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Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:09 am
by Knock
Pretty funny story, I got this from the LSAT blog.
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.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:23 am
by MrKappus
I'm trying to figure out how somebody would explain the meticulously arranged four rows of ~25 M&Ms.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:25 am
by Knock
MrKappus wrote:I'm trying to figure out how somebody would explain the meticulously arranged four rows of ~25 M&Ms.
Probably just did it on a question by question basis. IE: each color represents a different letter; one person moves that color m&m to a pre-determined location on the desk, and if his friend/co-conspirator was lucky enough to be in the proximity, he/she can just bubble or circle answers in their test booklet as they go along.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:27 am
by MrKappus
Hahaha that makes...a lot more sense. Clearly I'm not an outside-the-box thinker.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:27 am
by kalvano
Knockglock, I would do the girl in your avatar for a 180. It would be difficult, and a huge sacrifice, but I think I could muster the courage.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:29 am
by DC_Sportsfan21
no, chance I would do something like that too risky

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:30 am
by Knock
kalvano wrote:Knockglock, I would do the girl in your avatar for a 180. It would be difficult, and a huge sacrifice, but I think I could muster the courage.
Pfft. Me first, get to the back of the line! :mrgreen:

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:31 am
by Knock
MrKappus wrote:Hahaha that makes...a lot more sense. Clearly I'm not an outside-the-box thinker.
It's okay. I came up with similar and other brilliant schemes in high school lol.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:36 am
by quickquestionthanks
I'm just shocked they had such a shitty plan.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 1:52 am
by A'nold
The pager thing was dumb. Way too obvious.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 2:18 am
by jjlaw
It would be cheaper just to study the old-fashioned way.

Re: Would you go this far for a 180?

Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 2:30 am
by AngryAvocado
A'nold wrote:The pager thing was dumb. Way too obvious.
Ya, but it probably wasn't as obvious as it sounds. You could assign A-F to 1-5 then send ~11 or so answers at a time as your return number. Would only need to look 2-3 times a section, which could be pulled off. I love how they were in Hawaii, though...I hope they flew there just for that.