December 2010 LSAT Aftermath
Another LSAT’s come and gone (except for those who are taking it today – behatzlacha!). The verdict? It seems to be a resounding “meh” – I think we got a pretty standard test, kids.
I’ve talked to a number of my students, and they all felt that it was largely a day devoid of surprises. Reading comp involved such fun fare as caveman cavities and radiocarbon dating. Logical reasoning was largely forgettable (as is almost always the case). As in June, the one thing that seemed to stick out, if anything, was games. The second game, having to do with conferences, gave some people trouble, and the hardest was the third game, involving stained glass. (Also, on the first game, which was very easy, apparently they didn’t give you enough room. Because as a lawyer you’ll have to have small handwriting?)
A number of people are convinced that the test had 102 questions, something that really never happens. Not that it would substantially change the test in any meaningful way, but any change in the LSAT is worth mentioning.
Getting back to things that matter. Based on student reactions, I would guess that the curve will be somewhat generous, but not extremely so. If I had to guess, I’d say -12 for a 170. But, of course, no one will know for sure until scores come out.
Which brings up the fact that some of you are probably thinking about preventing your score from coming out at all. As happens after every test, a number of people are itching to hit the eject button and cancel their scores. If you actually did poorly, it would be better to cancel your score than have a low one. But the hard part is knowing whether or not you actually screwed the pooch. You can’t base it purely on general apprehensive feelings. If everyone who felt shitty about the LSAT canceled their score, about 50 people each year would actually get to go to law school. So if you want to cancel, something tangibly wrong probably should have happened. Check out the featured video on the right to have Matt walk you through the process.
If you do decide to cancel your score, LSAC has to receive your cancellation form within six calendar days of the test. If you’re going to do this, you should fax it in, because, let’s be honest, you really shouldn’t put your future in the hands of the United States Postal Service. Now that you’ve had the weekend to think about it, you should do it within the next couple days if you’re going to do it at all. You don’t want to wait right until the deadline, only to discover that you don’t own a fax machine (or can’t find one).
For most of you, though, it’s just a waiting game now. The scores are scheduled to be released on Monday, January 10th, and if history’s any indication, they’ll actually start landing in your inboxes on Friday the 7th. You might want to fill the month between then and now with celebratory drinking, but you’ve gotta get moving on the rest of your application if you’re applying this cycle. Admission decisions are made on a rolling basis, so you should get your apps in right after receiving your score. To make that happen, all the other elements of your apps have to be into LSAC before you get your score back.
So that’s about it. Hope the LSAT did right by you. And congratulations on taking the test, kids. You done good.