Cell Phones Not Allowed At The LSAT

Just a reminder that LSAC does not permit cell phones at the test center.

The rules require that you leave them at home.

Take another look at the LSAT test day tips for more on what you can and can't bring.

I'm just guessing here, but I think the cell phone ban might stem from a 12-year-old LSAT cheating scandal - back when people actually used pagers:

The Law School Admission Council, the official administrator of the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, became intimately aware of the threat in 1997, when a University of Southern California test taker ran out of the exam room with his test book. A proctor chased him, but couldn't stop him from hopping into a getaway car.

Hours later, the thief sent the LSAT answers to two test takers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa -- where the test was just commencing -- via electronic pager. The proctor became suspicious when she noticed the test takers frequently looking at their pagers. She let them finish their exams, then contacted the LSAC, which turned the case over to the Los Angeles Police Department.

All three students were prosecuted in California Superior Court on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery. They were sentenced to a year in jail each and forced to pay $97,000 in restitution to the LSAC.

The LSAC retains experts in electronic surveillance equipment from Securitas Security Services USA Inc. to provide staff to administer tests, carry out security investigations and alert testing companies of the latest cheating gadgetry and trends.

But, for now, it doesn't use electronic detection devices. Jim Vaseleck, executive assistant to the president of the LSAC, notes that astute proctors, not gadgets, foiled the USC plot.

"We instruct test takers and train proctors that folks are not allowed to bring electronic devices into testing centers," he says.

Plus, he believes that low-tech cheating schemes, which can be combated only with astute proctors, remain a bigger problem. He notes incidents where test takers carved exam answers into No. 2 pencils, selling them on the black market for close to $1,000, or lined up different-colored M&Ms on a desk to correspond to answers of multiple- choice questions. "Electronic devices present more of a nuisance than a security problem," Mr. Vaseleck says.

(article from Wisconsin School of Journalism's website - link down- http://www.journalism.wisc.edu/crediteducation/WSJ%20art.htm):

I hope that LSAC learned its lesson and hires more physically-fit proctors these days.

Either way, the bottom line: don't try to cheat on the LSAT.

Photo by ewige