Will there be a inflation of LSAT scores for 2021 admission cycle?

This_is_Hard

In the recent months, I've seen posts on Reddit where people are PTing all time highs of 160+, right after the change to Flex. Not sure about here, but I presume its likely the same. The format of Flex makes LG and RC worth so much more than before. Also, there is a consensus that LG is the easiest to improve at. Now that there's only one LG, RC, and LR section for Flex, it'd be far easier to get a higher score by even only improving your LG since it's weight is worth the same as LR and RC.

I'm not sure how all of this is going to impact the admission cycle for 2021. A little worried about this, but I suspect previous admission scores won't necessarily be a good indication of what scores will get you in for 2021. I suspect it will probably be a few points higher.

What are your thoughts?

VerdantZephyr

Hard to say. I also do not know what percentage of people prepare for the LSAT effectively. While it is common advice given on here to drill LG to best improve your score, not everyone even prepares much for the LSAT and I think, outside of 7sage, maybe the LG drill method to perfect LG is not as common. Because of that, while I think your reasoning is logical, I do not know how much, if any, impact we will see. There is also the matter of testing fatigue. The LSAT Flex is only 105 minutes of test. The in person LSAT was 175. Many people I think typically notice a slight drop in performance on that 5th section compared to the first two. Bottom line though, I do not think that we will know what impact it will have until next year. We will just have to do our best to excell in testing and applications.

Logician

I agree with @VerdantZephyr. Another thing to keep in mind is that each question is weighted heavier, so each mistake will cost you more than on the traditional LSAT.

hopefulling

It is an interesting question also in addition that there may have been accepted students for Fall 2020 that chose to defer for Fall 2021, making fewer spaces available on top of it. LawSchoolNumbers does make it scary, there are a LOT of really amazing scores applying for this cycle!!

It's definitely an interesting 'survey error' question about whether to trust the volume of 173+ posts compared to the possible total of scores overall. ... I did notice on the LSAC's data for my state (the recent years - I don't know if it includes last years' data or just the years before ...), that the scores for women have increased recently by a bunch. It's almost a two-group divide between 'average/poor' scores and 'phenomenal' scores. Adds pressure if you're hoping for a wonderful scholarship!