How the LSAT works

What the LSAT measures

The LSAT is the Law School Admission Council's test of the skills it considers central to the first year of law school: reading dense material accurately, analyzing and evaluating arguments, and writing a reasoned argument of your own. It has two parts that you take separately (LSAC, Types of LSAT Questions):

1. The multiple-choice test, which produces your score.
2. LSAT Argumentative Writing, an unscored writing sample that is sent to the law schools you apply to.

This course describes the format LSAC uses for tests through June 2027. A change announced for August 2027 is described at the end of this lesson.

The multiple-choice test

The standard LSAT is four 35-minute multiple-choice sections (LSAC, Specifications of the LSAT and LSAT Argumentative Writing):

Section	What it is	Minutes	Counts toward your score?
Reading Comprehension	Four sets of passages with questions	35	Yes
Logical Reasoning	Short arguments, one question each (occasionally two)	35	Yes
Logical Reasoning	A second section of the same kind	35	Yes
Variable section	Either Reading Comprehension or Logical Reasoning	35	No

The sections do not come in a fixed order: the unscored section can be either kind and can come at any point in the test (LSAC, Types of LSAT Questions). Between the second and third sections there is a 10-minute intermission, the same for everyone; you must take the full ten minutes, and you may not work on scratch paper during it (LSAC, About the 10-Minute Intermission). LSAC says the whole session takes about three hours for standard test takers (LSAC, Frequently Asked Questions about the LSAT).

How many questions?

LSAC states the scored totals: your score rests on 27 scored Reading Comprehension questions and two sections of 25 scored Logical Reasoning questions each, 77 in all (LSAC, Starting August 2027, the LSAT Will Look a Little Different). Some quick arithmetic of our own shows the pace that implies:

Section	Scored questions	Minutes	Average time per question
Logical Reasoning	25	35	35 × 60 ÷ 25 = 84 seconds
Reading Comprehension	27	35	35 × 60 ÷ 27 ≈ 78 seconds, including reading

These are averages, not a schedule. Some Logical Reasoning questions take forty seconds; a hard parallel-reasoning question can take three minutes. The lesson Pacing, review and test day shows how to manage the clock.

Why there are no "logic games"

Older materials describe an Analytical Reasoning section, usually called logic games. LSAC replaced it with a second scored Logical Reasoning section from the August 2024 test, and said it would keep assessing analytical and deductive reasoning through Logical Reasoning questions (LSAC, What to Expect Starting With the August 2024 LSAT). If you pick up an older practice book, skip its Analytical Reasoning sections; they are no longer on the test.

The unscored section changes nothing

You will not know which section is unscored: LSAC does not tell test takers which questions are unscored (LSAC, The LSAT Will Look a Little Different Starting August 2027), and the section looks like the others. LSAC uses it to try out questions for future tests (LSAC, Specifications). So the only sensible plan is to treat every section as if it counts. Test takers who try to guess which section is experimental, and then relax in it, risk relaxing in a scored section.

The two kinds of question

Logical Reasoning questions measure your ability to examine, analyze and critically evaluate arguments as they occur in ordinary language. The passages come from sources such as newspapers, general-interest magazines, scholarly publications, advertisements and informal discussion; they resemble legal reasoning in type and complexity, though few are about law (LSAC, Logical Reasoning). LSAC lists ten skills, which organize this course's Logical Reasoning units:

LSAC's skill	Where this course teaches it
Recognizing the parts of an argument and their relationships	The anatomy of an argument; Argument structure: role and method
Drawing well-supported conclusions	Inferences: must be true and best supported
Detecting assumptions	Assumptions: necessary and sufficient
Determining how additional evidence affects an argument	Strengthening, weakening and evaluating
Identifying flaws in arguments	Flaws in reasoning
Identifying explanations	Explanations and discrepancies
Recognizing misunderstandings or points of disagreement	Agreement, disagreement and misunderstanding
Identifying and applying principles or rules	Principles: identifying and applying them
Recognizing similarities and differences between patterns of reasoning	Parallel reasoning and analogy
Reasoning by analogy	Parallel reasoning and analogy

Reading Comprehension sections have four sets, each a reading selection followed by five to eight questions: three or four single passages and either one comparative pair (two shorter, related passages) or none. Passages come from the humanities, the social sciences, the biological and physical sciences, and areas related to law (LSAC, Reading Comprehension). The Reading Comprehension units teach each kind of question LSAC names.

Every question in both sections has five answer choices, and the directions ask for the best answer: the one that most accurately and completely answers the question.

How scoring works

Your raw score is the number of questions you answer correctly. Every question counts the same, and wrong answers are not deducted (LSAC, LSAT Scoring). Two consequences follow:

• Never leave a question blank. A guess can only help.
• Don't spend three minutes on one question while three easier ones go unread at the end of the section. Every question is worth exactly one point.

The raw score is converted to the 120–180 scale, so that scores from different administrations mean the same thing. The conversion differs a little from one test form to another, which is why no one can tell you in advance exactly how many questions a given score requires.

