LSAC on New LSAT Retake Limits

"We want to prevent bad actors from abusing our policy. We saw repeaters who were concerning to us—more than we expected—in some tiny minority of cases. [The council] has to be cautious of the people who try to strategize about how to get an unfair advantage on our test."

— Lily Knezevich, senior vice president for learning and assessment at the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), commenting on the reinstatement of limits on the number of times people may take the LSAT each year. Beginning in September [2019], pre-law students may only take the LSAT three times in a testing year, which runs from June through May. Under the new rules, would-be law students may take the LSAT up to seven times total. LSAC had previously done away with these limits in 2017 when it increased the number of LSAT testing dates from four to nine.

From the National Law Journal:

“Unfortunately, these [limits] are not good for test-takers,” said Steve Schwartz, an LSAT tutor who also blogs about the test. “Your LSAT score is the biggest factor in determining your financial aid. To impose this kind of limit privileges those who don’t need the financial aid and leads others to take on massive loans for law school.”⁣
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⁣The new limit will also put more stress on those taking the LSAT for the third time in a year, knowing it’s their last shot during the cycle, he said.⁣
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⁣Both Schwartz and Killoran said they believe part of the council’s motivation for the new limit is to allow it to reuse more LSAT tests with a lower risk that repeaters will encounter the same questions. Schwartz said it cost an estimated $750,000 to develop each LSAT and that it makes sense the council would want to reuse tests now that there will be 10 administrations each year.⁣

"Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA 18940

Dear LSAT registrant,

You are receiving this communication because you have taken, or have registered to take, the LSAT in the 2019-2020 testing year. We want you to know that LSAC is committed to providing a fair and equitable testing program and maintaining the integrity of the LSAT. We will be updating our test-taking limit policy later this summer and it will go into effect with the September 2019 LSAT administration. We are still finishing up the final details of the new policy, but we know that there has been a lot of conversation on social media recently, so we wanted to share the basic elements in an effort to reduce the speculation and any anxiety. Based on our estimates, this policy will impact a small number of people – less than 1 percent of all LSAT test takers.

In effect starting with the September 2019 test administration, test takers would be permitted to take the LSAT:

• Three times in a single testing year (the testing year goes from June 1 to May 31).
• Five times within the current and five past testing years (the period in which LSAC reports scores to law schools).
• A total of seven times over a lifetime.
• This policy is forward-looking, not retroactive. Tests taken prior to September 2019 will not count against these numerical limits.

In addition, test takers would not be permitted to retake the LSAT if they have already scored a 180 (perfect score) within the current and five past testing years, the period in which LSAC reports scores to law schools. This policy will be applied retroactively.

There will be an appeals process for test takers who have special circumstances and want to request an exception to this policy.

We hope that this helps to address many of the questions. We will provide more detail in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, please reach out to us at 215.968.1001 or at LSACinfo@LSAC.org if you have additional concerns regarding our test-taking limit policy.

Sincerely,

The Law School Admission Council"