[blindlaw] Timing of Exams

Sai legal at s.ai
Thu Dec 8 17:33:16 UTC 2016


I think my reading of the situation is a little different than yours,
and that's what's causing the difference of opinion, rather than a
disagreement about the principles.

So in the spirit of law school testing (smile), here's my summary of
the material facts:

The poster would be happy to take the exam at the ordinary time given
to all other students. However, the school is requiring them to take
it at an earlier time than everyone else, solely because they
requested accommodations.

Previously, when the test couldn't be accommodated at the same time as
everyone else, they took it the next day instead, which was fine with
everyone.

I'm assuming that the earlier time is significant enough to be a
substantial harm in some way that's unrelated to disability (they
haven't said how much earlier it is).

If I'm wrong about any of that, my argument doesn't hold.

In particular, I think something significant I'm interpreting
differently than others is that the poster is not per se requesting to
take it later than everyone else. They'd be fine to take it at the
normal time, but the school won't let them do that, so it's a forced
choice between earlier or later.


So, suppose a more extreme version: what if the school were to say
that they will only give accommodated testing a full week before
everyone else's test? Surely that is obviously improper; they can't
force test takers to have less time to study merely because of a need
for unrelated accommodations.

Or suppose the poster has a 9-5 job, the normal test is at 6pm, and
the school wants to only offer accommodated testing at 3pm. That
wouldn't really affect study time, but it could easily harm the job,
resulting in lost wages or other problems.

I don't think it's *categorically* illegal for an accommodated test to
be given earlier. As Laura said, starting a test earlier could easily
be part of a reasonable negotiation, e.g. to avoid it going too late.

If it's a minor amount that doesn't impair other things, then I don't
see a problem with it. I was assuming it's earlier enough to pose some
sort of significant problem, because otherwise the poster wouldn't
have complained about it.


FWIW, LSAC's accommodated testing policy is that accommodated tests
are all either at the same time as everyone else, or shortly after. I
think that's true of everything else I've heard of. It was true for my
own accommodations in grad school.

I'm not aware of any case law either way on this, but I've only done a
quick search in google scholar, and this is hardly an area of
expertise. If any of you know of similar case law either way I'd be
interested to read it.

- Sai

On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Shelley Richards via BlindLaw
<blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Can they give the exam at a different time? Yes they could, but if you
> are asking whether or not they are obligated to do so, well that is
> different.  They would not be obligated to do so unless it were
> determined that taking the exam at a different time is a reasonable
> accomidation related to your disability.  My college offered students
> the opportunity to take exams at different times with a written
> request which needed approval, and in that case a disabled student
> would be held to the same standards as any other student seaking such
> approval.  However, if you are asking to take the exam at a different
> time as an accomidation for your disability then the school needs to
> determine whether or not the request is a reasonable accomidation.  My
> law school never allowed me to take exams on different days, but for
> night classes where the exam started at 6 PM they allowed me to start
> early, and my allotted time would end at the same time as everybody
> else.  They did not not want to ask either me or a proctor to stay
> that late into the night so starting early was the preferred solution.
> The concern they are generally weighing against your request is that,
> if you take the exam early you now know the questions and could let
> others know what they are intentionally or not, or if you take the
> exam late then there are a number of other students who know the
> questions and chances are even higher that someone might,
> intentionally or not, let you know what the questions are.  Think
> about it, the school has to not only trust that all of the other
> people in the class will keep the questions from you, but they also
> have to trust that you will not happen to overhear a conversation
> about the exam between other students which may give you some or all
> information about 1 or more questions.  Even if you have absolutely no
> bad intentions, it is hard to be able to guarantee you will not
> accidentally overhear others talking about an exam which you have not
> taken yet.  This is not to say a school should never allow a student
> to take an exam later, but there is a very legitimate concern which
> they need to weigh against the reasonableness of the request.  They
> could have problems if you are given an advantage just as much as they
> could have problems if they put you at a disadvantage.  It looks like
> it may be to late for this exam, but next time I would talk to them
> about how exactly taking the exam at the scheduled time would put you
> at a disadvantage, for example you would be testing until an
> unreasonable hour of the night, and do your best to work out a
> solution while making it clear that you understand their concerns
> about you now being given an advantage over other students.
> Some schools will always be more and less strict about their exam
> policies, and they all have the right to be as strict or lax as they
> choose as long as they treat all students the same way with regard to
> exam policy.  If you are at a school which is more strict about
> enforcing exam policy with no acception then you are going to need to
> make it much clearer to them why the accomidation is a reasonable
> request related to your disability.  A more relaxed school may not
> care as much about other concerns, but neither school would be
> violating the law so long as they provide enough accomidation to
> create an equal playing field, and treat disabled students the same as
> other students when being more or less strict about enforcement of the
> exam policy.
>
> On 12/8/16, Aimee Harwood via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hello Sai,
>>
>> That does not suffice in their opinion.
>>
>> Aimee
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Dec 7, 2016, at 3:44 PM, Sai via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Isn't "I want to have as much time to study as everyone else" a good
>>> enough reason?
>>>
>>> - Sai
>>>
>>> On Wed, Dec 7, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Jim McCarthy via BlindLaw
>>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> I think the issue becomes what is the disability-related reason that you
>>>> request the earlier exam? It seems possible to me that law students may
>>>> check in electronically and check out the same way when finished. If you
>>>> need to pick up the exam from a staff person and return it to a staffer,
>>>> One
>>>> argument seems to be that if you get double time on an exam that starts
>>>> at
>>>> 6:00 pm and normal is 3 hours, you get 6, which means that you turn the
>>>> exam
>>>> in at midnight. Otherwise, it probably has to be some kind of fatigue
>>>> argument connecting to blindness and or other documented disabilities.
>>>> Jim McCarthy
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: BlindLaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Aimee
>>>> Harwood via BlindLaw
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2016 2:07 PM
>>>> To: BlindLaw
>>>> Cc: Aimee Harwood
>>>> Subject: [blindlaw] Timing of Exams
>>>>
>>>> Hello everyone,
>>>>
>>>> I have a question regarding exams. Are universities allowed to schedule
>>>> an
>>>> accommodated exam earlier than the rest of the class? One of my exams is
>>>> a
>>>> night class. The rest of the class will take their exam at 6:00 PM. Over
>>>> the
>>>> summer, I also took an evening class and the exam started at 6:00 PM as
>>>> well. I was given the option to take the exam early or the following
>>>> business day. I chose the following business day. I requested the same
>>>> for
>>>> this exam and was denied. The reason given was that they do not remember
>>>> why
>>>> they gave those options for that particular exam and that it did not
>>>> apply
>>>> to any other exam.
>>>>
>>>> Aimee
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
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>
>
> --
> Thank You
> Shelley Palmadessa
> shelleyrichards9 at gmail.com
>
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