LSAT Registration Now Open for September, November, and January Test Dates Forum

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JonDenningPowerScore

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LSAT Registration Now Open for September, November, and January Test Dates

Post by JonDenningPowerScore » Tue May 08, 2018 1:48 pm

While not yet updated on LSAC's main site page (https://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/test-dates-deadlines), if you log into your lsac.org account you'll now see the option to register for the following test dates, along with deadlines and fees:

- September 8th, 2018: Deadline is midnight EST on 7/23; fee is $190

- November 17th, 2018: Deadline is midnight EST on 10/8; fee is $190

- January 26th, 2019: Deadline is midnight EST on 12/17; fee is $190

A few important notes about these new dates and fees:

- If you know you want to take one or more of these exams, register as soon as possible to ensure a spot at your desired test center. The September test in particular is liable to see certain centers fill up.

- LSAC has raised the price of the test by $10 (from $180 to $190). No idea why, aside from the obvious money grab; with test taker numbers showing another year of steady increase and unlimited repeats now allowed, if anything LSAC should be able to keep the fee the same, if not lower it. So that's disappointing.

- Many of the future test dates are labeled as "not disclosed." This includes not only July 2018 and January 2019, but also the two other 2019 exams currently listed: March and June. That's subject to change, of course, but it appears we may not have another disclosed LSAT after this November until...well, who knows, but the second half of 2019 at the earliest, it seems. Another huge disappointment if so.

So a decidedly mixed bag of news here, I'm afraid.

JonDenningPowerScore

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Re: LSAT Registration Now Open for September, November, and January Test Dates

Post by JonDenningPowerScore » Wed May 09, 2018 5:32 pm

A few key updates:

UPDATE #1: In addition, registration deadlines have been announced for the next two 2019 tests, although registration has not yet begun for them:

- March 30th, 2019 LSAT: Deadline is midnight EST on 2/25; no word on cost or when registration will begin.
- June 3rd, 2019 LSAT: Deadline is midnight EST on 4/29; no word on cost or when registration will begin.

UPDATE #2:

Along with the $10 increase in test registration and CAS fees, nearly all other LSAC fees were also raised, with test center and test date changes now costing $125 (up from $100), nonpublished domestic and international test center requests now priced $10 higher at $295 and $390 (respectively), and individual law school reports a staggering $45 apiece rather than the previous $35. That last is less offensive as a single number, but when you consider that it's a nearly 30% hike, and that most applicants apply to at least a half-dozen schools, it stings.

To really drive home the point above, it will now cost $120 more for a new applicant to take the LSAT and apply to ten law schools. That final bill? A smooth $835, just to apply! Here's hoping for generous fee waivers.

UPDATE #3:

Pay particular attention to the registration deadline for September 2018. LSAC has set the September cut off at midnight EST on Monday, 7/23, which just so happens to be the date of the July LSAT! So for those July test takers understandably reluctant to register for September before knowing how July goes—to register for the test and back out is a minimum $140 penalty, after all—your best case scenario is that you'll have but a few hours post-test to commit to September before the window closes.

But believe it or not, it gets worse: LSAC strongly recommends (all but insists) that anyone registering on a deadline day should do so during LSAC's business hours (https://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/test-dates ... anada-sept), which end at 4:45 pm EST in July...so everyone in the country will still be taking the test when LSAC closes for the day. That's a level of inattention, if not outright trolling, that threatens to spin my head clean off and into orbit. (You should technically still be able to register online until 11:59 pm EST, but you'll have no one to help you if you encounter an issue, and LSAC holds firm to deadlines without exception, so be aware)

UPDATE #4: Score release dates for the next five (post-July) administrations have also been announced, although just how well they satisfy LSAC's promise of a more expedient and aggressive scoring turnaround is a matter of some debate:

- September 8th, 2018 score release is set for 9/29, 21 days post-test. Scores for the September 2016 and 2017 exams were released 25 days after those tests, while the October 2015 LSAT saw scores released after just 19 days.

- November 17th, 2018 score release is set for 12/12, 25 days post-test. Again, the past two Septembers were exactly this speed, and December 2017 was quite a bit quicker at only 20 days post-test for scores to come out.

- January 26th, 2019 score release is set for 2/15, 20 days post-test. This is exactly on par with the December 2017 exam's release, albeit four days faster than the February 2017 release (24 days post-test).

- March 30th, 2019 score release remains mysteriously, and inexplicably, "TBD." Anybody's guess at this point.

- June 3rd, 2019 score release is set for 6/21, 18 days post-test. Alright. Relative to the times above this is impressive. If LSAC can hit this target it will mark the fastest release since June 2010, which was also 18 days. Note, however, that even with over a year from this writing to perfect the release process, and every imaginable incentive to hustle (including their own repeated guarantees of haste), 18 days is still historically plodding: at least six tests have had releases as fast or faster in just the last 14 years.

As you can see, on the whole those are slightly better than the actual release timeframes we've seen the past several years (https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/lsat-s ... comparison), but still hardly a pace to swoon over. It's the equivalent of a guaranteed score improvement, only to move from a 144 to a 146. Not nothing. But we can skip the parade.

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