Proctor stories... Lemme have em... Forum

[echo]

I printed the honesty thing as well. As if I needed another thing to feel like I failed at on this LSAT.

I really can't complain about our proctors at all. The head one obviously had experience at this, they were quiet throughout, and didn't make up any weird arbitrary rules. Things were slow, but it was a big test center.

[jw176]

I also printed the honesty vow and just called LSAC about it. I spoke to Brian. He told me that it COULD be an issue. I asked why the uncertainty, and he told me it depended on who scanned my test. That seems uncharacteristic for LSAC. He said that they would contact me if it was a problem. The honesty vow box on the form said not to print. I considered cursive, but decided against it, thinking I was just stuck on the SAT policy. I don't know why it's required to be written in cursive.

He also said that the form codes are not machine reviewed so that won't be an issue. Apparently, they gave the proctors a standard way to address it (I don't recall which way he mentioned). My proctors improvised. I can't complain about my proctors though, they seemed competent otherwise.

Sigh, that's what I was afraid of. I talked to some lady at LSAC, but I didn't know how dependable she was. I guess there's nothing we can do about it now though?

[gavinstevens]

Yeah, who knows. He might have told me what he did to allow for the slight possibility that it is a problem.

[baconpuffs]

Our proctors were actually decent. Let us use the bathroom when they were calling LSAC about the answer sheet issue and let us go outside during the break. I gladly used that opportunity to chain smoke.

[joebloe]

I also printed the honesty vow and just called LSAC about it. I spoke to Brian. He told me that it COULD be an issue. I asked why the uncertainty, and he told me it depended on who scanned my test. That seems uncharacteristic for LSAC. He said that they would contact me if it was a problem. The honesty vow box on the form said not to print. I considered cursive, but decided against it, thinking I was just stuck on the SAT policy. I don't know why it's required to be written in cursive.

He also said that the form codes are not machine reviewed so that won't be an issue. Apparently, they gave the proctors a standard way to address it (I don't recall which way he mentioned). My proctors improvised. I can't complain about my proctors though, they seemed competent otherwise.

I think it's part of the whole identity verification process. By having you write it out in cursive they have a nice sample of your handwriting to verify that it was indeed you who took the test. The proctor could always let you through with a fake ID and non-matching picture, but that handwriting is going to be hard to fake, especially with the time pressure.

That and, of course, it's an attempt to instill into you the sense that this is a serious test with serious consequences for breaking the rules. It's not like it's necessary for them to have you write out the agreement in order to make it legally binding. Imagine EULAs in such a world.

I would totally love to go in there and say that I can't write in cursive, and that I just make a mark for my signature.

[cupcake.]

My proctor(s) were the modern day Golden Girls. No seriously, like 5 little old ladies in floral prints and glasses with the rope to go around the neck...

The funniest thing that happened was the head proctor called some guy out for doodling on a post-it and ordered him to stop in a room full of at least 80 people. Kinda eased my nerves to laugh at him so I appreciated it

I had a group of old ladies that resembled the golden girls too! and a big guy proctor, but don't recall a post-it incident. You didnt take it in NJ did you?

haha, no...oLSAC must have a preference for little old ladies - I took it at Cal Western (for the great desk space) in San Diego

[davesmystery]

At first my proctor wasn't allowing anyone into the room that had computer printed pictures, wallets or tissues (oh noes! did they write the formulas to the answers on the tissues? it's a trap!), so there were maybe only two or three people sitting down and a line out the door until the supervisor noticed the line and told her those things were specifically mentioned as being okay on the rule sheet (just like every one of the 30 or so people in line had told her).

The A0 number thing was definitely the worst, when we got there and people realized the mistake it was seriously like ALL OF THE SUDDEN OMG EVERYONE PANIC WE'RE GONNA DIE, the tension/fear was so thick I tried to jab my HB #2 pencil into it. The supervisor had to come back in and call LSAC on her cell phone to verify that it was blank/A0 and the proctor had to go to each specific person and talk to them verifying again that it was the correct method. Needless to say, started wayyyy late.

