The formal part of your legal education is book-ended by two exams. At the front, the LSAT. At the end, the Bar Exam. While you’re probably familiar—or in the process of becoming familiar—with the LSAT, the bar exam is foreign to most applicants and law students. So what’s the difference between the LSAT vs Bar Exam?
LSAT vs Bar Exam: Two Sides of the Same Coin
The easiest differentiators are the timing and purpose of the exams.
The LSAT is a test you have to take before you get accepted to law school. The bar exam is the test you have to take before you can get licensed to practice law. Simple enough, right?
Both of these exams test different skills, but if you plan on becoming a lawyer, you will need to pass both exams. (Although, admittedly, some law schools don’t require the LSAT.)
Unsurprisingly, there are some similarities between the two. In the rest of this article, we are going to compare and contrast the LSAT vs the Bar Exam to help demystify what’s ahead.
Further Reading
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What Is the LSAT?
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a standardized exam used by law schools as part of the admissions process. You take it before law school, typically during or after college.
What the LSAT tests
The LSAT does not test legal knowledge. Instead, it focuses on skills that law schools believe are foundational to success in legal education, including logical reasoning and reading comprehension skills.
The exam is designed to measure how you think, not what you know.
Format and timing
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Multiple-choice exam
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About 3 hours of scored testing time
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Includes a separate writing sample, which is not scored but is sent to law schools
Scoring
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Scored on a 120–180 scale
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You can take the LSAT multiple times
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Your score plays a major role in law school admissions and scholarship decisions
In short, the LSAT helps law schools predict how well you might perform academically in law school.
Further Reading
What Is the Bar Exam?
The bar exam is a licensing exam required to practice law. You take it after graduating from law school, usually shortly after earning your JD—unless you went the apprentice route and didn’t actually go to law school.
What the bar exam tests
Unlike the LSAT, the bar exam tests substantive legal knowledge. That includes:
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Constitutional law
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Contracts
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Criminal law and procedure
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Evidence
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Civil procedure
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And more, depending on the jurisdiction
The bar exam is about whether you know the law well enough to practice safely and competently.
Format and timing
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Typically, a two-day exam (roughly 12 hours total)
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Typically includes:
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Multiple-choice questions
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Essays
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Performance tests that simulate real legal tasks
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Scoring
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Usually pass/fail
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Each jurisdiction sets its own passing score
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Offered only a few times per year (usually February and July)
Passing the bar is a requirement for licensure. There’s no workaround.
How Preparation Differs
LSAT prep
Most students study for the LSAT for about 3–6 months, depending on goals and baseline performance. LSAT preparation is largely about:
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Learning question types
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Developing logical frameworks
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Practicing timing and strategy
Bar prep
Bar prep is an entirely different experience. Most bar prep programs last 8–10 weeks, but the total workload is significantly heavier than LSAT prep. Bar prep includes:
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Heavy memorization of legal rules
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Daily structured study schedules
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Full-time studying for many graduates
While general test-taking skills (critical thinking, focus, endurance, and discipline) can transfer, LSAT skills do not directly prepare you for bar exam content.
Final Thoughts
So, in the standardized match between LSAT vs Bar, who wins? We venture to say that most lawyers would rather take the LSAT again than the Bar Exam.
The LSAT provides a good intro to making sure you get used to building your life around a study schedule and building good test-taking habits. However, it does not come close to preparing you for the grind or depth of the Bar Exam. Fortunately, you’ll have time to build up your mental library of information throughout law school.
In the meantime, if you’re at the beginning of your law school journey, you only need to focus on the LSAT. Blueprint LSAT students increase their LSAT scores by 15 points, on average! Whether you have the discipline to study on your own with a Self-Paced Course, want to navigate the LSAT with instructors in a 170+ Course or Live Online Course, or prefer one-on-one attention through tutoring, we have the study method that fits your learning style.
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