I feel like I have heard varying input on this question which is why I am asking here. Does the fact that someone comes from a first gen (whether first in family to go to undergrad or to law school) or low income background have any sizeable impact on the admissions process? I don't expect it to have that heavy of an effect - obviously LSAT and GPA still rule - but does it say have more or less than soft factors? While I would expect schools to be a little more open to first gen/low income students to bolster the diversity of their classes, do they ever "punish" the group on the thought that low income students may request more aid/scholarships?

Hey all,

I have been PTing in the low 160s for my last three attempts, which I am pretty excited about. I have also been trying to take more time to review my wrong questions, flagged questions, and just generally have trying to more actively participate in Blind Review (I used to just skip through so I could see my score...)

I do truly think and believe I can get up to any score on this test given the right timeframe. My dream schools are WashU and Northwestern, which would require a big jump in LSAT scores before August 8th, which is when I am taking my next official LSAT. I was wondering if anyone had some advice on how to improve quickly, because I am thinking I will need to retake the exam after August, with the long term goal of not having to delay my application for a year.

If WashU or Northwestern do not work out, I am thinking of applying to UIUC, Mizzou, University of Wisconsin, University of Washington, and maybe Marquette or Pittsburgh as other options. I am sure I would be able to experience a great education at any of these schools, but the question then becomes: Can I can get my LSAT score high enough?

What tips helped you the most with improving your score? I usually finish each section with two minutes to go, and will go back and review flagged questions. I am studying about an hour a day during the week, and then have been trying to PT on the weekends. The issue with PTing so often is that I am running out of fresh PLSATs to take. I am sure there are ways to find more points within this test, so if you could let me know of any tricks worked for you, that would be awesome. These tricks can include small test day tips or maybe different study programs you used too. Anything will be helpful!

Is the LSAT Advanced Class always going to only be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays? I have a semester commitment on Tuesday nights but I think the class would be right for me #help

When I do BR I always tend to look at the reason why that question is recommended for BR, such as wrong or too much time. I feel like I am kind of cheating BR that way, because I am able to eliminate an answer or just skip it if it says too much or too little time. Better idea to stop right?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for an in-person tutor located in the bay area! I can drive and would ideally like to meet on Tuesday/Thursday or on the Weekend! You can reply or message me privately if you're local and open to tutoring.

I'm scheduled for the October/November test and I really need my score up. I would like to go over each question type and make a routine for how to POE/Hunt for answers. I'm also needing to improve my RC. I'm a blank slate please help

I have been keeping my wrong answer journal in the notes tab, and I would love to drill those questions in the future to see if my explanations were helpful!

Hey! I have yet to download CAS, and I was wondering if CAS allowed for more than four letters of recommendation? I have multiple people I want to ask. Thanks in advance!

My prep tests have ranged from 154-159 for the past month, but my blind review have been consistently 166+! The thing is I would understand it more if it was because I spent a longer time on each question during blind review and that's why there is a major increase. But i don't, I still time myself and take about 1.30 to 2 minutes per question. I haven't seen much improvement in my timed score this whole month, and I don't know what to do to make this gap smaller. I would love some advice

I feel like I have trouble reading RC fast because I’m trying to understand it. The passages be talking about bullshit sometimes so it’s hard for my brain to wrap around it. Any tips ?

We updated the way we calculated difficulties. Nothing got objectively easier or harder, but you might notice that some questions shifted a star or two in difficulty from where they used to be.

***

We changed the formula underlying our difficulty calculation. We used to rate a question by how strong a student has to be to have at least a 50% chance of getting it right. Now we rate it by how strong you have to be to have at least a 75% chance of getting it right. The main effect is that questions where a high scorer isn't much likelier than a low scorer to get it right -- questions that are a bit of a coin flip for everyone -- now get rated as hard. Under the old system some of them could have been rated as easy.

We think the updated calculation results in better difficulty ratings.

Is there really no way for the exam platform to highlight the sentences/words that the quesions stem is talking about in the RC section?? Is it just the way it is now? Do I really need to find the exact location on my own?? It wastes so much time, it's terrible

Is there any way I can get the pdf and links for a recorded class? It helps to be able to follow along

It seems to me that LSAC has created a split system that will last for the next cycle or two. As these changes run their course, I assume that DE grades will essentially be viewed similar to a master's transcript, ie. a soft factor. However, this cycle will have some folks whose gpas were calculated before this change and include Dual Enrollment grades, and some folks whose gpas were calculated after and do not include these grades.

I suppose I'm wondering what schools will do in a case with two hypothetical candidates: Applicant A, who submitted their transcripts after the change and whose LSAC GPA is a 3.77, but would be a 3.87 with DE grades; and Applicant B, who submitted their transcripts before the change and would have a GPA of 3.76, but their DE grades bring them up to an LSAC GPA 3.85.

At the end of the day, the answer is, of course, that law schools have medians, that those medians are calculated using LSAC GPA, and that LSAC GPA is whatever LSAC says it is, even if you and the guy next to you have had it calculated in different ways. But I'm interested in what the community thinks

hi everyone!

i'm currently scoring around 157 PTs and have a 3.46 GPA. i'm planning on applying to a variety of schools (safety, target, and reach), but part of me feels almost shameful for not applying to (or having the numbers for) higher-ranked schools. most of the schools on my list are safeties, mostly because there aren't many target schools in my area.

i'm above the medians for most of the schools on my list, but is it "wrong" per se to aim to attend a safety? i feel like a lot of social media and the app cycle community heavily prioritizes going to the best possible school, so i'm just trying to make sure i'm not doing it "wrong" i guess?

