Experimental Section

[clarawater]

I took the LSAT yesterday and just have a question regarding the experimental section, in order to "predict" my score range as advised by PowerScore.

I will not give specific details/questions from the exam because I know that is not allowed, but I do know that on my test one of the Logical Reasoning sections was experimental since there were three of them.

I was just wondering (PowerScore staff, etc.) if Logical Reasoning experimental sections use questions from previous LSATs? I ask this because I believe that some of the questions in one of those sections I have done before (so I am assuming that is the experimental section, though only because I think I recognize some questions).

Hopefully I am not crazy and this is true! Lol but any help would be appreciated.

[Jon Denning]

Ha well I doubt you're crazy, and it's certainly possible that you saw some questions you've seen before, but in my experience 99 times out of 100 that someone thinks they're dealing with a question they've seen previously it's actually a different question on a similar subject. The test makers tend to re-use certain topics with some frequency (solar system concepts like the moon and planets, things in nature like insects, faulty reasoning in ads or by politicians, etc), and with the hundreds of questions you've likely seen at this point it's easy for them to begin to blur together a bit.

As for the experimental section, two things:

1. The experimental section is used to test new questions that appear as real questions on future tests. So if you do in fact see a question that you've seen before, it would almost certainly have been a question from an old experimental section (on an official test) that was being reused on a scored section now. If you've taken the official LSAT before it's possible your experimental section from that test might have been used (at least in part) on Monday's test. Have you taken a prior LSAT? If so, which one?

2. From what I've been able to gather about Monday's exam, the three LR sections each had a different number of questions. Word on the street is that the section with the fewest number of questions was experimental. I don't know if that's saying too much or if I can actually be more explicit, but hopefully that's helpful to you

Thanks!

[clarawater]

Thanks Jon, that definitely helps a lot.

I have not taken the LSAT before (only practice tests), but I am hoping that the section I thought was experimental (because I recognized some questions) was in fact scored, because I thought I did better on that section. Does LSAC release previous experimental sections though?

That was one of the shortest sections, though I can't remember if it was the shortest...

One more quick question; is it possible for the experimental section (logical reasoning in this case) to be first?

[aabdul5296k]

Hello Jon,

I was wondering if you heard anything about the game sections? I had 2 game sections and the first one was incredibly hard compared to the second one. And both happened to be in the first 3 sections and its really freaking me out. I'm not sure if I should cancel my score or not. Any help would be great, thanks.

[Jon Denning]

I'll take those questions in two separate posts. Clara, you first.

1. If you haven't taken an officially administered test previously then the questions you saw on this LSAT--both real and experimental--were all new questions. LSAC never re-uses released questions, so if you saw it on a prior practice test I guarantee you did not see it on Monday. Again, from all reports I've seen the experimental for you seems to have been your shortest LR section...if you can remember which one that was you'll have a much better ability to predict a final score.

2. The experimental can definitely be first, and in fact it was first on this administration for some test takers. It can be any of the first three sections, although it's not the same section for everyone.

Hope that helps!

[Jon Denning]

Abdul - thanks for the question. Let me tell you a little about what I've heard regarding the real games on the test and hopefully that will give you some insight into which of your games sections counted.

The real games that people seem to have struggled with the most were a game about cars (vans/limos) being taken to a mechanic on different days of the week, and a game with colored balls being placed in vertically stacked boxes. Those were both in the scored section, so if you can recall which section had those games then you'll know the other section was experimental.

**Disclaimer** - I didn't take this LSAT personally, so I'm simply going off of publicly available information that Monday testers have posted online. While I have a good idea of the test content based on these posts and various feedback, I always take post-test reports with a grain of salt and I'm somewhat limited in what I can say about the exam to others (don't want to violate any rules). Still, I hope the above info is helpful!

JD

[aabdul5296k]

Thanks Jon that helps. I remember the ball game but if I remember correctly the car/limo game was not in the same section. Do you perhaps know any other games that were possibly graded? Maybe a court game? If I'm asking something that would violate the rules you can tell me. Thanks for all your help Jon.

[Dave Killoran]

I'll jump in here real quick--the car/limo game was in the same section as the ball game, as was the court game you mention. Those were all in the scored section.

I hope that helps a bit. Thanks!

[aabdul5296k]

Thanks Dave, that helps a ton. Now I can make my decision. I was wondering if I plan on canceling what steps do I need to take and how would it effect my chances with law school. Will law schools know I cancelled my score? If I keep the score do law schools average the 2 scores? Is it smart to cancel the score if I know I didn't do well? Thanks so much Dave and Jon, and by the way you guys are awesome on the lectures we get with the course. It really helped me understand the material.

[Anne Chaconas]

Hey Abdul,

I'm glad to shed some light on your cancellation questions.

Check out this post on our LSAT and Law School blog: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/how-do- ... t-score-3/. It will tell you what steps you need to take to cancel your score. As a side note, you only have until this Sunday to do so; make sure that, if you do want to cancel, you take care of doing so in the next few days (and I would say no later than tomorrow, so that you submit your request on a business day).

It's hard to tell how this particular cancellation would affect you chances without knowing more about your situation. If this would be your only cancellation, then it will have little (if any) effect. If you already have one or more cancellation on record, then it's another story altogether. I'll point you to another one of our blog posts that can give you the guidance you're looking for regarding this: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/reprise ... ellations/

Schools will know that you cancelled your score. It will show up on your on your LSAT Score Report as "CANCELLED." They won't know the reason you cancelled (unless you choose to tell them), though.

Schools handle multiple LSAT scores in different ways. Some take the highest one, regardless of when you took the test. Some take the most recent score, some use the average of the scores, and some consider all scores individually but do not average them. It depends on the school. I would encourage you to contact the schools you are interested in and ask--they are all very forthcoming with their LSAT policy, and asking will not affect your chances of admission with any of them.

If you know for a fact that you didn't do well, then I would say that the smartest thing would be to cancel. However, it does depend on your individual situation. Do you have multiple cancellations? Multiple existing scores? Multiple absences? A combination of all three? Would the average of your two scores be low? What score should you have to really give yourself the best chance with the schools you're considering? These are all things you need to consider on your own before you can make a final determination. As a rule of thumb, though, I tell students to seriously consider cancelling if they know for sure that the score they got does not represent their abilities and would negatively affect their score report and law school applications.

I hope that helps, Abdul! Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!