Has anyone ever challenged a LSAT question? Forum

[mexinstdls]

Has anyone ever been successful in challenging an LSAT question/credited response after the scores have been announced? I've noticed on some PT's that questions have been removed. What is the procedure? Could it be a way to increase your score, after the fact, without having to retake?

[Claudius]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I can tell you that the question that was removed on the June 2010 test was removed prior to the scores being released. I don't think anyone has figured out (or even remembers) the content of the question removed.

There was also a letter writing campaign of sorts regarding another question on the June test and it was not removed.

[YCrevolution]

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[amorfati]

I would think it has something to do with how many people get it wrong. If a really ridiculous number of people miss a question (or perhaps choose a specific wrong answer), then they could perhaps determine that the question was too unreasonably difficult/unfair...

[mexinstdls]

This sounds reasonable. Thanks for the insight.

[Pleasye]

Has anyone ever been successful in challenging an LSAT question/credited response after the scores have been announced? I've noticed on some PT's that questions have been removed. What is the procedure? Could it be a way to increase your score, after the fact, without having to retake?

As YCRev said, LSAC removes the questions because of what they think, not what we think. Also, to the bolded: one question would either result in no change in your score or 1 point change in your score, which generally is not what people are hoping for in a retake.

[oshberg28]

Good question - don't have an answer. My cousin got an ACT answer changed though to give him a perfect score on the math section.

[3ThrowAway99]

I challenged a RC question last December. The q wasn't overturned though. LSAC wrote a very detailed reply which I thought was cool. They have a particular email address for challenges. After further review and consideration I did come to see why the credited response was the best answer. I think my challenge related more to the question itself than to which answer was right, but honestly I don't even remember what exactly the topic of the passage was or exactly what I tried to argue.

[Pleasye]

I challenged a RC question last December. The q wasn't overturned though. LSAC wrote a very detailed reply which I thought was cool. They have a particular email address for challenges. After further review and consideration I did come to see why the credited response was the best answer. I think my challenge related more to the question itself than to which answer was right, but honestly I don't even remember what exactly the topic of the passage was or exactly what I tried to argue.

That's really interesting. Do you challenge before scores are out?

[Ragged]

Yes, I challenged a game from June 2010. After the scores came out I got an email I got an email notifying me that my contention was noted but was not found no hold water, in so many words.

I knew it was a lost cause but gave it a go out of bitterness and just for the hell of it.

[3ThrowAway99]

That's really interesting. Do you challenge before scores are out?

I challenged after getting the score report. I don't know how you would do it before having the material to review (which comes with the score if I remember correctly), unless you have a great memory or are otherwise crystal clear on the q you want to challenge and why.

[DamnLSAT]

IMO, I think challenging a question on the LSAT makes you look bad. I know several people who have tried to challenge a particular question (a game from june2010 was a favorite), and every single one of them has failed. Even if you have a legit concern on the question, you are going up against lawyers who represent law school admissions. Good luck with that. Secondly, even if you somehow won, how does that look to a law school? Are you gonna sue the school every time you get a question wrong on a final exam?

This is an example of drawing attention to yourself in bad way.

[Ragged]

IMO, I think challenging a question on the LSAT makes you look bad. I know several people who have tried to challenge a particular question (a game from june2010 was a favorite), and every single one of them has failed. Even if you have a legit concern on the question, you are going up against lawyers who represent law school admissions. Good luck with that. Secondly, even if you somehow won, how does that look to a law school? Are you gonna sue the school every time you get a question wrong on a final exam?

This is an example of drawing attention to yourself in bad way.

[Pleasye]

Secondly, even if you somehow won, how does that look to a law school? Are you gonna sue the school every time you get a question wrong on a final exam?

This is an example of drawing attention to yourself in bad way.

I don't think law schools can even see that you challenged a question.

[DamnLSAT]

Maybe/maybe not - but my point is that the idea of suing over a single question is futile at best, damaging at worst.

[Pleasye]

Maybe/maybe not - but my point is that the idea of suing over a single question is futile at best, damaging at worst.

You're not suing them. You're asking them to remove a question from scoring. Totally different.

[Ragged]

Maybe/maybe not - but my point is that the idea of suing over a single question is futile at best, damaging at worst.

If everyone thought like you, nothing would ever get done.

[delusional]

Maybe/maybe not - but my point is that the idea of suing over a single question is futile at best, damaging at worst.

If everyone thought like you, nothing would ever get done.

Very little, in fact, ever gets done.

[Ragged]

Maybe/maybe not - but my point is that the idea of suing over a single question is futile at best, damaging at worst.

If everyone thought like you, nothing would ever get done.

Very little, in fact, ever gets done.

Touche, touche.

[TLSanders]

Even if you have a legit concern on the question, you are going up against lawyers who represent law school admissions. Good luck with that. Secondly, even if you somehow won, how does that look to a law school? Are you gonna sue the school every time you get a question wrong on a final exam?

This is an example of drawing attention to yourself in bad way.

Going up against lawyers who represent law school admissions? That seems to assume that the testmakers are more concerned with being right than they are with creating good questions that assist law schools in making accurate predictions about your aptitude. Having interacted with some of those folks, I doubt that your assumption is accurate.

As far as how it's going to look to a school...if you succeed, it's going to look like your critical reasoning skills were sufficient to catch something that the people who "wrote the book" missed. Hard to see how that creates a negative impression.

[DamnLSAT]

Going up against lawyers who represent law school admissions? That seems to assume that the testmakers are more concerned with being right than they are with creating good questions that assist law schools in making accurate predictions about your aptitude. Having interacted with some of those folks, I doubt that your assumption is accurate.

As far as how it's going to look to a school...if you succeed, it's going to look like your critical reasoning skills were sufficient to catch something that the people who "wrote the book" missed. Hard to see how that creates a negative impression.

I believe the testmakers are actively concerned with doing both. A test problem released with official test scores (thus surviving the committee's second chance to identify a misleading or poorly worded problem based on statistical data) that was successfully proven to be invalid would have massive implications. I may not know any LSAT writers, but I fully believe they would do everything possible to prove their test question correct and unambiguous.

As a result, I believe your chance of victory to be next to zero percent. And your efforts to prove the LSAT writers would be worthless and probably irritating. Futile at best.

[DamnLSAT]

I do concede if you did win then I guess you'd become an LSAT hero. TLS would donate a forum to you.

[TLSanders]

I believe the testmakers are actively concerned with doing both. A test problem released with official test scores (thus surviving the committee's second chance to identify a misleading or poorly worded problem based on statistical data) that was successfully proven to be invalid would have massive implications. I may not know any LSAT writers, but I fully believe they would do everything possible to prove their test question correct and unambiguous.

As a result, I believe your chance of victory to be next to zero percent. And your efforts to prove the LSAT writers would be worthless and probably irritating. Futile at best.

Why do you think LSAC would be so much different from other standardized testing bodies, notably ETS, which have a similar stake in the validity of their tests? Is it simply because they're lawyers?

[Pleasye]

Why do you think LSAC would be so much different from other standardized testing bodies, notably ETS, which have a similar stake in the validity of their tests? Is it simply because they're lawyers?

Do you all really think that everyone at LSAC is a lawyer?

[YCrevolution]

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