Law School Admission Test
The Law School Admission Test is a standardized test administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess reading comprehension and logical reasoning. The test is an integral part of the law school admission process in the United States, Canada, the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a growing number of other countries.
The test has existed in some form since 1948, when it was created to give law schools a standardized way to assess applicants in addition to their GPA. The current form of the exam has been used since 1991. The exam has four total sections that include three scored multiple choice sections, an unscored experimental section, and an unscored writing section. Raw scores on the exam are transformed into scaled scores, ranging from a high of 180 to a low of 120, with a median score typically around 150. Law school applicants are required to report all scores from the past five years, though schools generally consider the highest score in their admissions decisions.
Before July 2019, the test was administered by paper-and-pencil. In 2019, the test was exclusively administered electronically using a tablet. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the test was administered using the test-taker's personal computer. Beginning in 2023, candidates have had the option to take a digital version either at an approved testing center or on their computer at home.
Function
The purpose of the LSAT is to aid in predicting student success in law school. Researchers Balin, Fine, and Guinier performed research on the LSAT's ability to predict law school grades at the University of Pennsylvania. They found that the LSAT could explain about 14% of the variance in first year grades and about 15% of the variance in second year grades.History
The LSAT was the result of a 1945 inquiry of Frank Bowles, a Columbia Law School admissions director, about a more satisfactory admissions test that could be used for admissions than the one that was in use in 1945. The goal was to find a test that would correlate with first year grades rather than bar passage rates. This led to an invitation of representatives from Harvard Law School and Yale Law School who ultimately accepted the invitation and began to draft the first administration of the LSAT exam. NYU, in correspondence by memorandum, was openly unconvinced "about the usefulness of an aptitude test as a method of selecting law school students," but was open to experimenting with the idea, as were other schools that were unconvinced. At a meeting on 10 November 1947, with representatives of law schools extending beyond the original Columbia, Harvard, and Yale representatives, the design of the LSAT was discussed. At this meeting the issue of a way to test students who came from excessively "technical" backgrounds that were deficient in the study of history and literature was discussed but no method was adopted. The first administration of the LSAT followed and occurred in 1948.From the test's inception until 1981, scores were reported on a scale of 200 to 800; from 1981 to 1991, a 48-point scale was used. In 1991, the scale was changed again, so that reported scores range from 120 to 180.
Online test
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Law School Admission Council created the LSAT-Flex. The LSAT-Flex is an online proctored test that was first administrated during May 2020. While the normal LSAT test consisted of four sections plus an experimental section, the LSAT-Flex consists of three sections. Though the LSAT-Flex contains one less section than the normal LSAT test, the LSAT-Flex is scored on the normal 120–180 scale. After June 2021, the name LSAT-Flex was dropped and the test was again referred to as just the LSAT, though the format continued to be used through the testing cycle that ended in June 2022. Beginning with the August 2022 administration, LSAC reintroduced an experimental section, having the test consist of three sections plus an experimental section. The writing section is also administered online.Former analytical reasoning section
Prior to August 2024, the LSAT contained an analytical reasoning section, commonly referred to as logic games. The section was removed following a 2019 legal settlement between the LSAC and two blind LSAT test takers who claimed that the section violated the Americans with Disabilities Act because they were unfairly penalized for not being able to draw the diagrams commonly used to solve the questions in the section. As part of the settlement, the LSAC agreed to review and overhaul the section within four years. In October 2023, it announced that the section would be replaced by a second logical reasoning section in August 2024.Administration
The LSAC previously administered the LSAT four times per year: June, September/October, December and February. However, in June 2017, it was announced that the LSAC would be increasing the number of tests from four to six, and would instead be administering it in January, March, June, July, September, and November.There were 129,925 LSATs administered in the 2011–12 testing year, the largest percentage decline in LSATs administered in more than 10 years, and a drop of more than 16% from the previous year, when 155,050 LSATs were administered. The number of LSATs administered fell more than 25% over a two-year period. The October 2012 administration reflected a 16.4% drop in volume from its 2011 counterpart. LSAT numbers continued to drop over the next two cycles but to a lesser degree, with 13.4% and 6.2% drops, respectively, for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 cycles. February 2014 showed the first increase in test takers since June 2010.
