If you’re perusing this blog, there’s a good chance you’re considering law school. Or maybe your heart has been set on law school since you took your first step. Or maybe you’re just doing some research for a friend or relative who may go to law school.
If any of those apply to you, the LSAT is important, whether you like it or not. That’s because anyone who wants to go to an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law school must take the LSAT. (Just as an aside, don’t go to a non-accredited law school. Trust us.) So, we thought we’d do you a solid and put all the basic and most important information about the LSAT in one place. Now, without further ado, let’s talk LSAT.<!–
what is the lsat?
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What is the LSAT?
LSAT stands for Law School Admission Test and it’s administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). In a nutshell, it’s a test of logic and argumentation (more on this below). This bare fact sets it apart – far apart – from other pre-graduate level standardized tests like the GRE or the GMAT, which mirror the SAT and ACT that you are likely familiar with and which test reading, writing, and arithmetic.
The LSAT used to be offered four times a year, but LSAC has been steadily increasing the number of tests offered. You can choose whether you want to take the LSAT at home remotely or in person at a test center.
The exam is composed of five 35-minute sections, only three of which factor into the score that law schools receive (more on this below, also):
1 Section of Logical Reasoning: Each Logical Reasoning section has 24-26 multiple-choice questions. Each question consists of a brief paragraph – usually an argument – a question about the contents of the paragraph, and five answer choices.
1 Section of Reading Comprehension: There are four passages, each with 5-8 associated multiple-choice questions, which, like Logical Reasoning, also have five answer choices. Since 2007, one of the passages is split into two shorter passages that relate to one another.
1 Section of Logic Games: There are four games with 5-7 associated multiple-choice questions. Each game outlines a situation and gives rules governing that situation, and you must make deductions about the situation using the rules. You might be asked to determine the order that runners finish a race or the kennels in which various dogs must be kept. Many students find logic games to be the toughest part of the LSAT, so here are some free logic games examples. [Note: The Logic Games Section will be removed from the LSAT starting in August 2024 and will be replaced by an additional Logical Reasoning Section.]
1 Unscored Experimental Section: During the exam, you will get one extra Logical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, or Logic Games section that won’t be scored. The purpose is for the makers of the LSAT to test out questions they plan to use on future exams. You will not know what section is the experimental while you’re taking the exam.
1 Unscored Writing Sample: This is always the last section of the exam. You’ll be given a prompt that presents two possible courses of action that a person or group is considering, and you must write an essay advocating for one of the two courses of action. This will be sent to law schools along with the rest of your application materials. (Note: If you’re completing LSAT Writing after July 30, 2024, read about the changes to the section and the prompt.)<!–
How is the LSAT scored?
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How is the LSAT scored?
The test is scored on a scale of 120 to 180, 120 being the lowest possible score and 180 the highest. There is no failing score on the LSAT, but if you apply to law school with a score in the 120’s or 130’s, let’s just say you will probably not be going to a top law school.
LSAC has a magic recipe for “normalizing” LSAT scores. It’s sort of like a curve, with a lot more bells and whistles. Here’s a simple flow chart:
RAW SCORE → PERCENTILE → SCALED SCORE
There are approximately one hundred scored questions on the exam. (This can range from 98-102, but you get the gist.) The number you get right is your raw score. LSAC uses your raw score to determine your percentile. Percentile is simply the percentage of other test takers whose raw score you topped. Your percentile, in turn, puts you at a particular location on the 120-180 scale.
Let’s take an example. Say, for instance, you took the June 2015 LSAT. Let’s say that, out of the 100 questions that were on the exam that day, you answered 83 correctly. Your raw score is 83. Comparing that to all the other test takers, you’d find that you answered more questions correctly than 91% of other test takers. Nice work! Your percentile is 91%. Using that magic normalization recipe LSAC has, you’d find that translates to a 165 scaled score.
What do I need to know for the LSAT?
Nothing. No, really. The makers of the LSAT assume that you have zero knowledge of the law. There are no facts or rules or formulas to memorize, and, theoretically, you could live under a rock for your whole life, come out, take the LSAT that same day, and do great.
Theoretically.
The test is aimed at assessing your ability to think like a lawyer, which is a double-edged sword. Unfortunately, the sharp edge is the edge that’s facing you.
To put it simply, lawyers make arguments and attack the arguments of other lawyers. The best argument is one that is founded on solid logic. So, the LSAT is testing your ability to make logical arguments and attack arguments that are illogical. The Reading Comprehension portion of the exam does this while also testing your ability to read dense texts rapidly. Add all that stuff together, and you’ve got something that tests your ability to do the work that you do in law school without making you learn all that stuff first.
The thing is, most people don’t know how to think like lawyers, and your undergraduate career almost certainly did nothing to remedy that situation. Studying for the LSAT amounts to a crash course in logic and argumentation, which requires nothing short of rewiring your brain. Do not take this lightly. Studying for the LSAT is hard work.
How do I prepare for the LSAT?
We all retain information and learn differently. Some people need more support than others. LSAT prep courses can range from Live Course to Self-Paced Course or tutoring. If you don’t know where to start to look, Blueprint LSAT’s team of LSAT Advisors are experienced in identifying a student’s needs and can help determine which LSAT course fits your goals and learning style.
In case you’re wondering, performance on the LSAT does, to a certain extent, correlate with performance in law school. Here’s an article we wrote on that if you’d like to know a bit more about it. <!–
What score do I need to get on the LSAT?
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What score do I need to get on the LSAT?
That really depends on what school you want to go to, what your GPA is, and, to a far lesser extent, how impressive the rest of your application package is. We have this nifty little widget called the Law School Compass. Input your GPA and a particular law school, and it’ll tell you what LSAT score you need to aim for.
That’s just one of the many resources you can access by signing up for a free Blueprint account. You can also take a practice LSAT exam, score it, and watch some video explanations, which could be very helpful, given that you read all the way to the bottom of this post and clearly are interested in knowing about the LSAT.
Hope this helped!
