Few things in life are certain. A reboot no one asked for will get greenlit. You’ll open TikTok for “five minutes” and then resurface after an hour. Your brain will choose the worst possible moment to remember something unrelated. And for years, LSAT students could count on one thing in the Reading Comprehension Section: there would always be one comparative passage. Two shorter passages. Compare, contrast, panic slightly, move on.
Well…that rule just quietly disappeared.
On the first day of the 2026 January LSAT, multiple test takers reported that their Reading Comprehension Section didn’t include a comparative passage at all. At first, this sounded like a fluke. Then, the Law School Admission Council (LSAC)—with no advance notice or fanfare—changed the rules on their website. It’s now official: Comparative passages are no longer guaranteed. Some students will see one. Some won’t.
Let’s talk about what changed, why it matters (or perhaps doesn’t), and how to adjust your RC strategy without spiraling.
LSAT Reading Comprehension Changes
Comparative passages are no longer guaranteed. Some students will see one. Some won’t.
Since 2007, the LSAT Reading Comprehension (RC) section has consisted of four passages, each followed by its own set of questions. Three of these were single, standalone passages, and one was a comparative passage—that is, two shorter passages presented together with a shared question set. These paired passages tested your ability to compare viewpoints, points of emphasis, methods, or conclusions.
However, this all changed on the January 2026 LSAT. Multiple test takers reported not seeing a comparative passage in their RC sections. This meant all four sets were single passages rather than including one paired set. This variation prompted confusion and conversation across prep communities as students compared what they saw versus what they expected based on official practice tests they’d taken.
There was no advance notice of this change—a rare move for the LSAC—but the official website was changed after the first round of administration. Now, according to the official LSAC description of the Reading Comprehension section, students can expect to see three or four single passages in a section, with one or zero comparative passages. The scored sections for any given administration should still be the same for all students. However, students taking the exam one month may see comparative reading, while students taking the exam the following month may not.
What Didn’t Change
While this shift is noteworthy, there are some critical parts of the RC section that remain the same:
- Number of Questions: The total number of scored Reading Comprehension questions remains consistent with past administrations. Whether or not there’s a comparative passage, you’ll still face the same amount of questions in that section.
- Timing: The time allotted for the RC Section hasn’t changed. You’ll still need to manage your pacing across four passage sets within the same overall time limit.
- Scoring & Difficulty Level: There’s no indication that LSAC has altered how the Reading Comprehension Section is scored or that the overall difficulty has fundamentally shifted. Instead, the change is likely structural, not a broad rethink of the content or scoring logic.
What This Means for Your LSAT Prep Strategy
With comparative reading no longer guaranteed, how does this change the way you prepare for the LSAT Reading Comprehension section? The good news is, it doesn’t really change much at all.
Several elements appear often on the LSAT but occasionally go untested, such as Role questions and Describe questions. Even Main Point questions have gone absent from the occasional exam. That doesn’t mean we stop practicing them. If there’s a chance we’ll see them on test day, we want to be ready.
That means Comparative Reading should still be part of our practice. If you do see one on test day, you’ll know exactly what minor adjustments you need to make to handle that variation. If you don’t see one on test day, you’ll handle all four passages using the same basic strategies you use for every passage.
LSAT Reading Comprehension FAQs (2026)
- Is the LSAT Reading Comprehension Section easier now?
Not necessarily. Comparative passages are not designed to be inherently more difficult than single passages. A comparative passage could be any level of difficulty, and replacing it with a single passage of equal difficulty should result in no change to the overall difficulty of the section. - Does this help or hurt my score?
This should not have any significant impact on your score. The LSAT is designed to test all test-takers to the same degree, regardless of which version they get on test day. The idea of a standardized test, such as the LSAT, is to ensure that each administration is comparable to the next. This has been true whenever the LSAT has made a change (e.g., adding comparative reading in 2007and removing Logic Games in 2024). - Should I stop practicing comparative passages?
Absolutely not! Even if it’s not guaranteed, it’s still possible to see comparative reading on test day. You do not want to be unprepared for that. Make sure you know how to handle comparative reading if it appears, while also knowing that you’re equally prepared if it doesn’t. - Will law schools care?
Nope. Not in the slightest. They’re only looking at your LSAT score.
Final Thoughts
The LSAT has evolved before—new question types, changes to section order or number of sections, and even the removal of the Logic Games Section not that long ago. As with any change, some students may celebrate while others express disappointment. This change does add a bit of unwelcome certainty—will you get a comparative passage or not?—but take comfort in knowing that the vast majority of the test is not changing. Additionally, this change is not meant to make the test any more difficult.
Whether you love comparative passages or dread them, the best path forward is still the same: develop flexible, adaptable skills so that you’re ready for whatever you see on LSAT test day. And that’s where we come in.
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Further Reading
💻 What Is the LSAT? A Beginner’s Guide to the Law School Admission Test: Thinking about taking the LSAT? Start here!
🧠 Breaking Down LSAT Question Types: Here’s a complete breakdown of what is on the LSAT, the LSAT sections, and the LSAT question types.
