Document, Document, Document …

You have a right to be treated in a nondiscriminatory manner. You are entitled to testing accommodations if you establish your disability and your need for the accommodations. However, your petition is only as good as the documentation provided.

Keep good records of all information related to your disability, information you don’t think you need could prove vital to the committee’s decision.In some cases, the accommodations petition for the MPRE has more specific documentation than the bar accommodations petition.If you apply for accommodations on the MPRE, you may have additional testing and documentation that you can include in your bar petition.For example:

• Copies of all historical documentation related to your disability, including:
  1. Verification of accommodation for any previous tests.
  2. Test scores of any previous tests (with and without accommodation).

• A short personal statement describing:
  1. The nature of your disability or impairment,
  2. When you were first formally diagnosed
  3. How that disability or impairment impacts your daily activities, including activities within an educational setting.

As with all written documentation, your statement should address how your disability or impairment affects your ability to take the bar exam under standard testing conditions.This statement can be the same letter that you submitted for the MPRE.