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The Law School Admission Test, or
LSAT, is a standardized test given four times a year at
various locations around the country. All ABA approved law
schools require the LSAT for admission. It is given by an
organization called the Law School Admission Council (often
referred to as Law Services). Law Services claims that there
is a positive correlation between LSAT scores and success as
a first year law student. In other words, according to Law
Services, the better you do on the LSAT, the better you are
likely to do in your first year of law school. Whether this
is true is debatable. What is not debatable, though, is that
law schools rely heavily on the LSAT in making admission
decisions.
As is true with most standardized tests, horror stories
about the LSAT are abundant. Many students are scared silly
over the prospect of having to take it. The LSAT is nothing
more than a test. True, it is an important test. But if you
understand something about it and you prepare for it, your
anxiety level should decrease.
The LSAT is not designed to test your knowledge of the law
or any other subject in particular. Instead, it measures
your reading comprehension, analytical skills, and reasoning
skills. The test consists of 101 questions. It is divided
into five 35-minute multiple choice sections, and a
30-minute essay to provide a writing sample. Each section
contains between 24 and 28 questions. Of the five multiple
choice sections, only four (two logical reasoning sections,
one analytical reasoning section, and one reading
comprehension section) actually count as part of your score.
The fifth section is used for administrative purposes only,
but you have no way of telling, when you take the test,
which four sections count and which one does not. The essay,
which always comes last, is not graded and does not count
toward your LSAT score.
Most students take the LSAT in June after their junior year
of college. The June test is given on a Monday; the other
three test dates are Saturdays in late September or early
October, December, and February. Appendix B contains
information about this year's test dates, costs, and
registration procedures. The October test date is used by
students who, for whatever reason, don't get around to
taking the June test. October is also popular with students
who took the test in June but who were not happy with their
scores, and want to retake it. The December test date has a
couple of disadvantages. First, it is close to the end of
the fall semester when you are busy with other things.
Second, by December you should already have applied to law
schools, and you must ask them to hold your application
until your December test score is available. The February
test date is not very popular. For students who hope to go
to law school that same fall, it is usually a last-ditch
hope to improve earlier poor LSAT scores. |
