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October LSAT: The Morning Cometh

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Those taking the October 2015 LSAT have run the gauntlet and emerged on the other side, (hopefully) relatively unscathed. As post-LSAT-celebration hangovers subside, let’s delve into the chatter we’ve heard about the October 2015 LSAT.

We’ve heard multiple reports that one of the Logical Reasoning sections was especially difficult, which is unusual – we often hear that there were a couple really tricky Logical Reasoning questions on the test, but it’s atypical to hear that an overall section was especially tough. In addition, we’ve heard rumors that there were no Main Point questions in Logical Reasoning, which doesn’t often happen – Main Point questions are far from the most common question type, but you can generally count on at least a few per test.

There’s also been a lot of buzz about the third Logic Game. Many students struggled with finding any useful deductions for the game (or ended up with a ton of scenarios). In recent LSATs we’ve seen some unusual game set-ups, but it sounds like all of the games on this test were familiar game types.
For Reading Comprehension, everyone’s talking about an unusually tough Comparative passage. It’s easy to underestimate the Comparative passages, since each passage is shorter and the passages’ structures tend to be simpler. However, as October LSAT-takers were reminded, Comparative passages can still be tough – usually by being especially focused on the details.

Now let’s take a moment to talk about you, the October LSAT test-taker. We hope that your LSAT went without a hitch, but sometimes things don’t quite go according to plan. For instance, if you usually can count on finishing Reading Comprehension without a problem but had to guess on some questions on the fourth passage, you may be wondering if you should cancel your score.

First, sleep on it. In the first few days after the LSAT, test-takers tend to focus on everything that went wrong, often coming close to convincing themselves that they must have gotten the world’s first 119 on the LSAT (yes, a score so low that it isn’t even possible). However, after a little reflection, you may begin to feel that the test didn’t go so horribly after all. You have until the end of the week to make your final decision, so don’t make any hasty decisions at this point.

Second, only cancel your score if you have a concrete reason to believe that you scored significantly worse than usual. If you just have a bad feeling about the Logic Games, it’s probably best to wait and see what score you end up with. However, if you typically come close to getting a perfect score on the Logic Games section and this time you had to guess on the last game-and-a-half, you might have a good reason to cancel the score.

Ultimately, though, most law schools only consider your highest score, so it’s usually better not to cancel your score – and you may surprise yourself by doing much better than you expected.

Now it’s your turn. Do you agree or disagree with the general consensus? Did we miss anything that you found to be especially difficult? And what was your post-LSAT beverage of choice?