Does the June Lsat indicate the difficulty for the Sept Lsat?

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• 2 Likes

  BinghamtonDave Alum Member ⭐ 🍌🍌

  August 2016 8716 karma

  I think this question can be answered on a couple of different levels. The first is an appeal to the common wisdom that no one test is drastically harder than another test (assuming we are comparing tests within sets:i.e. "PTs in the 60s" etc) Tests are marginally more difficult due to the appearance of something that changed the scoring scale: a rare pattern game for example, but all and all tests basically level out in difficulty, within a certain range. I carved out a small caveat there when I said "within sets" because comparing PTs in the 70s to PTs in the 10-19 range we have differences that can subjectively be categorized as easier or harder: the comparative passage on RC, the substitution question on LG, but there is no real consensus on how these differences translate into difficulty. I know 4-5 people that will tell me that the 70s are "easier" and the teens are "harder." I find it the other way around! lol.
  
  The next way to answer your question is an appeal to what tests are harder or easier to you. That is to say: are you really great at games? Are your necessary assumption skills not really up to par? All things that can be exploited by a certain test. From all that I have gathered, there really is no pattern in what the LSAC tries to exploit in this regard. So it follows necessarily that if you want to get a great score----> be really really good at everything.
  
  The next way to address the nub of question is an opinion on what assumptions we can draw given the last administration of the test about the next administration of the test. IE: June-September, September-December. I have found that we can't really draw anything that useful. We can't say in my estimation: June 2016's LG was sort of ordinary: therefore watch out for an oddball curve-breaker game in September! I have attached a link below that I hope is helpful when you look at the scoring counts.
  
  https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/correct_targeted.cfm
  
  
  
  Ok, so although I have just typed 3 paragraphs on the difficulties of answering your question I will say this. If you can get through pretest C's games with a minute to spare and -0. Then from my experience: you are ready for anything any future PTs will throw at you.
  
  
• 1 Like

  BinghamtonDave Alum Member ⭐ 🍌🍌

  August 2016 8716 karma

  I should also say that in my experience PT 27 is the most difficult LSAT of all time. The snakes and lizards game, the film buff grouping game, the RC Names passage, a string of 10-11 really tough LR questions on the first section. Factor in all these things with the fact that for the vast majority of Americans 1998 was pre-internet and certainly pre-LSAT online study communities and you have in my estimation the most ridiculously hard test for people to prep for of time. I have revisited the snakes and lizards game some 20-25 times over the course of my prep and it still often catches me with a -1!
• 2 Likes

  Sprinkles Alum Member ⭐

  August 2016 11542 karma

  I agree with the above, but this is something we shouldn't consider to worry about. All of the LSATs are structured the same no matter when you take it, that's the point of a standardized test. People come out with many theories on why June is better than December and why October is better than February but it's all just that: theories. They hold no evidence and it just makes people go crazy on which date to choose. The only difference between each test is the date it's taken during the year.
• zanqvi861 Alum Member

  August 2016 73 karma

  Thank you very much! That was a really detailed answer Yeah I believe it really depends on what you're good at and whether or not you choke on test day. I was hoping against hope that there would be similarities that people would know of, since doing some june/oct preptests from earlier you tend to see similar sounding questions almost and games that will be harder for june and easier for september of the same year, but you're right I haven't seen anything consistent.
• 2 Likes

  zanqvi861 Alum Member

  August 2016 73 karma

  On the subject of difficult games, PT 36 Game 3 really takes ones breath away lol. The problem with difficult games is that you end up being rattled for other games that might not be so difficult. Fingers crossed enough practice takes that away.
  
• StopLawying Alum Member

  August 2016 821 karma

  @"Alex Divine" Idk, taking undisclosed tests suck. Just something about it makes me feel uncomfortable. LSAC can be like" they're never gonna see the test anyway so let's see how they respond to tough/weird questions." I'll be taking an undisclosed test in Sep, just wish I was taking the test with everyone else lol.
  
• 2 Likes

  BinghamtonDave Alum Member ⭐ 🍌🍌

  August 2016 8716 karma

  PT 36 game 3 is in my estimation the single hardest game of all time. The KG that triggers the IM rule was one of the most difficult rules to contend with I have ever come across. I felt like everywhere I turned I was checkmated with something that violated a condition. lol. Really tough game.
• 2 Likes

  StopLawying Alum Member

  August 2016 821 karma

  Rest of the games though from that PT are really easy.
• Alex Alum Member ⭐

  August 2016 edited August 2016 23929 karma

  @StopLawying said:
  Idk, taking undisclosed tests suck. Just something about it makes me feel uncomfortable. LSAC can be like" they're never gonna see the test anyway so let's see how they respond to tough/weird questions." I'll be taking an undisclosed test in Sep, just wish I was taking the test with everyone else lol.
  

  Yeah, but that is all in your head. The stats show that the Feb test is no different or more challenging than the other admins. There are some Feb tests that have been released and they are just like any other PT. It is all in your head. But don't let it be
  
  I know you are going to kill it!
• Sprinkles Alum Member ⭐

  August 2016 11542 karma

  Haha @StopLawying if it makes you feel any better I've taken an undisclosed LSAT and it was very run of the mill. LSAC is heartless, but not so heartless that they'll make the undisclosed LSATs that much more difficult than the rest
• 1 Like

  CalPoliSci Member

  August 2016 236 karma

  There should be no way that the tests are different from each other. If some test dates were easier, or if there were discernable pattern, then test-takers would try to exploit that advantage. That's totally against the LSAC's interest. The LSAC wants to make sure their test scores are standardized and accurate, and that they're comparable between applicants.