LSAT and Law School Admissions Blog

Join me tonight at 8 pm EST for a detailed look at one of my all-time favorite LR question types: Parallel Reasoning! I'll break down precisely how to attack these time-consuming questions, including a comprehensive analysis allowing you to move at maximum speed without sacrificing an ounce of accuracy, and then immediately follow up that conceptual overview with six real Parallel questions from past LSATs. With a half dozen actual questions on offer you'll learn how to formulate powerful prephrases and instantly eliminate trap answers, all while solidifying your First Family skills.

You're about  four weeks from the next official LSAT administration.

That's right, you're into your final month! 

Don't panic! I'm not here to freak you out. On the contrary, I'm here to help.

The next month is all about improving your LSAT score, bolstering your confidence, and instilling a positive mentality. If you are a student currently enrolled in a PowerScore course, congratulations: the course itself (and your instructor(s), of course) will give you all of the structure and guidance you need to make the most of your time! For non-students, however, the path may be a little less clear, and you are my intended audience for this post. 

Below you'll find a list of resources, links, and general suggestions, all designed to help you make the most of these last few weeks and finish--or, dare I say it, even start--strong! 

On Tuesday, 5/8, LSAC updated their site to reflect open registration for the following domestic LSAT dates, along with deadlines and fees:

• September 8th, 2018 LSAT: Deadline is midnight EST on 7/23; new fee is $190. 

• November 17th, 2018 LSAT: Deadline is midnight EST on 10/8; new fee is $190. 

• January 26th, 2019 LSAT: Deadline is midnight EST on 12/17; new fee is $190. 

In addition, registration deadlines have been announced for the next two 2019 tests, although registration has not yet begun for them:

• March 30th, 2019 LSAT: Deadline is midnight EST on 2/25; no word on cost or when registration will begin. 

• June 3rd, 2019 LSAT: Deadline is midnight EST on 4/29; no word on cost or when registration will begin. 

A few important notes about these upcoming tests:

With about eight weeks until the next official LSAT administration on Monday, June 11th, test day is right around the corner.  In fact, it'll be here before you know it.

Don't panic! I'm not here to freak you out. In fact, I'm here to help. 

Below you'll find a list of resources, links, and general suggestions, all designed to help you make the most of your final two months, and finish--or, as may be the case, start--strong! 

With the release of February LSAT scores last Wednesday, we’ve reached what is traditionally the end of last year’s testing and application cycle, and the start of most people’s prep for admission in the fall of 2019. That isn’t to suggest that schools won’t take a summer test for a start later this year—a lot of great schools accept the June (and likely July) results for same-year admission—or that students looking to begin in 2020 or later shouldn’t start preparing now! But for the majority of future applicants the coming months mark the start of their LSAT journeys.

As such, two of the most common questions I hear this time of year are , “How do I begin to prepare?” and “How do I pick the prep option that’s best for me?”

In this post I’ll do my best to answer both of those questions.

One of the most common talking points you'll hear leading up to an LSAT score release—and incessantly on the day scores become available—is the notion of "going grey." In fact a hysterical flurry of "I'M  GREY!!" announcements on twitter and elsewhere is one of the most reliable predictors that scores are imminent.

So what's all this grey business about, and how can you determine your own color status?

I recently published a blog article highlighting the enormous spike in LSAT test taker volume over the past year, where: 

• June 2017 was up 19.8% over June 2016 (to 27,606 tester takers)

• September 2017 was up 10.7% over September 2016 (to 37,146 tester takers)

• December 2017 was up a whopping 27.9% over December 2016 (to 40,096 tester takers)

• And February 2018 was up 10.8% over February 2017 (to 32,026 test takers; this is still a tentative figure and will be finalized by LSAC soon)

December 2017 was particularly notable, as it represented not only the largest year-over-year test taker percentage increase in recorded history (since 1987 ), but also the first time since 1989 that a December test has been better attended than the preceding September/October administration!

Naturally, people are wondering what's driving this renewed interest in law school, and what it means for future applicants, with many observers speculating that the volatile first year of Donald Trump's presidency—where every day seems guaranteed to include a high-stakes legal discussion or debate—has been a key motivator for young people to pursue law degrees.

In fact, so pressing are those questions, and so intriguing the so-called "Trump Bump" hypothesis, that US News and World Report even ran an article on the applicant surge, and reached out to both me and PowerScore's CEO, Dave Killoran, to get our thoughts. As often happens with these types of articles only a fraction of our commentary made the final cut, but I'm of the opinion that readers will find value in the entirety of that exchange. 

So what I'd like to do is share with you the full transcript.

Per LSAC's March 3rd announcement, LSAT scores will be released on Wednesday March 7th, in the "early evening." Based on past history, that means around 4:30 PM Eastern or later.

UPDATE: On the evening of March 6th LSAC announced that scores would be releasing that same night in order to get them to students before a serious snowstorm threatened to close LSAC's offices on March 7th (the intended release date). So as of this writing scores are out!

February 2018 LSAT takers have one burning question in mind: When exactly will my score be released?

Per LSAC, February 2018 LSAT scores are slated to be released on Thursday, March 8th, 2018. However, past LSAC score-release trends indicate that scores are almost always released earlier than the official date (except when weather conditions have interfered with the original test dates, as was the case with the February 2013 LSAT). So, even though you still have to wait to get your score, you probably won't have to wait until the score-release date designated by the test makers. 

So when will you have it?

Your LSAT score is the result of your performance on a predetermined collection of multiple-choice tasks: two scored sections of Logical Reasoning, one scored section of Reading Comprehension, and one scored section of Analytical Reasoning (better known as Logic Games). In addition to those four, there will also be a fifth, unscored multiple-choice section known as the Experimental, which will present another of the three types—either a third LR, second RC, or second LG. These five sections can appear in any order, and are largely unpredictable as you work your way through the exam.

But that's not the entirety of your test day.

What many fail to realize, or at the very least fail to fully understand, is that official LSATs also contain a sixth section, given in a separate test booklet and administered after the completion of the five sections described above: the Writing Sample. And it's this final section that I want to talk about today.