LSAC is changing the LSAT format starting with the August 2027 test. If you are testing in 2027, your test date decides which format you get. This guide walks through the dates, the edge cases, and the one question most people are asking: should you test before the change?
The short version
Test through the June 2027 administration and you take the current format. Test in August 2027 or later and you take the new format. There is no choice to make at registration and no way to pick the other format. The calendar decides.
What the two formats look like
The current format has three scored sections plus one separate unscored section. The unscored section is where LSAC tries out new questions, and it can look like any section type.
The new format has three sections, in a fixed order for everyone:
- Reading Comprehension: 52 minutes, 6 passages, 40 questions. 27 are scored. The other 13 are 2 whole unscored passages.
- A 10-minute break.
- Logical Reasoning: 45 minutes, 32 questions. 25 scored, 7 unscored and mixed in.
- A 10-minute break.
- Logical Reasoning: 45 minutes, 32 questions. 25 scored, 7 unscored and mixed in.
The unscored questions are embedded inside the scored sections instead of sitting in their own section. You cannot tell which questions or passages they are. LSAC calls this embedded pretesting. The SAT, the ACT, and the bar exam use the same method.
What is the same in both formats
Almost everything that determines your score.
The question types are the same. The number of scored questions is the same: 27 in Reading Comprehension and 50 in Logical Reasoning. Your time per question is the same, about 78 seconds in Reading Comprehension and about 84 seconds in Logical Reasoning. The score scale is the same, 120 to 180. LSAC says scores stay comparable across the two formats.
The new format is a longer sitting, by 10 minutes total. That is 2 more minutes of testing and 8 more minutes of break, because the breaks go from one to two.
If you are testing before the change
If your date falls through June 2027, you take the current format and this announcement changes nothing about your prep. Keep your plan. The only version of this news that applies to you is that current-format practice stays available through the June 2027 administration, so your materials are not going anywhere.
If you are testing in August 2027 or later
You take the new format. Your prep work is the same work: the question types, the scored counts, and the time per question all carry over. Two things are worth planning around.
First, your late-stage practice tests should match the new shape: the longer Reading Comprehension section first, then the two Logical Reasoning sections, with the two breaks in place. LSAC will release official new-format practice tests in LawHub in February 2027, well before the August test.
Second, build the habit of full effort on every question. In the new format, some of what you answer does not count, and you will never know which parts. The students this format hurts are the ones who try to guess which passage or which questions are unscored and ease off. Treat all of it as scored. That is the only safe approach, and it costs nothing.
If you might retake across the line
Plenty of people will test in spring 2027, keep the score if it is good enough, and retake in the fall if it is not. That means one test in each format.
This is not the problem it sounds like. Your score rests on the same 77 scored questions, the same question types, and the same scale in both formats. The prep you do for the first test is prep for the second. What changes between the two sittings is the shape of the day: a longer first section, a fixed order, an extra break, and unscored questions you cannot identify. A few new-format practice tests before a fall retake will cover that adjustment. You do not need to learn the test twice.
Should you test before the change to beat it?
No. There is no advantage to beat.
The scored test is the same difficulty in both formats. Same question types, same number of scored questions, same time per question, same 120 to 180 scale. LSAC states that scores stay comparable across cycles, which means a score earned in June and the same score earned in August carry the same weight with law schools.
Picking a date to dodge the new format only helps if the new format is harder for you specifically, and the differences are too small to plan around: a longer first section versus a separate unscored section you also have to sit through. Neither side of that trade is a gift.
The factors that should actually set your date are the ordinary ones. Are you ready? A test taken before your practice scores reach your goal costs you more than any format change will. And what does your application timeline need? Your score has to exist, and be one you are willing to send, when your applications go in.
If you are ready by June 2027, test by June 2027. If you need until fall, take the fall test and do not rush to beat a calendar line. Readiness decides. The format does not.
LSATPathway will run both formats side by side, matched to your test date.
One next step
Whichever side of August 2027 your date falls on, the first move is the same: get a starting score and build your plan from your date backward. Start with a free LSATPathway account and the diagnostic: https://lsatpathway.com/free-lsat-prep
Questions on LSATPathway are original, written for LSATPathway. They are not official LSAT questions.