In December 2018, LSAC announced that the Microsoft Surface Go tablet will be used exclusively to administer the LSAT beginning in 2019 when the test transitions to a digital only format. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, candidates are able to sit for the test remotely with their own computer. The writing sample section will be separate from the LSAT starting with the 3 June 2019 test administration. Candidates will be automatically eligible to complete the writing section as early as 10 days prior to test day and up to one year thereafter. Candidates only need to complete the writing sample section once every 5 years, even if candidates re-test before then.
Test composition
The LSAT consists of four 35-minute multiple-choice sections followed by an unscored writing sample section that can be taken separately. Modern tests have 75–76 scored items in total. Several different test forms are used within an administration, each presenting the multiple-choice sections in different orders, which is intended to make it difficult to cheat or to guess which is the experimental section.Logical reasoning
As of 2021, the LSAT contains two logical reasoning sections, commonly known as "arguments", designed to test the taker's ability to dissect and analyze arguments. LR sections each contain 24–26 questions. Each question begins with a short argument or set of facts. This is followed by a prompt asking the test taker to find the argument's assumption, to select an alternate conclusion to the argument, to identify errors or logical omissions in the argument, to find another argument with parallel reasoning, or to choose a statement that would weaken or strengthen the argument.In October 2023, the LSAC announced that the analytical reasoning section would be replaced by a second logical reasoning section in August 2024 pursuant to the implementation of a 2019 settlement agreement with blind LSAT test takers.
Reading comprehension
The LSAT contains one reading comprehension section consisting of four passages of 400–500 words, and 5–8 questions relating to each passage. Complete sections contain 26–28 questions. Though no real rules govern the content of this section, the passages generally relate to law, arts and humanities, physical sciences, or social sciences. The questions usually ask the examinee to determine the author's main idea, find specific information in the passage, draw inferences from the text, and/or describe the structure of the passage.In June 2007, one of the four passages was replaced with a "comparative reading" question. Comparative reading presents two shorter passages with differing perspectives on a topic. Parallels exist between the comparative reading question, the SAT's critical reading section, and the science section of the ACT.
Unscored variable section
The current test contains one experimental section which is referred to as the "variable section". It is used to test new questions for future exams. The performance of the examinee on this section is not reported as part of the final score. The examinee is not told which section of the exam is experimental, since doing so could skew the data. Previously, this section has always been one of the first three sections of any given test, but beginning with the administration of the October 2011 LSAT, the experimental section can be after the first three sections. LSAC makes no specific claim as to which section it has appeared as in the past, and what section it may appear as in the future.Writing sample
The writing sample appears as the final section of the exam. The writing sample is presented in the form of a decision prompt, which provides the examinee with a problem and two criteria for making a decision. The examinee must then write an essay arguing for one of the two options over the other. The decision prompt generally does not involve a controversial subject, but rather something mundane about which the examinee likely has no strong bias. While there is no "right" or "wrong" answer to the writing prompt, it is important that the examinee argues for his/her chosen position and also argues against the counter-position.LSAC does not score the writing sample. Instead, the essay is sent to admission offices along with the LSAT score. Some admissions officers regard the usefulness of the writing sample to be marginal. Additionally, most schools require that applicants submit a "personal statement" of some kind. These factors sometimes result in admission boards disregarding the writing sample. However, only 6.8% of 157 schools surveyed by LSAC in 2006 indicated that they "never" use the writing sample when evaluating an application. In contrast, 9.9% of the schools reported that they "always" use the sample; 25.3% reported that they "frequently" use the sample; 32.7% responded "occasionally"; and 25.3% reported "seldom" using the sample.