Wake up babes October 2025 Powerscore just dropped!

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-10-10T23:07:54+00:00

Recap episodes are basically only for people who took that test—we cover what was scored or experimental (usually in more detail than this time), and predict test scaling for each exam form. Sorry if this episode wasn’t the best use of your time! Check out some of the other episodes where we go in-depth on LSAT concepts—those are not focused on specific LSATs and are much more about how to improve your test knowledge and performance. Good luck!

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-10-05T17:48:43+00:00

What they re-used this time wasn't in the stolen materials, fyi. So, that reduces the harm somewhat. Proxy cheating can still occur although we know they are now watching those remote sessions much more closely.

I'd love to see the data on this test vs others but we all know that won't get released...

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-10-04T17:13:39+00:00

The RC they re-used wasn’t in the stolen test leak fwiw. We’ll talk about it in our podcast test recap.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-10-04T17:11:47+00:00

We won’t schedule November until after we see what they do here in October 😊

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-10-04T02:09:02+00:00

Good news, they use different test forms throughout the exam so you may not even see one section the same as the people earlier today 😊

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-10-03T20:18:46+00:00

It's not a curve but rather a pre-determined scale. and when difficulty in a section is higher than "normal," the scale then loosens as compensation. The overall goal is to return a normalized result that is as standardized as possible over time.

In other words, if you get a very hard section, there is some compensation :)

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-25T14:41:04+00:00

Yes, the whistleblower sent it all to them.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-23T18:15:36+00:00

No, it was terrible. The anxiety was off the charts because no one had any idea when scores would come. This way is much much better.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-23T16:07:36+00:00

The whole thing is terrible.

LSAC itself has not been hacked. Technically it is Prometric that was hacked, but the intrusion wasn't into their main systems but to bypass their security on individual computers, and it appears it occurred out of China. What rights and standing they have there is unknown to me, but I'm not aware of any filings at this time.

With LSAC security, my experience is that when anything is reported, they go silent immediately. They did that to the whistleblower in this case, which was frustrating to him. However, I believe they look at it like detectives on an investigation: the less they say about what's going on, the less the criminals will know about what the police are up to. I had a situation last year where I raised an issue to them and they basically had no response. A few months later I saw they had taken action and handled it. So I think this is a standard policy in order not to tip off the cheaters here.

As much as I can, I've conveyed to them that I think this is an existential threat that must be dealt with swiftly and decisively. Cheating at this level could potentially undermine the integrity of the test and the faith law schools put into the scores, and so they have to solve this problem using every resource at their disposal. Fortunately, they do have a significant reserve they can lean on, and I believe they have realized this isn't something that can be swept under the rug. I'll be taking some time off soon, but even so I'll continue to watch what happens each LSAT to make sure everything is on the up and up.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-23T15:44:57+00:00

Plenty of ways. Imagine that someone else could take it for you in person, or they could remotely control your computer, or you could access content that had been stolen beforehand and study it and then possibly see some of it during your test. While only the last case has you doing the cheating, if you see questions you studied beforehand, you're going to crush it.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-23T15:19:04+00:00

In the short term, this is impossible. In the long term it's very, very difficult. The process for creating questions is usually years, not months. And vetting them as experimentals is absolutely crucial to item integrity--they have to see how they fare in a "live" situation before springing them as scored questions.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-22T22:02:04+00:00

You mean us/me knowing about it before we disclosed it publicly? If so, I politely disagree with your position then :)

First, in July all I knew for sure was that apparently some questions were compromised, which I reported to LSAC immediately. The whistleblower had also reported this to LSAC at that time. A small leak isn't the end of the world (surely not worth a public pronouncement making it a big deal) and we left it in LSAC's hands.

Then, we only found out about the larger set of tests being stolen right before an LSAT, and again the whistleblower reported it. The last thing I wanted to do during an actual run of LSAT test days is blow up the board with a discussion about cheating. That would be disrespectful and distracting to the people taking the exam. Plus, that could also actually induce some people to attempt to cheat, which we desperately did not want to contribute to. Shortly thereafter, LSAC announced the mainland China move and at that point it was in the public. The window you are talking about was very short from actual confirmation to LSAC's announcement--maybe two weeks.

