Law school admissions officers place a heavy emphasis on test scores, which is why a 95% percentile LSAT score can be your one-way ticket to gaining admission to a top 25 -law school. For recent grads or full-time working professionals living in the nearby Denver and Boulder area, let your journey into one of the prestigious law schools across the U.S. start in our Mindfish classroom. Through personalized on location or remote tutoring programs, diagnostic tests, and mock exams, the Mindfish LSAT tutors will help you build accuracy, confidence, and speed as you gear up for your big test day.
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What is the LSAT?
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a standardized skills-based exam designed to test the critical thinking and reasoning skills that are crucial for success in law school. Administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), the LSAT is the only standardized test accepted by all ABA-accredited law schools. The basic skills tested on the LSAT include Logical Reasoning (“Arguments”), Analytical Reasoning (“Games”), Reading Comprehension, and Writing abilities.
LSAT scores range from 120-180, with an average score of 153. But only four of the six sections you complete actually contribute to your LSAT score. Test administrators calculate LSAT scores by adding four unique scores: the two Logical Reading sections, the Reading Comprehension portion, and the Analytical Reasoning section. The LSAC recently announced the transition to a digital tablet-based testing format from the traditional paper-and-pencil format because virtual testing allows for a more consistent LSAT test-taking experience while students receive their scores quicker.
What Content is on the LSAT?
Six 35-minute sections make up the LSAT. Comprised of two sections, the Logical Reasoning section (“Arguments”) determines approximately 50% of your total score and contains 24-26 multiple-choice questions per section. During the logical reasoning sections of the exam, test-takers will encounter challenging questions that involve crafting, critiquing, reviewing, and improving arguments.
The Analytical Reasoning section examines the ability to understand the effects of rules on decisions and outcomes, identify relationships between concepts, analyze complex situations and draw conclusions based on set guidelines, and apply logic to ambiguous situations. During this section of the LSAT, test-takers will face 4 logic games with 4-7 multiple-choice questions each.
During the Reading Comprehension section, test-takers will encounter approximately 27 multiple-choice questions based on four passages. Three of the passages are written by one author while the fourth passage is a combination of two different sources discussing the same topic. The Reading Comprehension portion of the LSAT tests the ability to draw inferences based on text, determine main ideas of passages, discover relevant information within a text, and understand difficult scholarly verbiage.
Next, test-takers must complete an unscored experimental portion called the LSAT Variable Section. Used by the LSAC to see how certain types of questions will perform on future LSATs, the Variable Section will contain questions similar to one of the earlier sections of the test.
The last part of the LSAT is an unscored writing sample, which evaluates the ability to form an argument based on given facts. Rather than receiving a score for a writing sample, the LSAC will send the sample to any law schools to which test-takers apply.