Misconduct Violation

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>I recently got marked for reading in the wrong section - I was not reading - just accidentally flipped open the wrong page. The proctor thinks I was reading - I wrote an appeal explaining the situation. </p>

<p>Does anybody know if I am likely to receive a penalty for this? If so, what kinds of penalties am I looking at?</p>

<p>I respect all of your opinions but as this situation is very important to me, please do not respond unless you have some experience or knowledge on the topic. </p>

<p>Thanks -</p>

2

<p>Won't affect you. Law schools don't have time to go over your "personal record". Now if you have felonies, misdemeanors, fines you never paid, etc. you may not qualify to take the bar exam.</p>

3

<p>Are you in high school, college or law school? Are you asking how your school will treat your alleged cheating or how law schools will view the allegation of cheating?</p>

4

<p>In college - applying for law school. Good student - no prior problems with academic integrity. Shooting for 170 LSAT. Want to know, if they take the proctor's suspicion and book me with this as a result of having no evidence that I was not cheating - what are the likely penalties?</p>

5

<p>To the extent that the school notes the cheating on your record (after the school makes a determination in your case), it may affect your law school applications. Law schools only want to admit students who will be eligible for admission to the bar, assuming that they take and pass the bar exam in one or more states. The bar of each state of which I am aware undertakes some kind of ethics and integrity review of each potential admittee -- the standards are more or less rigorous state to state. A cheating notation in your file could prevent you from being admitted to the bar (however, I don't think that is likely). In addition, law schools like to think that they are admitting bring and upstanding, ethical citizens into their classes. Therefore, a law school may take your cheating into consideration when making an admissions decision. </p>

<p>Before you worry about this, deal with the situation at hand. It sounds like the allegation of cheating is just that right now -- an allegation. I would recommend fighting the charges as hard as you can through all of the appropriate channels. That said, to the extent that you did actually look at a section of the test that you weren't supposed to be looking at, even if you did not intend to cheat by doing so, you probably weren't following the rules. </p>

<p>Best of luck, and I hope that this turns out well for you.</p>

6

<p>Thank you Sally - I appreciate your consideration. One last question. I just got off the phone with an LSAC employee, told him the situation - and he told me that as long as I was not dismissed from the center (which I was not, was a first warning, non-dismissal) that I would be okay and law schools wouldn't even find out about it - regardless of the result. I find this hard to believe, but I am inclined to trust his knowledge on the topic. Do you know anything about this?</p>

7

<p>So to clarify, you're talking about a misconduct violation on the LSAT, not on a regular college test?</p>

<p>(I don't have useful info, but the original post wasn't totally clear on this point, so I just wanted to set it out there.)</p>

8

<p>Now I am confused. In your response # 4, it seems as if this event happened in a classroom exam for school.</p>

<p>In your recent post (#6) it sounds like this happened during the LSAT?</p>

<p>Where did this happen- on the LSAT or during a college exam for one of your academic classes?
(cross-posted with Student615)</p>

9

<p>On the actual LSAT - sorry for the confusion. I have never been accused of cheating in my academic career until this point.</p>

10

<p>Oh, the LSAT...you should have said that from the beginning. As long as they didn't dismiss your scores, I don't think you have anything to worry about. No one will find out.</p>

11

<p>the LSAC states the following:</p>

<p>
[quote]

Misconduct/Irregularities. Supervisors will report to LSAC any misconduct/irregularity that occurs during the administration on the Supervisor’s Irregularity Report. A copy of a Misconduct/Irregularities Warning Notice will be given to the test taker and submitted to LSAC. </p>

<p>Day</a> of the Test</p>

<p>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>
[quote]
</p>

<p>Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process</p>

<p>Misconduct or irregularity is defined as the submission, as part of the law school admission process, including, but not limited to, regular, transfer, and visiting applications, of any information that is false, inconsistent, or misleading, or the omission of information that may result in a false or misleading conclusion, or the violation of any regulation governing the law school admission process, *including any violation of LSAT test center regulations. *</p>

<p>Examples of misconduct and irregularities include, but are not limited to, submission of an altered or a nonauthentic transcript; submission of an application containing false, inconsistent, or misleading information; submission of an altered, nonauthentic, or unauthorized letter of recommendation; falsification of records; impersonation of another in taking the LSAT; switching of LSAT answer sheets with another; taking the LSAT for purposes other than applying to law school; copying on, or other forms of cheating on, the LSAT; obtaining advance access to test materials; theft of test materials; *working, marking, erasing, reading, or turning pages on sections of the LSAT during unauthorized times; * submission of false, inconsistent, or misleading information to the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS); submissions of false, inconsistent, or misleading statements or omissions of information requested on the LSAT & LSDAS Registration Form or on individual law school application forms; falsification of transcript information, school attendance, honors, awards, or employment; or providing false, inconsistent, or misleading information in the financial aid/scholarship application process. A charge of misconduct or irregularity may be made prior to a candidate’s admission to law school, after matriculation at a law school, or after admission to practice. </p>

<p>*When alleged misconduct or irregularity brings into question the validity of LSAC data about a candidate, the school may be notified of possible data error, and transmission of LSAT scores and LSDAS reports will be withheld until the matter has been resolved by the Law School Admission Council’s Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process Subcommittee. The Council will investigate all instances of alleged misconduct or irregularities in the admission process in accordance with the LSAC Rules Governing Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process. *</p>

<p>A subcommittee representative will determine whether misconduct or an irregularity has occurred. If the subcommittee representative determines that a preponderance of the evidence shows misconduct or irregularity, then a report of the determination is sent to all law schools to which the individual has applied, subsequently applies, or has matriculated. Notation that a misconduct or irregularity report is on file is also included on LSAT & LSDAS Law School Reports. Such reports are retained indefinitely. In appropriate cases, state and national bar authorities and other affected persons and institutions may also receive notification. Individual law schools and bar authorities determine what action, if any, they will take in response to a finding of misconduct or irregularity. Such action may include the closing of an admission file, revocation of an offer of admission, dismissal from law school through a school’s internal disciplinary channels, or disbarment. Thus, a finding of misconduct or irregularity is a very serious matter.</p>

<p>Misconduct</a> and Irregularities</p>

<p>How the process plays it self out</p>

<p><a href="http://www.lsacnet.org/annualmeeting/2007/presentations/MisconductSwenson.ppt#1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.lsacnet.org/annualmeeting/2007/presentations/MisconductSwenson.ppt#1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>When you take the test, the test center has to fill out a seating chart with your name and test number. </p>

<p>I am not sure whether or not they have to actually throw you out to report a testing irregularity because they want to have the least amount of disruption to others taking the test. Yes, throwing someone out of the test would cause a disruption, there would be a domino effect where others would complan (I am quite sure others will chime in). However, they do have to contact you to let you know. If they found that something did happen, they will hold your scores until the matter is resolved.</p>