1.1 - Intro to the LSAT

Welcome to the starting line of your law school admissions marathon—the Law School Admission Test (a.k.a., the LSAT).

Here we'll discuss what the test is, how it's scored, and why crushing it provides you your best opportunity at a debt-free legal education.

What's the LSAT?

If you take away nothing else from this lesson, remember this: the LSAT is a test of reading comprehension. It's concerned with how carefully you read and understand dense English texts. It's not about memorizing legal terms or knowing the law inside out. In fact, you don’t need any outside knowledge on the test whatsoever. It’s about how you think, not what you know.

The LSAT differs from other standardized tests you may have taken in the past.

For example, you might have taken the SAT or ACT to get into college. Those are knowledge tests—you need a certain amount of prerequisite knowledge to perform well on them. If you went into them without a reasonable foundation in, say, Geometry, you probably struggled with the math sections.

The LSAT tests skills—to perform well, you only need to be able to read carefully and apply a handful of skills.

Imagine you had to take a test of basketball skills to get into school—say, three-pointers, free throws, and layups. Each of these skills involves a variation of putting a ball in a basket. On the LSAT, this ball-in-basket skill would be reading for understanding.

You wouldn't ace this hypothetical basketball exam by reading Steph Curry's "100 Ways to Shoot 3s, Free Throws, and Layups" (not a real book, btw). You'd ace it by getting out on the court and practicing the skills until you couldn't miss.

LSAT Anatomy

The LSAT has three scored sections, Logical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Analytical Reasoning (a.k.a. Logic Games).

There's also an experimental section used to test future questions and a writing sample, each unscored. You get a short break in between the second and third sections.

What Each Section Tests

Logical Reasoning is all about arguments. You'll spot their conclusions and evidence, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and determine whether or not their authors prove their points—essentially, you'll think like a lawyer.

Reading Comprehension tasks you with reading and analyzing verbose passages on various topics. It assesses your ability to grasp main ideas, interpret tone and structure, and digest what you've read.

Logic Games test your ability to understand relationships, draw conclusions, and work efficiently. You'll sort out scenarios based on provided constraints to determine what's possible or certain when taken to logical extremes. Note: the June 2024 LSAT will be the last test administration incorporating logic games. We will update this course for the August 2024 test and beyond following the June 2024 test.

How the LSAT is Scored

The LSAT is scored on a scale from 120 to 180 based on how many questions you answer correctly. Each question counts equally (regardless of section) and there's no penalty for wrong answers. Check out LSAC‘s official scoring information here.

Your job is to get as many correct as possible. Notice how I didn't say, “Your job is to finish the sections.” More on that later.

How to Study

Studying for the LSAT largely falls within four buckets: theory, drills, timed sections, and practice tests (PTs).

Right now you're doing the theory bit. You're getting some background know-how that'll give you a leg up when you dive into real practice problems.

Use theory as your foundation and your reference material—maybe 5% of your total study.

Drills should make up the vast majority of your studies. Drilling involves tackling one question, passage, or game at a time and carefully reviewing each mistake in bite-sized fashion. I'd argue drilling should comprise 75%-80% of your studies.

Then there's timed practice, both practice sections and PTs. These are for benchmarking your performance under timed constraints. You should sprinkle them in every now and then to frame your progress and to know when to sign up for the official test. These should make up the other 15%-20% of your overall study. I'd also recommend favoring timed sections to full practice tests—you'll have fewer overall mistakes to review.

The Benefits of a High LSAT Score

A high LSAT score is more than a bragging right. It opens doors to top law schools and major scholarships. A few points can be the difference between attending your dream school for free and paying to attend your fallbacks.

Each year, ABA-accredited law schools are required to publish consumer protection data, commonly referred to as a 509 report. These reports are chock full of information about each school, including the incoming 1L class's LSAT and GPA percentiles.

These data heavily influence law school rankings and incentivize schools to admit students whose LSAT scores and GPAs improve the school's medians in each category—generally speaking, the higher the medians, the higher-ranked the school.

This can work massively in your favor.

Because the LSAT is such a learnable test, you can create a ton of leverage for yourself as an applicant by scoring the highest you possibly can. School's only report each applicant's highest score in their 509 reports, so take the test as many times as is necessary to maximize your score. You'll reap the benefits in acceptance letters and scholarship offers.

How LSAT Performance Translates to Law School

Studies have shown a correlation between LSAT score and first-year law school performance.

That's to say, how you perform on the LSAT helps admissions officers predict how well you'll perform as a 1L at their school. It's a sort of sneak peak at your 1L future, hence why higher-ranking schools tend to admit students with higher scores.

Some challenge the notion that LSAT translates to 1L performance, but generally speaking, the skills assessed in the LSAT are the ones you'll use throughout your legal studies and beyond.

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That's it for our intro to the LSAT. Next, we’re outlining the foundational skills for your LSAT success.

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What'd you think of the introduction? What would you change? Please leave me some feedback in the comments so I can continually improve this course for you.