LSAT Wristimers

[commonlaw]

What's the latest on the special LSAT "wristwatches" that have a special faceplate for the 35 minute section of the LSAT [E.g. https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Score-Wa ... lsat+watch]. The amazon pages for these devices say that they are in compliance with LSAC regulations but some people have said that they have been confiscated at the test center.

I thought I remembered reading somewhere official that LSAC allows for wristwatches with novel faceplate but now I can recall where I saw that I can't retrace my steps. The only language I can't find on LSAC website is as follows:

[Disallowed items include] digital watches (i.e., watches that display the time in numerical digits rather than by hands on a dial), alarm watches, beeping watches, calculator watches, chronograph watches (digital or nondigital), or any watch with a dedicated start/stop function that isn’t related to setting the time.

I could see any one one of these devices with a easy reset button being disallowed under these guidelines, but I think most have them require the hands to be reset by twisting the dial (like a normal watch), which leads me to ponder whether having a resetting feature is an essential condition of a chronograph watch...

Anyone know anything about this?

[Jon Denning]

This is a great question, and one I'm seeing a lot these days due to some vagueries in LSAC's language. Here's what I've been telling people:

Technically those LSAT watches don’t have “dedicated start/stop functions” per LSAC’s rules (the "start/stop" control requires the manual turning of the crown to reset the hands like any analog watch, so it isn't a dedicated function in my opinion), and thus one could argue they aren't in violation. That's why some, probably most, proctors haven't confiscated them thus far.

But one could also argue their entire purpose is as a timer/chronometer rather than a clock, and that’s a problem. In other words, nothing the "watch" does is related to setting or telling the time, so some proctors have apparently interpreted that as breaking that final prohibition you list.

In short: I believe they should be, and in most cases would be, allowed, BUT you're taking a risk by counting on that, since clearly not all proctors agree with me. So the safe play is to get/use a basic analog watch and simply reset the minute hand back to 12 at the end of each section, then watch it travel around to the 7 as the 35 minutes go by. That way you know you'll be okay and won't have to worry about an overly-uptight proctor confiscating your stuff.