LSAT(Law School Admission Test)

Law School Admission Test, commonly known as LSAT, is a mandatory test to get an admission to all American Bar Association (ABA) approved law schools, most law schools in Canada, and some non ABA Approved law schools. LSAT is administered by Law School Admission Council (LSAC).

LSAC is a nonprofit corporation whose aim is to provide the best quality admission-related services for legal education institutions and their applicants throughout the world.

Students seeking admission in 5-year or 3-year LLB programs in India may take LSAT- India, conducted by LSAC, USA and Pearson Vue for use by law schools in India. It will be administered across 15 cities in India in a paper and pencil format for the first time on 5th May, 2012.

Who can appear for LSAT?

Students generally appear for LSAT after graduation in any stream. However, there is no eligibility requirement specified by LSAT for the exam. It is up to the candidates to understand the eligibility requirements of Law College they are targeting before giving the exams.

In the US, Canada, the Caribbean, and some other countries, the LSAT is conducted on a Saturday, except in June, when it is generally conducted on a Monday. Many law schools prefer that the LSAT should be taken by December for admission to the following fall. However, the best time to conduct the test is in June or September.

LSAT exam pattern

LSAT is skill-based test. It has 101 multiple-choice questions with duration of 4 hours and 25 minutes. It has six sections in all - five objective-type sections of 35 minutes each and an essay section of 35 minutes. Out of the five objective-type sections, only four contribute to the score of the test taker.

The unscored section is variable and is used to pretest new test questions or to preequate new test forms. The writing sample is not scored by LSAC but it is sent to all law schools to which candidates apply, along with their scores.

LSAT test candidates for:

• Logical Reasoning,
• Analytical Reasoning, and
• Reading Comprehension

There is no negative marking in LSAT. LSAT scores are converted into scale that ranges from 120-180.

LSAT - India has same question types but it is shorter. It does not include the writing sample and its duration is 2 hours and 20 minutes, without any break. It is also reported on a different scale than LSAT.

Opportunities after LSAT:

LSAT is a half-day, standardized test for candidates who want to pursue the Law programme from United States, Canada, and Australia. It is conducted four times each year at designated testing centers throughout the world.

Through this test, examiners measure the reading and verbal reasoning skills of the applicants. These skills are important for candidates to be successful in Law schools. Some schools place greater weight than others on the LSAT and most law schools evaluate the candidate's full range of credentials.

The scores of LSAT- India are just valid for India for the year in which the student has appeared for the exam.