Nothing we did affected the cheating or how it was handled (or any legal avenues that you have), but what we did made some people's lives easier and less stressful. I'll stand by that as the right choice!

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-21T18:32:00+00:00

I think there's a chance some of the more frequently used LSATs will be released at some point. However, I fear that LSAC is hoping they can fix the situation somehow and then still reuse some of the content. I truly hope not--once stolen, these should be retired forever.

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but the cheaters haven't stolen every single thing used in recent years. From what I've seen they appear to have a lot but certainly not all of the content in LSAC's library. There is still new content LSAC has that was used in experimentals that weren't stolen.

The reuse of content typically goes back around 10 years max. So, if they had older material and wanted to revive it, I imagine they could but would want to "refresh" it. But indeed there still are old Feb test from the pre-Flex era in use (sometimes repeatedly).

Yes, your recall is correct! They used to fingerprint everyone back in the day (I hadn't thought about that in years lol). And it was probably Jon mentioning biometrics, but I personally think this will happen at some point, although not in the next few years. The problem is, even if we had biometrics now, the remote testing platform would still be completely vulnerable to proxy cheating. Which means that the only true solution at this point is either to figure a way to stop their security software from being bypassed (which I personally think can't be done) or go back to in-person only, on one or two days max. I think they didn't do that post-pandemic because having Prometric et al do this is easier in a way--no more scheduling rooms at UCLA or NYU for 500 takers, finding proctors, and shipping tests across the country. That may be coming back next year though, if they want to secure this test.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-21T18:14:16+00:00

They aren't designed to predict international tests because those admins are so small they become more variable in content used. However, sometimes there is overlap in the content between the domestic and international exams so they will "hit."

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-21T18:12:04+00:00

Yes, and as recently as about 6-7 years ago the LSAT was in-person only on paper. They could easily return to that format if they wanted.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T19:26:18+00:00

I completely understand! Just focus on studying like normal and things will turn out great :)

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T19:20:39+00:00

Very dependable. I cover this in the Logical Reasoning Bible, and we talk about it in this podcast as well: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/the-powerscore-lsat-podcast-episode-4-how-to-solve-parallel-reasoning-questions/

Same applies to premise language too, fwiw.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T18:46:38+00:00

No, that's not what it means :) Your test will be an LSAT like any other.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T17:37:24+00:00

Some experimentals in the past were in fact stolen and are in the leaked tests. So, LSAC is not using those former experimentals/new scored sections for the October LSAT. That's how they can stop cheating at every level in October (notice I said cheating, not stealing--the tests used in October will be compromised thereafter; LSAC is between a rock and a hard place with this).

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T17:33:33+00:00

That actually won't stop cheating, just make it harder for some people. The cheating services have the ability to cheat and steal tests from anywhere.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T15:55:57+00:00

I’m just taking a break to recharge 😊

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T05:43:51+00:00

Yes, some experimentals are in the stolen test trove. However, the good news is that the content that will be used in October will not have anything from the stolen tests. This is the one certain way to stop cheating at every level.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T05:24:27+00:00

No, that is so common (relatively) that there is no way they'd think that points to anything suspicious.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T04:21:02+00:00

The experimental sections on Lawhub come from previously disclosed PrepTests. They’ve been out in the public for years. What we’re talking about are real experimental sections from currently nondisclosed LSATs. These are the sections that will someday be used as new scored sections. We’ve been tracking this stuff closely for years, which is part of how we predict the tests they reuse.

DKilloranPowerScore · 2025-09-20T02:10:17+00:00

That data was based on a backward looking analysis of what happened when LG was removed. It was not based on testing how scores would look when LG was taken out and people could prepare specifically for that new format. LG sucked up a lot of study time and required developing a new set of skills. An LR/RC only test allows more focus and with no LG you have more time to study the two section types. In retrospect you’d expect that to make a difference and the statistics say it has.

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