[mushybrain]

My proctors:
-watched videos on their phone that I could clearly hear
-ate individually wrapped candies throughout, making constant rustling noises with the plastic wrappers
-each (of the 3) left and returned at least once during each section, slamming the door each way, and lingering in the doorway while letting all the hallway sounds filter in
-talked to each other through the whole thing
-got out the admission tickets and flipped through, commenting on each person's age and photo while the test was in progress
-had absolutely no idea how to fill out the first part of the scantron, so ultimately they ended up making us do it wrong with the A0 thing. Lord knows what will happen with that. They swore up and down it should be A, space, 0 and then the rest of the sequence.

There was no mention of writing the vow thing in cursive either on the scantron (that I saw) or in the instructions read to us, and I could tell by the sound of others writing that we were all printing it. I would have written it in cursive based on what I had heard in the past, but thought maybe it was a change because it's easier to match handwriting when you let people write how they naturally would. Or something.

[rinkrat19]

I also printed the honesty vow and just called LSAC about it. I spoke to Brian. He told me that it COULD be an issue. I asked why the uncertainty, and he told me it depended on who scanned my test. That seems uncharacteristic for LSAC. He said that they would contact me if it was a problem. The honesty vow box on the form said not to print. I considered cursive, but decided against it, thinking I was just stuck on the SAT policy. I don't know why it's required to be written in cursive.

He also said that the form codes are not machine reviewed so that won't be an issue. Apparently, they gave the proctors a standard way to address it (I don't recall which way he mentioned). My proctors improvised. I can't complain about my proctors though, they seemed competent otherwise.

I think it's part of the whole identity verification process. By having you write it out in cursive they have a nice sample of your handwriting to verify that it was indeed you who took the test. The proctor could always let you through with a fake ID and non-matching picture, but that handwriting is going to be hard to fake, especially with the time pressure.

That and, of course, it's an attempt to instill into you the sense that this is a serious test with serious consequences for breaking the rules. It's not like it's necessary for them to have you write out the agreement in order to make it legally binding. Imagine EULAs in such a world.

I would totally love to go in there and say that I can't write in cursive, and that I just make a mark for my signature.

My signature is about the only thing I CAN write in cursive. Since I haven't used cursive since, what, sixth grade, why the hell would I be able to? I printed the honesty vow at the Oct. 2010 test and it was never an issue.

If you compare the wording on the older (like the free test on the LSAC site) tests to the new tests, I'm pretty sure the new ones do not specifically mention cursive and the old ones did.

[tanzie]

I took it in a big room with about 100 people and the proctor elected to stand at the podium for all five sections reading a book and breathing heavily into the microphone that she refused to turn off. It sounded like the LSAC gods were breathing down my neck for the entirety of the exam. No thanks.

haha that's horrible! (but hysterical). I can only imagine how distracting that must have been!

[j12]

I printed the honesty vow the first time I took the LSAT and still got my score before the scheduled release date, do I don't think anyone has anything to worry about.

After everyone was about halfway through writing it the proctor accosted us for thinking that "write" could possibly mean "print" as if they were mutually exclusive terms. I decided, fuck it, and continued printing. It all worked out just fine.

[Cupidity]

-ate individually wrapped candies throughout, making constant rustling noises with the plastic wrappers

What the fuck??!?!

[Unicorn Poacher]

My proctor story definitely needs to be noted.

Here's the perfect way to start off the LSAT......The proctor was 45 minutes late!!!! It sucked having to make the long drive to the testing center(2 hours)...Get myself psyched up for several hours of hell...then experience extra nerves because of the delay and feeling my adrenaline subside. There were people falling asleep waiting.

Then she finally comes lumbering up on a golf cart. She jumps off and exclaims "I'm so sorry. I thought it was next week"....

Well..mistakes happen or whatever, so I just tried to psyche myself back up again. Then when we get inside, all of the normal tables fill up and some of us have to sit on the side aisles...where the chairs literally have desktops the size of racquetball rackets.

So then the proctor said that they were opening up a second room...so of course everyone in the racquetball desks immediately got up...Then when I got to the additional room...it was full...so about 12 of us had to walk back to the original room and re-situate ourselves in microdesk hell.

