By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

If you are pursuing a law degree and want some peace and quiet when you take the Law School Admission Test, go to Dayton.

The University of Dayton.

A study released Tuesday ranked the University of Cincinnati as one of the worst places in the nation (248th out of 261) to take the LSAT last year while UD was among the best.

Several UC test-takers reported hearing a constant beeping sound during the exam in October.

UD, the highest-ranked Ohio school, was 11th in the nation.

"We've learned throughout the years that site choice, a factor many test-takers don't seriously consider, can have a huge impact on performance," said Justin Serrano, executive director of Kaplan Test Prep in New York.

Kaplan Test Prep provides test preparation and admission consulting services for individuals, schools and businesses.

David Honig of Fairview is a first-year law school student at UC. He said conditions were tolerable when he took the LSAT at UC last year.

"It was in a huge lecture hall," he said of the test site. "It was very cold outside but the room was fairly warm. Not having much of a break, and with the way the test is set up, you get hungry at the end. And the warmer it is and the hungrier you get, the sleepier you get. But it wasn't what I'd call really disruptive."

Mr. Honig, 23, said the beeping noise some students heard might have been from construction on campus.

UC ranked much higher for test-taking conditions for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) taken in August - 69th of 192 sites.

E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com