Are non-US experimental sections scored?

[ellyb]

This might sound like a ridiculously obvious, resounding no. But hear me out.

In the US, the answers are given back which gives you peace of mind that there is a recurring motif of experimental sections throughout the different tests which were definitely unscored.

In the UK, we don't get our answers back, how would we ever know if they just went ahead and scored 4 sections at random? Another thing that gives me this suspicion is that the first time i took the LSAT i completely messed up what was later rendered the experimental games. I was relieved however because my two LR's were amazing, I estimated 0-1 wrong on each and the RC was fine, I had to guess the last couple of questions but I estimated a maximum of 7 wrong. The actual games were fine too, I estimated a max of 2 wrong there which would've still at worst case scenario put me in the high 160's low 170's range. However I got much less than this and it was incredibly perplexing. The only way this could've happened was if the experimental was actually scored.

I just did the UK LSAT again and I had the EXACT same scenario again. Completely messed up the experimental games, was fine in both LR's and guessed the last few on RC. Why should I imagine my score be any different? I'm genuinely worried that they don't bother discerning between sections on non-US tests because can you just imagine how much effort that is? You have to match up every answer sheet with every test booklet because every single test has an experimental in a different section! Why would they go to all that trouble when we would NEVER find out?!

Somebody please put my mind at ease... it's the difference between keeping and cancelling for me... thank you

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Elly,

Thanks for the question! Let me start by reassuring you that the Experimentals aren't being scored. I feel very strongly about that being the case, and it's not something i want you to have in the back of your mind as you make a decision

As for what happened to you with the September LSAT, in my experience, during the real test it's really difficult to know exactly how well you are doing. We see this as we talk to students after the exam: I've had conversations with test takers who insisted certain fundamental things that we knew to be the case were wrong. For example, students frequently will not remember entire games from the exam, or be certain that a scored passage was in an experimental section. If things as big as this are frequently mistaken, you can see how difficult it would be to accurately predict performance. And, of course, the LSAT is quite good at making things look easy, especially under time pressure. Every student has had the experience of doing a question and thinking, "Yeah, that was easy, I nailed it!" only to then find out that they picked the wrong answer. And that's during practice—it gets worse under the pressure of the real thing.

Last, the effort required to score just the "Scored" sections vs the experimental is really nothing to them. It's all computerized, and once they program in what needs to be done (which takes just a few minutes at most), it's off to the races. And, the Exp does get scored (because they want the stats), it just isn't included in your final score. So, you can see that doesn't require much effort to not include the Exp as part of the final score.

Bottom line: there's no extra effort involved on their part in not scoring Exp sections, no motive to score the Exp, and lots of reasons why they wouldn't want to add in your Exp results to your final LSAT score.

I hope the above helps put you at ease—please let me know if it does! Thanks!

[ellyb]

Hi Elly,

Thanks for the question! Let me start by reassuring you that the Experimentals aren't being scored. I feel very strongly about that being the case, and it's not something i want you to have in the back of your mind as you make a decision

As for what happened to you with the September LSAT, in my experience, during the real test it's really difficult to know exactly how well you are doing. We see this as we talk to students after the exam: I've had conversations with test takers who insisted certain fundamental things that we knew to be the case were wrong. For example, students frequently will not remember entire games from the exam, or be certain that a scored passage was in an experimental section. If things as big as this are frequently mistaken, you can see how difficult it would be to accurately predict performance. And, of course, the LSAT is quite good at making things look easy, especially under time pressure. Every student has had the experience of doing a question and thinking, "Yeah, that was easy, I nailed it!" only to then find out that they picked the wrong answer. And that's during practice—it gets worse under the pressure of the real thing.

Last, the effort required to score just the "Scored" sections vs the experimental is really nothing to them. It's all computerized, and once they program in what needs to be done (which takes just a few minutes at most), it's off to the races. And, the Exp does get scored (because they want the stats), it just isn't included in your final score. So, you can see that doesn't require much effort to not include the Exp as part of the final score.

Bottom line: there's no extra effort involved on their part in not scoring Exp sections, no motive to score the Exp, and lots of reasons why they wouldn't want to add in your Exp results to your final LSAT score.

I hope the above helps put you at ease—please let me know if it does! Thanks!

Thank you very much! definitely puts my mind at ease