LSAT Test Day: Use Previous Photo?

You'll need to bring a passport-sized photo with you on LSAT Test Day, so that LSAC employees can vote on all test-takers, Hot-or-Not-style. (Just kidding, it's for test security purposes. Supposedly.)

LSAC requires that this photo be recent, which, according to them, means it must have been taken within the past 6 months.

The February LSAT is the least popular of the 4 offered each year (February, June, October, and December). As such, many folks who took the December LSAT are retaking in June. When you get passport photos from the local drugstore or post office, they'll typically give you two.

It might be tempting to use the remaining one of the two passport photos that you took back then. While this would save you the trouble of going back to get new passport photos, I don't recommend it.

The December 2011 and June 2012 LSAT test dates make it obvious that it'll have been more than 6 months since December LSAT-takers took their passport photos and submitted them for the December LSAT. After all, the December LSAT test date is more than 6 months prior to the June LSAT test date. (It's entirely possible that LSAC still has the photos submitted by December LSAT-takers.) Don't risk a problem with getting your LSAT score back over something so small. Follow LSAC's instructions and get a new photo.

But what about the other photo you have from December?

If you have a sweetheart, give him/her the extra photo. Unless it didn't come out well. In that case, burn it.

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Any two consecutive LSAT administrations (Feb, June, October, December) are within 6 months of each other. As such, it's possible for you to have two passport photos taken within 6 months of two different LSAT test dates and use one of those photos for each.

However, the February and October LSATs (in the same calendar year) are about 8 months apart.

The June and December LSATs (in the same calendar year) are, typically, just barely within 6 months of each other.

The October and February LSATs (in different calendar years) just about 4 months apart.

As I said above, the December and June LSATs (in different calendar years) are more than 6 months apart.

As such, the only LSAT administrations for which you could conceivably use the same photo are consecutive test administrations, the June and December LSATs within the same calendar year (most of the time), and the October and February LSATs (in different calendar years).

Be sure to follow LSAC's rules on this. Only submit photos that are less than 6 months old.