Correction appended.
Students who plan to take the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, in July 2019 do not know if they will be take a digital or pencil and paper-based exam.
For the July 2019 test, the Law School Admission Council, or LSAC, said some test takers will take the exam with pencil and paper, while others will take the digital test, which is referred to as the “best practice under educational testing standards for moving to a new testing method,” in a news release.
“I would imagine that would bring a lot of anxiety to the students,” Larry Hayman, a pre-Law advisor and specialist at the Center for Law, Justice & Culture, said.
The Law School Admission Council announced the changes through a news release on its website on Oct. 3.
“The LSAT will be fully digital in North America starting in September 2019. We’ve planned this transition carefully to ensure candidates have all the information they need to decide their preferred testing schedule,” Kellye Testy, President and CEO of the Law School Admission Council, said in the news release.
The LSAT’s content will remain the same, but will be administered nine times in 2019-2020 instead of six.
Hayman warned the students who plan to take the LSAT to be aware of the recent changes.
The July takers of the LSAT will have the option to see their scores, regardless of the format, before they decide if they want to cancel it. Those who decide to cancel can choose to retake the test again through April 2020, free of charge, according to the news release.
The exam will be administered on tablets, which have patented software, developed by LSAC and includes features that will benefit test takers, test takers with disabilities and schools, including faster reporting of scores starting in July, according to LSAC.
The Center for Law, Justice & Culture has mock exams that are administered to give practice to the students. The center still has to make changes to the way it administers the LSAT mock exam from pencil and paper to tablets, Hayman said.
“We need to be thinking about how we’re going to be able to try to best take that in a practice setting,” Hayman said. “The answer is we don’t know what we’re going to do to adjust to the new format.”
The LSAT being administered on a tablet is not a common practice, Hayman said. He thinks the LSAC is using tablets because it was not comfortable with the level of security that other tests use.
Hayman thinks the changes are good because it makes it accessible to more students. He added that most testing formats are digital these days and students will also be able to receive their scores back faster.
It will be a better experience for students as they are more used to digital devices rather than pencil and paper, he said.
Kaitlyn Newmann, a senior studying economics and pre-law, however, prefers pencil and paper test method because she feels like she gets distracted by tablets.
Newmann thinks the books for LSAT preparation will now be produced less, as most of the study material is available online.
“The world is becoming more digital so they have to keep up with it,” Newmann said. “And, we have to be adaptable to those changes, and it saves trees.”
Olivia Gemarro, who is pursuing a certificate in law, justice and culture, is not too happy about the transition, as she said she can type faster on a computer or a phone than on a tablet.
“You can’t hold it in your hands and use your thumbs to type,” Gemarro, a sophomore studying english creative writing, said. “I hope it doesn’t affect my speed when taking the exam because ultimately, speed is everything.”
Gemarro, who plans to take the LSAT in September 2019, said getting all the questions done in a timely manner is equally important as getting the right answers.
In a perfect world everyone would have a tablet, but we don’t, Gemarro said.
In June, the LSAC launched a completely free LSAT preparatory course in collaboration with Khan Academy. Despite changes to the test format, Gemarro is excited about all the resources available on Khan Academy for LSAT preparation.
“I think it will definitely be really helpful because those books are so expensive,” she said. “And, you’re only going to use them for maybe a few months when you’re studying for the exam. I think it’s great that everyone will have equal access to these resources now.”
Correction: A previous version of this report incorrectly stated the name of the Law School Admission Test. The article has been updated to reflect the most accurate information.
