A study of speededness as a source of test bias

Specially constructed "speeded" and "unspeeded" forms of a Reading Comprehension section of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) were administered to regular center and fee-free center LSAT candidates in an effort to determine: (1) if the test was more speeded for fee-free candidates, and (2) if reducing the amount of speededness was more beneficial to fee-free candidates. Results of the analysis show: (1) the test is somewhat more speeded for fee-free candidates than for regular candidates, (2) reducing the amount of speededness produces higher scores for both regular (22 scaled score points) and fee-free (33 scaled score points) center candidates, and (3) reducing speededness is not more beneficial (in terms of increasing the number of items answered correctly) to fee-free than to regular center candidates. Lower KR-20 reliability was observed under speeded conditions in the fee-free sample and is discussed.