Finally, after years of learning at the Birkenstocked feet of the Blueprint LSAT gurus, my time has come to take the heavy mantle of making predictions for the upcoming LSAT. I have consulted my crystal ball (also known as a wine bottle) veeeery closely and I am finally ready to issue the following predictions:
Logic Games
The June 2014 LSAT was infamous for having a circular game that threw students for a loop (see what I did there?), and the February 2014 LSAT was rumored to have a pretty tough circular game as well. The tests since June 2014 have had Logic Games sections of pretty standard difficulty, so we’re about due for another killer game. So, friends, I’m calling it here — expect a game that falls outside the normal ordering/grouping operations.
The good news is that, although test-takers generally find these games difficult since they’re less familiar with them, the approach for non-standard games is exactly the same as for the more familiar varieties: Think about a way to set up the game that will allow you to visually and accurately represent what’s going on. Think through any deductions you can find, and make sure you understand how the game is working. And above all else, don’t panic!
In order to compensate for the time required for this exceptionally tricky game, the first two games will be pretty smooth sailing. I’m expecting one ordering game (or maybe a combo game) with a lot of rules and not many deductions — but as long as you keep track of the rules well, it shouldn’t give you too much trouble. And I’m also predicting a combo game with a key deduction that unlocks the entire game, whereas the game will be very difficult without finding that deduction.
Reading Comprehension
The consensus among takers of the February 2015 LSAT was that there were a couple of particularly difficult Reading Comprehension passages. However, I don’t think we’ll see anything outside the ordinary for the June 2015 test. There will be one particularly dense passage about a technical topic, which will be hard to wrap your head around, but the questions will mostly refer back to details within the passage. Other than that, the passages will be pretty standard — the Comparative passage will be a little tougher than usual, but nothing to write home about.
Logical Reasoning
Logical Reasoning is always a bit of a mixed bag — usually there are a couple of questions that everyone agrees were extremely difficult, but beyond that it’s generally not one of the sections that stands out in test-takers’ memories (as opposed to an exceptionally tough Logic Game or Reading Comp passage, which will have everyone talking after the test).
I’m predicting a tough question relatively early in the section that will throw people off a little bit. The LSAT has also really been testing time-management skills recently, so I’d expect to see some time-consuming questions in the range of question numbers 10 to 20, which will force test-takers to manage their time well in order to complete the rest of the section. I’d also expect to see at least one prompt (aka question stem) that doesn’t immediately seem to fall within the question type categories that you’ve studied. If this happens, start by thinking about what the prompt is asking you to do — draw an inference? Supply information to change the argument in some way? Analyze the argument? From there, you should have a clearer idea of how to tackle the passage.
Other than that, there won’t be anything too unusual about the Logical Reasoning sections. Principle questions, which used to be pretty rare, have been making a comeback in recent years — but I suspect LSAC will back off that trend to keep us guessing, with a maximum of one principle question per section. Beyond that, you’ll have your standard grab-bag of question types, with some doozies mixed in as per usual.
The Curve
I’m predicting a tougher-than-usual Logic Games section, so the curve will be more on the generous end in order to compensate. The curve will be -12 for a 170 and -23 for a 160.