Proctoring Issues Plague Thousands of LSAT Test Takers

The Law School Admission Council’s new proctoring service caused problems for thousands of remote LSAT test takers last Friday and Saturday.

Inside Higher Ed reports that roughly 8,000 students were registered to take the August administration of the LSAT online. As of Sunday, LSAC officials are still unclear exactly how many were affected by the proctoring issues.

“But we deeply, deeply regret and apologize for any test taker who was affected by the problems over the last two days,” Mark Murray, public affairs liaison for the Law School Admission Council, says. “It doesn’t matter whether the problems started with us or our proctoring vendor; it’s our responsibility to deliver the test in a way that lets every student do their best work, and for far, far, far too many people, that did not happen this weekend.”

HOUR-LONG WAITS FOR ONLINE PROCTORS TO SHOW UP

According to Inside Higher Ed, some test takers waited hours for online proctors to show up. Others were placed on long holds when reaching out to Prometric, the proctoring company.

August’s exam was the first time Prometric administered the LSAT since the LSAC’s decision to switch from its previous proctoring company, ProctorU (now known as Meazure Learning). LSAC decided to use Prometric as they believed the company was better positioned to oversee both in-person and online testing.

Problems began to arise early Friday and got worse as more and more test takers started their tests throughout the day continuing into Saturday.

“Test time was 10:30, currently 1:15. At first I couldn’t get past the screen that said ‘A Proctor will be with you shortly,’ but after a hour or so it started bypassing that screen and connecting me with a proctor. But it wasn’t a proctor. It was me. They put me on a video call with myself,” a test taker commented on the r/LSAT thread on Reddit.

“I truly cannot get past this weekend. I cannot focus on anything other than what should have been. I am devastated. My anxiety is driving up the wall. I scored a 174 on a previous PT. I was so ready, I logged in a substantial amount of time early and was excited to get started. This exam was my only opportunity to do my absolute best before the upcoming admissions cycle,” another test taker said.

LSAC APOLOGIZES AND OFFERS OPTIONS  

According to Murray, LSAC is working with Prometric to correct the proctoring issues.

LSAC is taking several steps to “make it right for every August test taker,” whether they successfully completed the test or not, Murray says.

Additionally, any student who feels their “performance was affected” will have the option of filling out a complaint form and can choose to either retake the test on the new August 19 or 20 administrations (either remotely or in-person), switch to a different test date in the 2023-24 testing year, or keep their current score.

The LSAC is “focused on making sure that nothing like this can ever happen in the future,” Murray says. “We take this very seriously. We know how important this test is to students, how hard they prepare for it, how much time and effort and blood, sweat and tears they put into it, and we’re committed to making it right.”

Sources: Inside Higher Ed, Reddit

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