Officials from LSAC reported today that they will be making some minor changes to the format and administration of the LSAT. April Murkha, spokeswoman for LSAC, said that the changes were made to the test in order to preserve the difficulty of the LSAT in the face of increasingly well-prepared students; in a sense, Murkha said, the changes being made to the test are a way for LSAC to combat test-taking strategies learned from LSAT prep companies. This update to the test will be effective for the October test, so we recommend that Blueprint students keep these format and regulation changes in mind when signing up for the October administration.

Changes to LSAT regulations effective in October.
1. No open-toed sandals allowed inside the test center. Hard, laced shoes only.
2. Due to new scoring methodology, No. 4 pencils will now be required in place of the now-defunct No. 2 pencils.
3. Bringing a cell phone into the test center is now cause for receiving a previously unheard of “0” score on the test.
4. LSAT takers may not wear any brand information on their clothing due to concerns over gang paraphernalia and sponsorship complications.
5. Previously approved analog watches must now be replaced by egg timers.
6. The scoring of the test will be changed from the 120 to 180 method to a more familiar 1 through 6 rubric.
7. Test takers can now bring in food, but if they bring in one item of food, they must bring in enough for everyone.
8. On the test itself, test takers can now go back or forward in the test, but only if they sacrifice questions from another section. For example, if a student would like to have time to answer five more questions on logic games, that student must sacrifice five questions from another section.
9. Due to concerns over cheating, retinal scans will now be administered to identify test takers rather than the previous finger printing method.
10. Because law schools increasingly want well-rounded students, and have finally thrown in the towel and admitted that no one actually reads the writing sample, this section has been replaced by a physical fitness test.

UPDATE 4-2-10: Apparently some people thought this was legitimate. Do you really think that if you brought an apple to the test center, you’d have to bring 30 for everyone? Honestly, people. Honestly.