I felt confident and didn't run out of time on any sections. There were some questions that had me stumped, but they were few and far between. Overall, it was a good experience.
I had taken three practice tests in the week leading up to the test, taking one every other day to get into a good flow that would allow me to be comfortable and confident with the situation. The first practice test I took put me in the 95th percentile, with a calculated score of 168***. It left me feeling confident and unconcerned. The next practice test gave me a score of 161, dropping me all the way down to the 80th percentile. I had faltered, run out of time, and basically just done a completely atrocious job of test taking. I felt unprepared, worried, and completely unhinged from the score. The third and final test ranked me a little higher, with a score of 167 placing me in the 92nd percentile, but it was still a far cry from my original practice test.
That said, I have spent the last few weeks worrying about my score, having absolutely no idea where I would fall. But last night I checked my email and found that my score had finally arrived! Tara and I sat next to each other as we opened it up and read:
Dear Dan Awesome,
Your June 2009 LSAT score is 168. The percentile rank is 96.
This is your unofficial score report.
An all-around admirable score! Tara immediately checked out the Yale website, finding that my GPA would put me at the low end of the scale for the profile of the class of 2011, but that my LSAT score puts me around the 25% mark, meaning that an ivy league education, while a long-shot, could still be a possibility. Pitt, however, has a class profile that puts my GPA somewhere between 50 and 75% and my LSAT score over the 75% mark, which makes me feel better about possibly getting a scholarship of some sort. Yay!
* Actually, the woman told us to make sure we didn't have any of the "non-prohibited" items, but I simply assumed it was the first logic question of the test.
** I don't think the woman actually looked at me, but merely at my ID. I feel as though this is a flaw in their system. Maybe she just sort of compares the skin color in the ID picture to the shade of your arm flesh, but if I'm standing right there, you might as well take a gander at my pearly whites and stunning blue eyes that see all the way down to the very depths of your soul, making you shudder in orgasmic delight. On second thought, maybe it's better that she just looked at my arm.
*** The test is out of 101 points, but they then take your score and apply it to some curve that puts it on a scale of 120 to 180. Your final score is somewhere in that range, but they also give you a percentile ranking.
3 comments:
"and as i sat next to my awesome girlfriend and read my lsat scores, i thought 'this is a good score, but you know what is even better? lounge fries.' at which point i closed the computer, got dressed for the first time that day, and we then made our way to the north park deckhouse where i had incredible lounge fries and yummy raspberry sauce. yay!"
In the LSAT people's defense, law schools DO take the tests seriously. It is important for them to have those kinds of standardized rules to ensure that everyone has the same test-taking conditions, and no one is cheating. If they didn't, their reputation would fall, and some other test would come in and take the business away from them. It is as it is.
However, the fellow next to you with the lighting issues? He was definitely taking himself and the test way too seriously. I doubt he'll last through law school.
Congratulations, though!
Generally when law schools offer you a scholarship they put all the people who get scholarships into the same section and have them compete against each other so that their grades drop and they don't have to give them scholarship money the next year.
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