Oh, the dreaded LSAT. Around 100 questions, scored on a scale from 120-180, and probably the worst five hours of standardized testing you’ll ever face… Until you get to the Bar exam, that is. I’ll be going over the basic format of the test, as well as how your raw score is calculated into your final one.
There are five sections of questions on the LSAT, four scored. The last section is where they test questions for future LSATs, so that the process can endure for another year. Unfortunately, there is no way to know which section is unscored while you’re taking the test.
The make-up of the exam is two logical reasoning (or arguments) sections of the test, one reading comprehension section, and one analytical reasoning (or logic games) section. So at the very least, you know that if you have two analytical reasoning sections, one of them has to be the prototype and one is scored, but that’s about it.
The order of the sections varies per test as well, to help disguise the unscored section. Finally, after the questions, there is an argumentative essay portion of the exam, which is also unscored, but is sent with your score to every school that you apply to.
The make-up of the exam is two logical reasoning (or arguments) sections of the test, one reading comprehension section, and one analytical reasoning (or logic games) section. So at the very least, you know that if you have two analytical reasoning sections, one of them has to be the prototype and one is scored, but that’s about it.
The order of the sections varies per test as well, to help disguise the unscored section. Finally, after the questions, there is an argumentative essay portion of the exam, which is also unscored, but is sent with your score to every school that you apply to.
The LSAT is not computerized; it has to be taken with pencil and paper. There is no scratch paper allowed, all work must be done in the test booklet. Overall, each section usually contains between 17 and 23 questions, and lasts for 35 minutes.
The first of the three types of questions, analytical reasoning, gives the test-taker sets of random scenarios, restrictions on each scenario, and then asks them to answer questions on what might be possible based on those restrictions. It’s basically a series of advanced riddles with a time limit.
The second type of questions, reading comprehension, contains sets of dense pages of one or more texts on a highly specialized subject, and then approximately five to eight questions about each text.
Finally, the logical reasoning questions are made up of a series of unrelated questions that each offer a scenario or pose an argument, and the test taker has to answer questions about them. Usually it’s about a piece of evidence that best supports or undermines either the argument or the conclusion, but it can also ask about analogies, flawed logic, or any number of relationships between the parts of the argument.
After the multiple choice sections, there is the essay portion of the exam. The essay segment gives the test taker a prompt involving a scenario where a character must make a decision between two options, each with a major pro and a major con. The test taker must argue for one option over the other in a persuasive essay. Luckily, you get a little bit of scratch paper to outline your essay for this section. Again, the essay isn’t scored, but many schools report the essay making or breaking a borderline candidate’s admission, and rejecting otherwise overqualified candidates because of their poor essays.
The first of the three types of questions, analytical reasoning, gives the test-taker sets of random scenarios, restrictions on each scenario, and then asks them to answer questions on what might be possible based on those restrictions. It’s basically a series of advanced riddles with a time limit.
The second type of questions, reading comprehension, contains sets of dense pages of one or more texts on a highly specialized subject, and then approximately five to eight questions about each text.
Finally, the logical reasoning questions are made up of a series of unrelated questions that each offer a scenario or pose an argument, and the test taker has to answer questions about them. Usually it’s about a piece of evidence that best supports or undermines either the argument or the conclusion, but it can also ask about analogies, flawed logic, or any number of relationships between the parts of the argument.
After the multiple choice sections, there is the essay portion of the exam. The essay segment gives the test taker a prompt involving a scenario where a character must make a decision between two options, each with a major pro and a major con. The test taker must argue for one option over the other in a persuasive essay. Luckily, you get a little bit of scratch paper to outline your essay for this section. Again, the essay isn’t scored, but many schools report the essay making or breaking a borderline candidate’s admission, and rejecting otherwise overqualified candidates because of their poor essays.
Each question in the four scored sections is worth one point. Each correct point is added up, and that total number makes up the raw score. Then the raw scores of everyone in your testing section are distributed along a bell curve, and your final LSAT score is calculated based off of that. A score of 150 would be around the 50th percentile, and it goes up and down from there, with minor variations depending on how everyone else in the testing section does. Because of that, I can’t give an exact table for the conversions, but any practice test will have the table for that version of the test laid out with the answer key.
If this sounds a little bit too daunting for you, some schools have begun accepting the GRE in place of the LSAT, which I’ll be discussing in my next post. Until then, happy studying!
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