We may receive compensation when you click on product links from our partners. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.
Also known as the most dreaded time of the beginning of a law student’s life, the Law School Admission Test can make or break your application into law school. The score to the exam is used to assess your preparedness to follow in the steps of famous lawmakers, lawyers, and judges that served as role models and guided your young existence.
If we have you by the edge of your seat, here comes the good news: you have the power to make a difference! Sure, it takes a lot of preparedness and lots of study, but this will only prepare you for what’s to come when law school finally starts.
Since the LSAT is a complex examination process, it’s important to know what to learn and the skills to focus your efforts. For this, you first must be familiar with the structure of the exam and the abilities that will be assessed by each section. And this is exactly what we’ll discuss in today’s article!
LSAT Exam Sections
While there are six sections of the LSAT exam, only four contribute to your final score.
Five of the six sections are multiple-choice questions and there is one optional writing section (unscored). Out of the five multiple-choice questions, one (unmarked) is unscored.
Each section should take around 35 minutes to solve, and the tasks are designed to assess your ability for
Logical Reasoning
This part of the LSAT exam is two sections long (about 25 multiple-choice questions per section) and tests for various types of logical reasoning such as inference, assumption, principle, and method of argument.
Most questions comprise short passages of text that test students’ ability to apply critical thinking to abstract concepts, identify points of argument, and use critical evaluation and analysis techniques.
Analytical Reasoning
In this section, students will have to solve several sets of so-called logic games in order to determine how they can analyze situations based on specific guidelines and how they apply logical thinking to complex scenarios.
Candidates must also be capable of identifying the impact of rules on the decisions they reach and understand relationships between different complex concepts.
Reading Comprehension
Each student is presented with four passages of text, of different length and complexity. Their job is to understand the text, identify the main ideas and points, and draw conclusions based on the rules they were assigned.
The subjects of the texts are varied and contain complex arguments and rhetorical structures. As such, candidates must be able to understand the relationship between texts and identify their meaning.
Writing Sample
This section is unscored and optional during the exam. While the essay won’t influence the final score, copies of it will be sent to the law schools you apply to, and it may influence the decision of the admissions committee.
Overall, the writing sample is an argumentative essay where students are asked to defend one of two positions. Each candidate must bring forth convincing arguments to support the decision to defend one position over the other.
It’s important to remember that the position you choose to defend doesn’t matter. What matters is the arguments you bring in support of your decision and how convincing your essay is.
Wrap Up
Keep in mind that the LSAT exam is only the first step to a career in law. While it may be helpful in getting you into a more prestigious school, this doesn’t guarantee a job right out of