Your score report also shows:

• a score band, a range slightly above and below your score, because any single test score contains some measurement error. LSAC bases the band on a statistic called the standard error of measurement (LSAC, LSAT Score Bands). Its current page does not state the band's width, so we don't either.
• a percentile rank: the percentage of test takers in the previous three testing years whose scores were lower than yours (LSAC, LSAT Scoring). In LSAC's table for the 2023–24 to 2025–26 testing years, for example, a 155 was higher than about 54% of scores (LSAC, LSAT Percentiles).
• your other reportable results: LSAC reports results from the current testing year and the previous five.

Law schools use LSAT scores as one part of a holistic admission process (LSAC, FAQ). A score matters; it is never the whole of you.

LSAT Argumentative Writing

Argumentative Writing gives you one debatable issue with three or four perspectives, each a few sentences long, representing competing beliefs or values. You take a position and address some of the arguments and ideas of the other perspectives in an essay. There are no "right" or "wrong" positions (LSAC, LSAT Argumentative Writing; Types of LSAT Questions).

Feature	What LSAC says
Timing (most test takers)	50 minutes: 15 for a guided prewriting analysis (you may move on after 5) and 35 for the essay
Delivery	Online, on demand, through LawHub, on your own computer with secure remote proctoring; remote for everyone, not at test centers
When	From eight days before your LSAT administration
Scoring	Unscored, but required: an approved writing sample must be on file before you can see your score or have it released
Who sees it	The law schools you apply to; LSAC says schools look at reasoning, clarity, organization, language usage and writing mechanics
Tools	A digital scratch-paper area, highlighting, spell-check underlining without suggestions; no word limit; no generative AI or grammar tools

One administration of Argumentative Writing is included in the LSAT fee, and a sample already on file from an earlier test still counts (LSAC, Frequently Asked Questions about LSAT Argumentative Writing). Because processing can take time, LSAC advises finishing it promptly. The Argumentative Writing unit of this course teaches the task in full.

Where and how you test in 2026–2027

From the August 2026 test, LSAC is moving the multiple-choice LSAT to in-person testing at Prometric test centers for almost all test takers (LSAC, LSAT Remote Testing and Distance Exceptions; Getting Ready for Your LSAT). Remote testing is an exception that you must request, for example:

• for certain disability-related accommodations that require remote testing;
• if you live more than 180 miles or three hours' drive from a domestic test center with available capacity;
• for test takers stationed abroad on active U.S. military duty, and their spouses and dependents abroad with them.

Some of LSAC's older FAQ answers still describe a free choice between remote and in-person testing; the newer pages on the 2026–2027 cycle are the ones to follow, and LSAC's site is the final word for your own test date.

At a test center you are given scratch paper booklets and pencils and may not bring your own (LSAC, FAQ). The test runs in LawHub, the same interface as LSAC's free practice tests.

Accommodations. If you have a disability, you can request accommodations through JD Services by the accommodation deadline for your test date (LSAC, How to Request Accommodations on the LSAT). LSAC reports accommodated scores exactly as it reports all others and does not tell law schools that you tested with accommodations (LSAC, FAQs about LSAT Accommodations).

Other facts worth knowing. For the August 2026–June 2027 testing year the LSAT fee is 253 US dollars, which includes Argumentative Writing (LSAC, LSAT & CAS Fees); LSAC offers fee waivers. You may take the test up to five times in the current reportable score period (since July 2021) and seven times in a lifetime (LSAC, FAQ).

What changes in August 2027

On 26 October 2026 LSAC announced that, starting with the August 2027 test, the unscored questions will be built into the three scored sections instead of filling a separate fourth section (LSAC, Starting August 2027…; The LSAT Will Look a Little Different Starting August 2027):

From August 2027	Minutes	Questions	Of which scored
Reading Comprehension (six passages)	52	40	27
Break	10	none	none
Logical Reasoning	45	32	25
Break	10	none	none
Logical Reasoning	45	32	25

LSAC says the question types, the number of scored questions, the time per question and the 120–180 scale do not change, and that anyone testing through June 2027 keeps the current four-section format. Everything this course teaches about the questions applies to both formats; only the section lengths differ.

How to use this course

1. Work through the Logical Reasoning units in order: the first unit builds the vocabulary of argument and the formal logic that every later lesson uses.
2. Do the practice questions after each lesson, and read every explanation, including those for questions you got right.
3. Take LSAC's free official PrepTests on LawHub, timed, in the real interface (LSAC, Official LSAT Practice Tests). This course links to them; it never reproduces them.
4. Take this course's full-length practice test under timed conditions, then review it with the method in Pacing, review and test day.
5. Write at least two timed Argumentative Writing essays before test day.

Check yourself

• How many multiple-choice sections are there, how long is each, and which ones count?
• Why should you treat every section as scored?
• What is your raw score, and why should you never leave a question blank?
• What must be on file before LSAC releases your score?
• Where will most people take the multiple-choice test in 2026–2027, and where does everyone take Argumentative Writing?
• What stays the same when the format changes in August 2027?