What I wish I knew as a 1L Forum

[PennWonder5]

Other than studying hard and knowing the material, one difficult aspect is the timed aspect of the tests (depending on the professor).

I wish I knew this before, but law schools are required to give accommodations to students for a myriad of reasons. I had originally thought that the students were split into more than one classroom for the test (as we have to sit one desk apart). But then I learned that students with accommodations were taking their tests elsewhere.

I already knew I had undiagnosed ADD, so I went to a psychiatrist and made it official. I know other students who are on the autism spectrum. Almost everyone qualifies for this, as you can be labeled on the autism spectrum just for not being able to make friends easily or finding it hard to talk to people, or many other reasons. You can also get accommodations for having one limb longer than another.

I'm not saying to lie to get an accommodation. I'm saying that almost everyone qualifies for one. It's interesting that statistically more wealthy students/students at more wealthy universities get accommodations at much higher rates than others.

What do these accommodations do? Generally, at the least, they give you additional time. If a standard test has a 3 hour limit, you get to take it in a quieter room and are give 4 or 5 hours. Some accommodations give you much more, like a sheet of paper with notes on a closed-book exam (especially if you have dyslexia).

The best part? It's a sealed record. No one, including future employers know that you had accommodations for your grades.

[nixy]

The idea that everyone qualifies for an accommodation is bullshit. The idea that almost everyone can get a diagnosis of autism is especially bullshit and entirely unfair to people who actually do have autism. No, you don’t get an autism diagnosis just for “not making friends easily.” Nor does an autism diagnosis mean you will automatically get extra time in a quieter room (if your issue is “not making friends easily” why on earth does that translate to needing more time on an exam?).

This is a stupid and ill-informed post. If someone does require accommodations that’s one thing. Looking for a reason to get them is another.

(I can absolutely believe there’s a correlation between wealth and accommodations. In part this is going to reflect the additional resources - wealthier families/institutions provide more opportunities for diagnosis. In part, yes, some wealthy families probably pay to find ways to give their kids an edge. But that’s not a good basis to manufacture a need for an accommodation, which is clearly what this post is suggesting, even though the OP - who has a legit basis for accommodations - tries to deny it.)

[crazywafflez]

I'll be as blunt with you as I can.

I had accommodations, which I needed. All the accommodation folks were put into a room together- regardless of the reason or type of disability - it was loud, folks were moving around, in and out of the room. Yes, I received an additional 30-60 minutes depending on the exam. Do I think that helped me? Somewhat, yes. Do I think it helped me pull one over on other folks? No, lol my dumbass needed it just to survive.

Are there folks who abuse it? Sure. There are. The vast majority of us needed it though. Additionally, as I recall out of my class of 150ish, about 20 had accommodations in total. It's not like half the class was pretending they had something and taking the exam with us. I also didn't see closed book exams become open book ones or anything like that. The vast, vast majority got between 25-100% extra time (most being at the 25-50% extra time part).

I actually would not have needed extra time had the school allowed me to do something, xxxx; but the school analyzed that xxxx would cause issues, thus, I was granted some extra time.

Law schools, and the Bar, do analyze this stuff and generally require a lot of documentation of a disability- not just a doctor's note- to grant accommodations. It was a pain in the ass and I had hundreds upon hundreds of pages of documentation going well over a decade.

Again, I'm sure there are a select few who abuse the system, but most don't, I promise.