LSAT Update, Harvard GRE Update, and More!
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Phew, a lot has been going on in the LSAT world recently. Let’s take a look at everything and how it should impact your prep and application timeline.
LSAT Update: New Retake Policy? Go To Town!
LSAC has gone through a number of retake policies. Most recently, they’ve been fairly strict with the enforcement of their three-times-in-two-years rule. In short, within eight consecutive administrations of the LSAT, you were only allowed to take it three times (including cancels/absences; not including withdrawals). While they had previously allowed waivers for many reasons, the LSAC shifted that policy a few years ago to only grant waivers in very specific circumstances.
They’re now going in pretty much the opposite direction.
Starting with the September 2017 LSAT, you can now take the exam as many times as your little heart desires. Or, at least, as many times as you can stand before going insane!
How should this affect your prep? It should take some pressure off of the test itself while also giving you more flexibility. It’s still not ideal to take the test more times (though law schools do, generally, just look at your highest score), but you can decide to just keep taking the thing until you get a certain score.
That said, I’d imagine that a school looking at a seven test/four year record of LSAT scores might question your judgment. Though they’d have to give you points for perseverance!
LSAT Schedule: I Don’t Want to Wait (For This Test to be Over)
If the new retake policy wasn’t enough for anyone out there looking to maximize the number of times they sit for the exam, LSAC is also moving towards a schedule that includes six examinations in a given year. The 2017–2018 cycle will shift dates and add in an extra test (June/September/November/January/March) before moving to their full cycle, starting with a test in July of 2019.
So when all is said and done, the test cycle will be:
July, September, November, January, March, June
I’m not sure why the cycle starts with July instead of June (or even March). However, I do know that this will definitely have an impact on how students prep for the exam. Gone are the days of feeling like you need an extra couple weeks to prep for the exam, only to be forced to wait months for another administration. Instead of prepping for a single exam, I think it’s going to be much more common to take a wait-and-see approach, registering for one exam but holding out the possibility of pushing.
While that is already the case with the schedule, pushing back was a much harder decision because of the length of time you needed to stay in prep mode.
That said, it’ll be interesting to see how the LSAC releases tests. As of now, they release three tests and hold one back in case they need a test form for an emergency (think snow day). With the extra examinations, we’ll have to see if they release all the extra tests, none of the extras, or split it down the middle.
That decision will also have implications for how many questions they need to write each year. It’s no easy feat to write an LSAT question. Outside of writing it and editing it to make sure there are no ambiguities in the phrasing, they need to be vetted and tested to ensure they create a standardized test form. By adding ~200 questions/year into the equation (assuming they create completely new tests for the extra two administrations), they’re taking on a lot of extra work.
Wait, I Can Take the LSAT on a Tablet?
Potentially.
The LSAC recently ran a pilot for administering the LSAT on a tablet. No joke.
And—here’s a detail that shocked me—reports are that it was actually better than a paper/pencil test! Several students have reported directly to us that they preferred the tablet to the printed version. Great job, LSAC!
Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, though. This isn’t something that we’re going to see switch over tomorrow. The LSAC is holding more trials and analyzing the viability of this program before rolling it out.
But if all goes to plan, we may be seeing the iLSAT sooner than you think.
Harvard and the GRE
Harvard announced (to great fanfare) their decision to allow students to apply to the law school with a GRE score. There have been rumblings of other schools following suit, but so far? No dice.
That may be a problem for any of you law school hopefuls who are eyeing the GRE.
Short version? According to Harvard’s website, students applying with both a GRE and LSAT will still have their LSAT scores reported to the ABA. In other words, Harvard will still be held accountable to your LSAT score.
I’d expect students applying with a score on both exams will be considered primarily based on their LSAT scores. Since most of you law school hopefuls are planning to apply to multiple law schools (and not just Harvard and University of Arizona), that means the GRE is essentially off the table as an option. Even if we see the defection* of a chunk of law schools, it’d need to reach a critical mass before you’d be able to get away with just taking the GRE and having enough options to cover your bases.
As I said up top, phew! A lot of changes in the LSAT world recently. I do believe most of them are beneficial. However, as with all permissive policies, they leave open the chance of abuse (I’m eyeing you, person already thinking about taking the LSAT a dozen times). But more options? Second chances? Less pressure for a given test or test date? These are all good things for students. ?
*Yes, that’s the word I want to use here!
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Matt Shinners is a Manhattan Prep instructor and jdMission Senior Consultant based in New York City. After receiving a degree in Biochemistry from Boston College, Matt scored a 180 on his LSAT and enrolled in Harvard Law School. There’s nothing that makes him happier than seeing his students receive the scores they want to get into the schools of their choice. Check out Matt’s upcoming LSAT courses here!