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I have seen that this thread has been posted in the past; but, have yet to find anyone who has won an appeal concerning taking the LSAT for a 4th time in a two year period. I was registered for the June LSAT (my third take) and underwent a serious jaw surgery right before... had to rebreak both sides, liquid diet for a few months, couldn't speak, prescribed heavy drugs, etc. Im hoping that with documentation of the surgery I will have a case, as I am confident it is a legit one. I was originally going to accept defeat and move forward but I am having second thoughts. Any success out there, or thoughts on how to win an appeal over the mighty LSAC?

Why didn't you just withdraw the night before the test?

Yeah I feel like appeals are probably most effective when there are disruptive circumstances outside of your control on test day. This is not one of those. You should have just bailed.

But I literally have no knowledge of lsac appeals. Just going off common sense.

I have no idea either but it seems logical that you should have withdrawn the night before, especially if you knew (as you admitted) how significantly you were effected by it than withdrawing would have been the logical choice.

I suppose you have nothing to lose by trying though?

nch2092 wrote:I have seen that this thread has been posted in the past; but, have yet to find anyone who has won an appeal concerning taking the LSAT for a 4th time in a two year period. I was registered for the June LSAT (my third take) and underwent a serious jaw surgery right before... had to rebreak both sides, liquid diet for a few months, couldn't speak, prescribed heavy drugs, etc. Im hoping that with documentation of the surgery I will have a case, as I am confident it is a legit one. I was originally going to accept defeat and move forward but I am having second thoughts. Any success out there, or thoughts on how to win an appeal over the mighty LSAC?

Did you show up, check in and try to take the June test right after having the surgery or did you just not show up on test day due to the condition you were in described above? If you didn't show up and check in on test day, that doesn't count against the three takes limit, you just get an absent mark on your CAS LSAT scores report.

If you did show up and try to take the test right after having surgery while drugged up, LSAC isn't going to view that as significant extenuating circumstances to justify granting you an exemption from the three takes limit since you could have just withdrawn your registration and/or just not showed up on test day.

I also think they'll consider whether or not your score improved since your previous take. If it did, they may just deny you on the grounds that you were obviously 'put together' enough to do better than when you weren't post-op and just weren't satisfied enough so you're trying to game for an extra take (or some similar line of reasoning). Honestly it sucks, esp. because you have a solid reason imo. Good luck OP!

"Normally, you may not take the LSAT more than three times in any two-year period. This policy applies even if you cancel your score or it is not otherwise reported. LSAC reserves the right to withdraw your registration, rescind your admission ticket, or take any other steps necessary to enforce this policy."

Based on this I thought I was doomed and forged ahead figured there was nothing I could do but take it and hope for the best. I thought I could plow through the circumstances and it undoubtedly had a negative impact on my score based on where I was PTing.

During my 1st take a girl passed out in the middle of the 2nd section and made a lot of commotion.Then a fire alarm randomly went off in the 3rd section and we all had to go outside. During my 2nd take there was construction going on outside so there was intermittent drilling right outside the building we were taking it in. All of these incidents were documented by the head proctor. I wrote a short appeal and ended up winning it. BTW those incidents all happened at Brandeis.

I don't think documenting problems with the test site/administration and getting a re-do is quite the same as asking for a fourth take (did you get your score for that test or just the opportunity to take again?).

I got my score for the 4th take

birdlaw624 wrote:I got my score for the 4th take

I meant, did you get a score for the test where you encountered all the disruptions? What I'm really asking is whether your first take didn't count because you wrote the appeal when it happened, or if you used up your three takes and then asked for a fourth based on the disruption during the first.

Oh I gotcha. I received scores for my first 3 takes and then wrote an appeal for a 4th take, which I ended up winning.

Gotcha, thanks. Glad that worked out for you.

Yep, two situations going on here:
1) Disruptions at the testing center - The LSAC is much more likely to allow you to retake the test, as it was something outside of your control. Even so, it's not a guarantee.

2) Personal issues - The LSAC is exceptionally unlikely to allow you a fourth retake. I've talked with dozens of students who tried, and only 2 have succeeded. One of those was a special case (if you want details, shoot me a PM). The other was someone who had an undiagnosed medical condition that had affected them for all of their first 3 administrations, was since diagnosed and cured, and was well documented. The difference between this case and others that I've been aware of was that the medical condition affected all of his tests - not just one. Most people who had a medical condition affect one administration (even the last one) are denied, as the LSAC argues that you had chances to do well, and you should have withdrawn from the last one if you had a legitimate reason to feel you shouldn't do well. They don't want to deal with a bunch of post-hoc medical complaints, so they stymie those requests.