LSAT change the biggest in 15 years

The biggest change to the Law School Admissions Test in more than a decade could significantly impact the way students prepare for the exam. The change will take effect in June. The adjustment, which will add a comparative reading section to the test, could have an notable effect on a student's score, said Ben Baron, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions' vice president of graduate programs. \n"This is actually the largest change the LSAT has undergone in the last 15 years, which means this is a test that does not change very often," Baron said. "It is enough questions that could influence a student's score by three to six points, which for the LSAT could be significant." \nBaron said the test currently has four reading passages with questions regarding those passages. One of those passages would be replaced with a set of questions that asks students to compare two shorter readings at once. \nHowever, Baron said the amount of reading a student does during the test will not change.\n"Each passage will be shorter, but it will add up to about the same amount of reading," he said. \nGraduate student Isaac Kinsey, who has already taken the LSAT, said his first reaction to the change was one of surprise.\n"My initial question would be 'why?'" Kinsey said. "Do they see the portion they're changing as less effective than what they're doing? Is it going to make (the LSAT) more effective? Is it going to make the test harder?" \nThe Law School Admissions Council, the organization that puts out the LSAT each year, was unavailable for comment. However, Baron said the council is constantly playing with ways to make the test more efficient. \n"(The admissions council) continually does research about what questions will allow (the council) to create a test that will be most predictive of a student's law school success," Baron said. "They're constantly experimenting with different types of questions and doing research on that." \nBaron said the most important thing about the LSAT is that a student's score can weigh more heavily in the admissions process than normal standardized test scores.\n"The LSAT, above the other (tests), can represent as much as half of the admissions decision," he said. "That's why when we talk about a change that could affect three to six points on the test, that's meaningful." \nGraduate student Jason Autry said he was not sure if he would be taking the LSAT but said he didn't think the new section would change his preparation for the test. He said he believed anyone who wanted to go to law school should be competent enough to handle the new reading section and said it wasn't a big enough percent of the overall score for him to worry about more than anything else on the test.\nKinsey said it made sense to test a student's ability to compare two different readings if they would have to compare case law later in their careers. \n"One of the biggest things with law is precedence," Kinsey said. "That's pretty much what precedence is: you read something, and you take something else that's like it and you compare it ... if that's the kind of thinking that they're trying to measure with (the change), then I can understand why they would want to input something like that into the law school exam." \nAdam Green, a sophomore majoring in business and law, agreed, adding that he believed a comparative reading section makes perfect sense for a law school exam.\n"I think it completely applies ... simply because you're taking two cases, possibly, in a law setting," he said. "You're going to have to see how they apply to one another ... it's very necessary, and I'm surprised it wasn't there beforehand." \nBaron said Kaplan would make sure it has preparatory materials to get students ready for the new exam.\n"For us at Kaplan, our primary obligation is always to our students," Baron said. "We are constantly pushing an organization like the admissions council to release materials because it is in the best interest of our students -- of all students -- to have the material available to them as quickly as possible"