The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is making its biggest change in 15 years, according to a Kaplan Test Preparation and Admission news release.
The revised test, administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), will include a new comparative reading section.
The new section is more indicative of the reading students do in law school, said Steven Shotts, head instructor for the LSAT prep course taught through USC's Office of Continuing Education.
Russell Schaffer, senior communication manager for Kaplan, said students shouldn't wait for the changes to take the test.
"If students are prepared to take the exam before the changes, we recommend they do so," Schaffer said. "There's always a level of uncertainty (with a change)."
Another recent change involves prompts for the writing portion. In the past, students responded to the same type of prompt, which provided an argument that test-takers responded to. Now the test gives one of two prompts - one similar to the old one and one which asks the student to create their own argument.
The time limit has also been increased from 30 to 35 minutes and two pages are given to write on instead of one, said Eileen Korpita, the director of the Office of Pre-professional Advising.
Unlike other parts of the test, the writing section is not actually graded, but passed along to law school admissions departments.
"The writing part is sent and we receive it and we read it, but in the grand scheme of things it's less important than the personal statement," said Paul Rollins, assistant dean of USC law school admissions. "The LSAT has always been an important criteria."
Yet another change will involve the American Bar Association's treatment of the test.
To be approved by the ABA, schools must fill out a questionnaire and the answers, one of which requests student LSAT scores, are published in the ABA guide to law schools. The ABA is now requesting that when students have taken the LSAT more than once, schools report the higher or highest of the grades instead of the average grade, Rollins said.
Daniel Callahan, a second-year law student, said he doesn't agree with the change.
"Taking the average is probably more likely to give an accurate idea of ability," Callahan said.
The change in grade reporting means it is less harmful if a student does poorly on one attempt of the test, though students rarely score significantly higher if they retake it, Korpita said.
Katherine Daniel, a first-year law student, said the LSAT can be an accurate gauge of intelligence.
"I think they should take the highest score because, with practice, you can improve your score a lot," Daniel said.
Students can take LSAT preparation courses through USC and Kaplan test centers.
Instructors will have to alter their curriculum in February to make way for the changes, Shotts said.
"Kaplan will fully update its curriculum in time for the change," Schaffer said.
However, this does not mean all changes have affected the way instructors help students prepare for the test, Shotts said.
"The writing portion is still unscored, so our class continues to focus on the scored (multiple-choice) portion," Shotts said.
Students should prepare well for the test, including practicing responding to both types of prompts and, at the very least, should buy a preparation book at Barnes & Noble or some other bookstore, Korpita said.
The new LSAT will be made up of four parts: reading comprehension, logical reasoning and analytical reading, as well as the new comparative reading section.
According to the LSAC Web site, the new section will be similar to reading comprehension questions used in the past, but with two short passages instead of one long one.
"These are the most important changes to the LSAT in 15 years," Schaffer said. "Even though they're meaningful, test scores will not be dramatically affected."
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