So then we rushed through the bubbling in of our information...(We also of course were not instructed about having to write in cursive, as others have mentioned)

So then as the test starts, I have to figure out the right way to situate my test booklet and my answer sheet on the tiny desk. So I finally put my test booklet in my lap and kind of angled it upward...and I bubble in two answers, then am reprimanded for not having my book flat. I understand the reasoning for it, but there was no one sitting behind me!

So then as the test goes on, the proctors start circling the room one by one like tiger sharks around a slowly sinking sailboat. Then I noticed that the three female proctors had at some point removed their shoes, so they were walking around barefooted like Britney Spears in a public bathroom. WTF? That was a slight distraction but a distraction nevertheless.

So my last piece of this rant will be mentioning the way the entire room started vibrating during either the third or fourth section. I don't know if it was a loud AC unit, or if they were having a freestyle concrete mixer battle on the roof...but we're sitting in a vibrating auditorium and I immediately got distracted because it reminded me of the old Mission To Mars attraction at Disney World. That wasn't really proctor related, but I just wanted to paint a full picture of my LSAT experience.

With all of that said, I understand that people make mistakes but that was definitely not the ideal test taking experience.

[seancris]

Between the first and second sections a bunch of guys from the community college I was testing at had gathered outside our door and began talking/shouting loudly in conversation. I was super focused and it didn't bother me but some girl asked the proctors to ask the guys to quiet down before the next section started. The proctor refused and I lol'd. Proctor said "they won't listen, it won't do anything" and the girl basically told the proctor to grow a pair and do it. Proctor told the guys to leave and they left, no further distractions.

Also, the proctor kept insisting in the beginning to write the test center ID number in the test form code box. The instructions clearly told us not to do that, and the boxes were labeled appropriately so I ignored her and followed the instructions as they were written on the back cover of the test. I eventually corrected her, and it was evident that almost everyone else in the class had blindly followed her instructions.

That's about it. Senile proctors. Everything important went off without a hitch. Aside from LGs and RC for me, bleh.

[refinnej37]

All the locations near me had filled, so I had to go three hours south. I'm really glad that it worked out that way, though, after reading about everyone else's experiences.There were 8 people registered to take it at my location, and only 6 actually showed. We were seated in a small room at very long tables, so we all had a ton of space.

Of course, there was the girl that brought her stuff in a plastic grocery bag, didn't write her info on the back of the photo, and didn't attach it to the ticket. The guy who signed his ticket before getting there. The girl who walked in late. But none of that mattered since our proctors did not care. Our ticket said to report by 12:30, and she walked in at 12:20, flip-flops flapping, said good morning, and began checking us in like it was all good. (Before checking us in) "I'm supposed to assign you seats, but I'm not going to. If there's a survey or something afterwards, and they ask if I assigned seats, just say I did. But, I'm not going to."

Both proctors were kind of unsure about a few things. We were explicitly told to PRINT the honesty vow after a girl asked about it (this didn't sit well with me, so I kind of did a print/cursive combo thing). The test code also tripped us up a bit at first. They were really chill about the break. We were allowed to leave the building. They even suggested it would be alright to go to your car when someone asked. -___-

Head proctor after checking us in: "Applying to law school is stressful enough. We want to make sure that your test experience is as stress-free as possible. We want you to have the best shot possible at getting a great score. So, put your head on the table, put your feet up, I don't care. As long as you're not disturbing anyone else, then it's cool." I got really lucky. Definitely taking it there if I have to retake. No noise. No distractions. Just a little room with a lot of space. The proctors had a very chill, beach vibe to them, which could have been disastrous but ended up being fantastic.

[mattviphky]

i took it at a college, and apparently the proctors, three women, decided to recruit like 4 college kids to help them. One proctor, who was incredibly nice, was outside the door, the other was the one who read everything and called time and sat up front and stuff. She wasn't bad, but she was totally shrilly and that was distracting. The college kids just patrolled through the aisles, it really was distracting when someone is walking right behind me while I'm taking the lsat. Other than that, it was ok. Actually, the tables sucked. They were spacious and everything, but the table top had this rough texture surface that made filling in answers a bitch. I took it last year and had the best proctors, just two men. They even offered to call 1 minute remaining. We had awesome seats and tables, too. I was really hoping to be at this testing center, but it wasn't even an option this time.