I am completely stressed out for this exam and feel it might be affecting my studying. I feel like I know all the information I need but can't ever seemingly put it together on these timed drills. I am taking the August LSAT next week and feel absolutely cooked even though I know I can perform better than what I'm at. Any last minute tips or tricks I can implement to increase my score or any possible motivations will help. Thank you and good luck to everyone!

I know this is a weird request, but would anyone like to read a personal statement I plan on using for most of my applications? I just have no idea how it sounds to an admissions officer, and I am not sure what the next step should be for improvements. I can send it as a PDF to your email or elsewhere.

Just let me know down below. I would be very grateful.

By far my biggest weakness across the board is critique/debate RC passages. I consistently miss 2-3 questions per passage no matter the difficulty or topic. This is not close to my other types of RC passages where I am well above 70% accuracy.

I noticed I will see answer choices and immediately throw them out because I feel like they are either too extreme or twists the author's view too far... am I supposed to be looking for stronger answer choices and less neutral ones?

Any advice would be much appreciated because I feel like I am improving in every area besides this one.

Thanks!

I applied to schools this cycle and decided to take a gap year. Can I use the same personal statement next year that I used this year with edits? And what edits should I make?

Hi everyone! I haven't started studying for the LSAT yet (planning on October/November test) and this is due to accountability and procrastination. If anyone is interested, I'd love to get to know some people on here who would love to study in person as I feel that is how I'm most productive. I've already taken my diagnostic, 143, and my goal score is 160+. If anyone is in the same boat, please reach out!

First time I'm breaking 170! A year of studying finally paid off- and a week before I take the exam!

Dear [name], 

We’re writing to let you know about a change to how we calculate the LSAC GPA. Effective today, July 28, 2026, LSAC will no longer include grades from college-level courses completed while a candidate was in high school in the LSAC GPA calculation. This change applies only to transcripts submitted to LSAC from today forward.

We’re making this change in consultation with law school representatives on LSAC’s Schools and Candidates Committee, in an effort to ensure more fairness and equity in the law school application process. Access to college courses varies widely among high schools, and where access does exist, students may not know — or may be incorrectly advised — whether grades earned in those courses can affect their chances of being accepted to law school.

By excluding such courses from the GPA calculation, we hope all high school students, regardless of their motivation for taking college courses, can feel free to do so without concern over how it might affect their future law school enrollment.

Admission staff and faculty will, however, continue to see these “dual enrollment” grades, along with an academic note calling them out, on the CAS Report — an approach similar to how AP courses are reported. This update will help law schools better evaluate law school readiness as part of a holistic application process.

If you have any questions about this change, please reach out. Thank you, as always, for your work on behalf of your advisees.

Just wanted to share the news!! My GPA will now be a 3.97! :)

Hi All! Taking the August test. In my pre-test phase (WOOOOO). Says to take a test using LawHub interface to practice what I will see on test day. Not sure if others have an opinion, but it is still the old interface on LawHub and it also gives you your section score after completing each section.

I guess what I am asking is - Does it really help to take it on LawHub right now? I planned on just using 7sage since it actually reflects what test day will look like in regards to the aspects I listed. Thoughts?

We've rebuilt our admissions predictor from the ground up. The interface didn't change, but it uses a completely new algorithm, now trained on the most recent cycles. Expect lower but more accurate predictions.

What changed

- Newer data. It's now trained on the three most recent cycles, including 2025. The old version was learning from an era that was meaningfully less competitive than the one you're applying into.

- Stats are measured against current medians. Your GPA and LSAT are now evaluated relative to each school's medians rather than in absolute terms, so median drift is built in instead of ignored.

- Your numbers are treated as a package, not a checklist. The old model added up LSAT, GPA, and URM status as independent boosts. The new one learns how those factors interact with each other and with the tier of school you're applying to — the same LSAT can mean very different things depending on the rest of your profile and where you're applying.

- Fewer extreme predictions. The old model was happy to tell you 95% at a T14 on numbers alone. It shouldn't have, and the new one won't.

What that means for you

Most people will see lower numbers, and the drop will be largest at reach schools and for profiles that were previously getting very high admit odds. Nothing about your candidacy changed — the old figures were just too generous.

How we know it's better

Tested against actual 2025 outcomes, log loss (a standard measure that punishes confident wrong answers) fell from 1.35 to 0.85, and predicted probabilities now track observed results closely across the whole range. For scale: applicants the old model gave a ~90% admit chance were actually admitted roughly half the time. That gap is largely gone.

The usual caveat

It still only sees GPA, LSAT, and URM status. Essays, softs, work experience, letters, and school-specific priorities are invisible to it. Treat the output as a well-calibrated starting point for building a school list, not a verdict.

Learn more | Try the predictor.

I’ve been prepping consistently for the LSAT since around March/April. I was originally going to take the June test but decided to shift to August. So glad I did, I have an underlying concept of logic, etc. Yet on my prep test I still significantly score around the high 140s low 150s. I believe my single biggest issue is the clock. I rush, or I take too long on a question that really doesn’t need much time taken on it. I constantly feel the pressure of the clock. I’ve always preformed on test like this. I know the material, I know what to do, I know I’m able to execute. Once pressure gets involved I crumble underneath it.

Has anyone been able to overcome this? I know the mental capacity to do it is there, I know that I won’t magically be able to ignore the pressure. I’m just hoping for some strategies anyone might have to overcome this hurdle.

I created a GroupMe for anyone studying for the LSAT! The goal is to have a space to ask questions, stay accountable, and support each other throughout prep.

I’m also planning to host Zoom study sessions every other week.

If you’d like to join, please see the link in the study group for the GroupMe link. Everyone is welcome!