Test Prep

I am thrilled that I have received such a welcome. It is very encouraging when situations like the following occurs.
There is a lot of time and effort given to the accommodations process but what happens when the preparation for the test itself is not included. I am referring to the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) of course. I am taking a prep course the the university's Teaching and Learning Center. It is a basic overview of the kinds of problems on the test and strategies on how to go about solving them. At the end of the course is a practice test, which is a great idea due to the rather alien nature of the format. The one element that is repeated like a catechism is “practice under the same condition that the test will be taken under.” Very good advice on the whole. However, when I approached Jenifer, the instructor, after class last night and put it before her that I am to have more time and a reader on the real test, her reactions was disappointing. Now, I am not unused to having to come to some kind of compromise, far from it, and I was all ready to do it here. Jenifer thought maybe taking the practice test at Disability Services would work, which is not a bad idea. “I am not a student any more” I said “and I am not sure they would accommodate a practice test anyway.” She conceded the point ans said she would think on it. I am a non confrontational person by nature (on my own behalf usually) but if everyone is encouraged to have an authentic experience of the test I should as well. Reading the problems myself and hearing someone else do it in a timed format, make for a very different feel.
Problems of this kind are not forefront in the minds of the student nor are they thought to much about by the people who teach you how to be your own advocate. It is all about the REAL thing. Think how much better students would do on the test if they were allowed the same conditions the same predictable circumstances like the rest of the class has learned to expect.