The LSAT After Logic Games: What Changed and What It Means for Your Retake

LSAC announced the change on October 18, 2023, with nine months of notice. It explained that in 2019 it had settled a complaint from two blind individuals who said the logic games section disadvantaged blind test takers, because they could not draw or use the diagrams many people rely on. LSAC committed to researching other ways to assess analytical and deductive reasoning and concluded that a second Logical Reasoning section was the best replacement.

The last test with logic games was June 2024. Tests from August 2024 onward use the new format. LSAC has said the test still measures deductive reasoning, noting that Logical Reasoning has long covered the kinds of deductive skills the games emphasized.

The multiple-choice portion is four 35-minute sections: two scored Logical Reasoning, one scored Reading Comprehension, and one unscored section of either LR or RC, used to field test new questions. There is a 10-minute intermission between the second and third sections. LSAT Argumentative Writing, the unscored writing sample, is completed separately online.

Under the old format, the scored sections were one LR, one RC, and one Analytical Reasoning, plus an unscored section. So the net change is simple: one games section out, one arguments section in.

LSAC's pre-launch research drew on more than 200,000 test sessions and compared scoring with and without the games section. It reported that the mean score moved by one hundredth of a point and that most individual sessions shifted by one point or less. LSAC also found virtually no change in how well the test predicts first-year law school grades.

After the first new-format administration, LSAC reported that August 2024 scores fell within normal ranges and were in line with recent August tests. Averages do not describe you personally, though. LSAC itself acknowledged variation at the individual level, which is why your own practice results under the new format matter more than any overall statistic.

A score earned before August 2024 is not erased or discounted by LSAC because of the format change. LSAC reports all results from the current testing year and the five testing years before it, and scores from July 2021 onward are reportable. Schools you apply to will see the old-format score alongside your new one.

LSAC advises schools that a candidate's average score is the best predictor, while noting some schools give more weight to the highest score. Each school sets its own approach, so check directly with the ones on your list. A related guide covers how schools view multiple scores in more detail.

Some people built their first score on a near-perfect games section. If that describes you, the retake will lean harder on arguments and reading. Your old section score is not a predictor of anything on the current test, so start fresh with a full new-format practice test to see where you actually stand.

The skills you practiced on games still help. Tracking conditional rules, spotting what must be true, and noticing when a chain of conditions reverses are all useful on LR inference, sufficient assumption, and parallel reasoning questions. Put your drilling time there, where the transfer is strongest.

The opposite case is common too. If games dragged your first score down, that section is simply gone. But your retake will now include an extra LR section, so your LR accuracy now counts across two scored sections instead of one. A plan that fixes weak LR question families is the most direct path to a higher score for you.

A plan written for the old test usually divided time three ways across the scored section types. Under the current format, the split should follow the scoring: roughly two parts Logical Reasoning to one part Reading Comprehension, adjusted for where your practice results show the most room to improve.

When LSAC released new-format practice tests on LawHub in February 2024, it numbered them from 101 upward, while older tests kept two-digit numbers. The new tests were built by reassembling LR and RC sections into four-section tests without games. LSAC also said the LR content itself did not change, so LR questions from older tests remain valid practice.

Use the three-digit tests for full-length timed practice, since they match the current format. Older tests are still useful as sources of individual LR and RC sections for drilling, as long as you skip the games. LSAC currently provides four free full practice tests on LawHub, with more available through a LawHub Advantage subscription.

RetakePrep adds 800 original LR and RC questions and ends with a 100-question practice exam that gives a readiness score, as a supplement to the official tests rather than a replacement.

The format change is not the only difference a returning test taker will notice. LSAC announced that, starting with the August 2026 test, the LSAT requires in-person testing at a Prometric center for most people, with limited exceptions for certain approved accommodations and for those who document living more than 180 miles or three hours from a test center. If your first LSAT was remote, plan for the test center experience, where Prometric supplies scratch paper booklets and pencils.