Law School Admission Test

Law School Admission Test

Acronym	LSAT
Type	Standardized test
Developer / administrator	Law School Admission Council
Knowledge / skills tested	Reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, logical reasoning, and (unscored) writing[1]
Purpose	Admissions to Juris Doctor programs of law schools in the US, Canada, and some other countries[citation needed]
Year started	1948 (1948)
Duration	35 minutes for each of the 4 sections, for a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes (excluding breaks)
Score / grade range	120 to 180, in 1 point increments
Score / grade validity	Scores of up to 12 tests taken since 1 June 2008 are valid
Offered	As of 2023, 9 times a year, with dates listed on the LSAC website.
Restrictions on attempts	Starting August 2023, no more than 5 attempts in 5 years, no more than 7 attempts in a lifetime. Exceptions may be granted for special circumstances.[2]
Countries / regions	Worldwide
Languages	English
Annual number of test takers	105,883 in 2013–2014[3]
Fee	US$222
Scores / grades used by	Law schools in the US, Canada, Australia and some other countries[citation needed]
Website	www.lsac.org/jd/lsat

Legal education in the United States
Stages
Pre-law Law school Legal clinic Juris Doctor Master of Laws Doctor of Juridical Science
Exams and licensure
LSAT Admission to the bar Continuing legal education
Organizations
Law School Admission Council Association of American Law Schools American Bar Association Practising Law Institute
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The Law School Admission Test (LSAT /ˈɛlsæt/ EL-sat) is a standardized test administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning.^[5] The test is an integral part of the law school admission process in the United States, Canada (common law programs only), the University of Melbourne, Australia,^{[6][7][needs update]} and a growing number of other countries.^{[citation needed]}

The test has existed in some form since 1948, when it was created to give law schools a standardized way to assess applicants in addition to their GPA.^[8] The current form of the exam has been used since 1991. The exam has five total sections that include three scored multiple choice sections, an unscored experimental section, and an unscored writing section. Raw scores are converted to a scaled score with a high of 180, a low of 120, and a median score around 150. When an applicant applies to a law school, all scores from the past five years are reported and typically the highest score is used.

Before July 2019, the test was administered by paper-and-pencil. In 2019, the test was exclusively administered electronically using a tablet.^[9] In 2020, due to the pandemic, the test was administered using the test-taker's personal computer. Beginning in 2023, candidates have had the option to take a digital version either at an approved testing center or on their computer at home.