China LSAT cheating has allowed unqualified applicants to infiltrate elite U.S. law schools by exploiting loopholes in remote testing, according to a whistleblower and U.S. education experts. PowerScore CEO Dave Killoran told the Washington Free Beacon that Chinese LSAT preparation companies have “violated the security of remotely administered exams for years,” using stolen questions and fake test-takers to game the system.
A Chinese whistleblower contacted Killoran in May with what he claimed were stolen LSAT questions. “After a review of those questions, I quickly determined they were actual LSAT questions,” Killoran said. He explained that some companies “bypass LSAC’s remote security measures,” allowing proxy test-takers to complete exams under fake identities. Screenshots of test questions are later “compiled into PDFs and sold to students” who can’t afford professional cheaters.
Killoran warned that “if cheating continues and scores become unreliable, what’s the use of the LSAT in admissions?” The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) has since announced it will suspend online testing in China after October, citing “organized efforts … to promote test misconduct.”
Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute said U.S. universities must act swiftly. “Law schools should be banging on the door of the State Department asking for a federal watchlist,” he said, warning that the issue extends beyond academics. “If they’re cheating their way into American law schools, I think the way to read that is that they’ve already saturated all of the more valuable disciplines.”
