Does The LSAT Change Over Time?

The other day, I received this email:

hi there- i am interested in purchasing your lsat guide but am concerned that it will not have the latest up to date information- it says it is to be used with the 10 real lsat tests from 1996 and this is obviously 2007- i specifically need help with the games section which has changed significantly since 1996- please let me know if your guide is current and will be helpful-

The question is well-meaning, but it’s based on a poor understanding of the LSAT, and the extent to which the test has changed over the years.

Most test-prep companies say the LSAT logic games are different now from the way they were a few years ago. This is because most test-prep companies don’t understand the logic games.

But the LSAC’s own actions prove that the games haven’t changed in the ways that really matter. My answer to the email above will explain why:

Thanks for writing. . . .Contrary to what you may hear, the LSAT hasn’t actually changed at all since 1996, at least not in the important ways.

Let me explain. The only value any standardized test has is that its standardization over a given period of time allows institutions to use test data to make predictions about student success. With the LSAT, a law school keeps track of the behavior (grades, honors, et cetera) of students with particular LSAT scores, and when you apply they compare your LSAT score to their existing tracking data to make a guess about how you’re likely to perform at their school. This tracking data is only valid if the test that generates it remains the same from one date to the next–otherwise, your performance on test #x has no predictable relationship with someone else’s performance on test #y. This is why a change in test format (like the one the SAT just got through making a couple of years ago) is such a huge deal–test writers have to be sure they’ve standardized the test in a meaningful and sustainable way, and schools have to prepare themselves to start tracking new data. For these reasons alone we know that the LSAT hasn’t changed fundamentally since 1996, even with the recent addition of comparative reading questions (if it had, the data it generates would be useless, and any changes would have been major events for law schools).

But this, of course, begs the question: If the LSAT hasn’t changed since 1996, why do most test prep companies seem to think it has? The answer is that the test *has* changed in superficial ways, but not in the important ways that make it standardized.

The LSAT, like all standardized tests, is written according to certain rules and patterns that govern the way questions have to be structured in order to be allowed on the test. When you study these rules and patterns in your preparation, nothing that appears on any LSAT can surprise you, because you know how the game is played, so to speak. But most tutors, coaches, and companies don’t pay attention to these rules and patterns, and don’t teach them; according to their way of looking at the LSAT, it can appear to change even when the rules and patterns have not changed.

The logic games you mentioned are a great example. Most test prep companies classify the logic games into different types (the “grouping” type, the “linear” type, whatever). Most of them say that the logic games have shifted over the last few years so that now you see more “hybrid” games than you used to–games that mix and match elements of the types the company identified several years ago. This is true. But the classification types were never part of the rules and patterns on the test, which is why they can “change” while the rules and patterns remain constant–the classification types weren’t organic to the test. They were imposed by lazy prep companies that didn’t do their research. On the other hand, my way of looking at LSAT logic games focuses on differentiating the variables within the game, and it can be applied to any “type” of logic game you’ll ever find, because it’s based on the rules and patterns that must never change as long as the LSAT maintains its current format.

But that isn’t the reason I chose the 1996 test to use as an example in my Guide–I chose it because that’s the test the LSAC gives away as a sample on www.lsac.org. The fact that they provide it as a sample gives strong support to my claim that the test’s substance hasn’t changed since then–if they thought it had, they’d be forced to release a more recent test in order to let the people who take the test today have the same quality of free prep material available to them as the people who took it in 2000.

I hope that helps to allay some of your fears. If there’s anything else I can help with, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Thanks,

Mike Barrett, President
Grammatix, Inc.

By the way, do you have a question for me? Use our contact form or leave a comment–I’d love to hear from you!