LSAC's New initiatives under a new President & CEO

7SageKindness

To enhance its commitment to access and diversity, LSAC has entered an innovative partnership with the Khan Academy to develop free, online practice materials for the LSAT with the goal of making personalized, online LSAT practice free for all. LSAC is also expanding the frequency and formats of the LSAT to reduce barriers to entry to legal education, including piloting the first nationwide digital LSAT exam on May 20, 2017. Further, LSAC has made a significant investment in the Council on Legal Education Opportunity, Inc. to assist in that organization’s efforts to advance the diversity of the legal profession.

Source: http://www.lsac.org/aboutlsac/pressreleases/testy-president-and-ceo

On another note, I also read in a different link that apparently LSAT test takers will be able to take the LSAT as many times as they want, and the number of LSAT test dates per year will be increased to 6 (from 4).

Daniel.Sieradzki

Yeah, this is some great news. While I do not think that many people want to take the test more than 3 times, unlimited takes is a great option for students who have worked hard but had a couple bad/premature tests and want another shot without having to wait 2 years, which was crazy.

Here is the schedule for the 2018/2019 LSAT schedule (http://lsac.org/docs/default-source/jd-docs/testdateweb.pdf), which shows 6 tests. I really like the idea of a November test and think it is great for college students. September is a crazy time because classes are starting to gear up and December is usually when finals are taking place. Thus, those two test dates have caused issues in the past. Hopefully, with the digital LSAT there will be even more test date options.

tanes256

A friend of mine took the bar digitally. She said it's an extra $100 because the test is offered on paper. I wonder if LSAC will have something similar for the digital test? Anything for more money, right?

Daniel.Sieradzki

@tanes256 Ouch! Are you saying that the digital bar exam is $100 more than the paper bar exam? That sucks. I would have assumed that the digital test is cheaper because it requires less of proctors and is easier to grade. I was hoping that the digital LSAT would be cheaper than the already very expensive paper test.

nessa.k13.0

@tanes256 said:
A friend of mine took the bar digitally. She said it's an extra $100 because the test is offered on paper. I wonder if LSAC will have something similar for the digital test? Anything for more money, right?

An extra $100 to pay for the digital bar? Yeahhh I'd probably pass haha. We were given a $100 gift card to try out the digital LSAT, and so that would be interesting to see an increase in cost of the LSAT in the near future.

I agree with @"Daniel.Sieradzki" it's not a great idea to take the lsat more than 3 times as we don't have any info that admissions offices are changing their standards regarding the number of scores per applicant. It definitely seems like LSAC is making such changes to solidify the importance of the LSAT in light of the ABA changes (that lsat need no longer is a requirement) and HLS's (soon Northwestern) GRE admissions pilot program. I see why LSAC would increasing the frequency of the test to provide more access. Regarding the free LSAT prep, it makes me wonder how it will change the test, in the sense that 7sage LG explainations changed the curve and LSAC responded by putting out more strange/undefined games.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/new_dates_for_lsat_released/ ----on a similar note, the last paragraph is most interesting. "Meanwhile, the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is also considering the issue. Under the current version of Standard 503, which deals with law school admissions, law schools using alternative tests must demonstrate that the exams are valid and reliable. A proposed rule revision, which the Standards Review Committee put forth in February, suggests that the Council of ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar establish a process to determine the reliability and validity of other tests.

The proposed revision is under consideration by the council, and a hearing (PDF) is scheduled for July 13 in Chicago."

Makes me wonder what other changes are coming.

tanes256

@danielznelson yep! $100 extra to take the test digitally. Who knows though?? They're already looking at profiting more money from the recent changes so maybe this isn't even on their radar. It was however one of the first things I thought of knowing about the digital bar.

missions

Is it just me or has anyone realized the cruel irony of paying LSAC $180 or $280 (if digital) to serve as guinea pigs for the experimental sections? Maybe for the extra $100 - there won't be an experimental?