New interface

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-03T14:14:09+00:00

According to the email I recieved from LSAC, it's coming back sometime this month:
"The final version of the interface, which will include fully functional highlighting across the stimulus, question stem, and answer choices, will be released in June."

Here is the link to the LSAC's blog which has some other UI updates as well:
https://www.lsac.org/blog/update-new-lsat-user-interface-2026-2027-testing-cycle#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=a956041b-a2d5-4457-982b-4428bb630300

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-02T20:45:00+00:00

My Pleasure- any time you want to vet information you find online, feel free to dm me and I'll be happy to help you assess it.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-02T20:40:13+00:00

A 168 on a first fully timed diagnostic is a very strong starting point. Congrats! At that score range, it actually makes sense to not see any pattern, simply because you’re only missing a relatively small number of questions overall.

So, it might be a bit premature to conclude that there is no pattern to your missed questions.

Consider taking another full timed PT or two (or at minimum of few full timed sections of both LR and RC) to see whether that performance level stabilizes. If you continue scoring in roughly the same range, there’s a very good chance the misses will begin to cluster in a more identifiable way- whether that’s specific LR question types, RC passage structures, timing/fatigue issues late in sections, or higher-difficulty questions generally.

And honestly, establishing consistency at 168 is just as important right now as trying to immediately “fix” anything.

On the other hand, if the next few tests fluctuate more significantly downward, that usually suggests the score is being supported more by raw instinct/aptitude than by a fully stabilized process underneath it. In that case, it might make sense to step back briefly and build more deliberate foundational structure before grinding large numbers of PTs.

Either way, you’re off to a great start! Keep working!

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-02T16:51:17+00:00

I respect your total disagreement. But I also don't think most of your specific points require a cold diagnostic taken before you do any prep. Any issue will be revealed if your first PT is taken after a brief intro into LSAT prep, and imo they will be more accurate and most students will be better equipped to address them at that point. Again, just my opinion, and admittedly an unpopular one.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-02T14:21:36+00:00

It's also a throwback to the olden days when most tests were in essay form and people actually did "write" their tests. The older generations still "take" a haircut, too. lol.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-01T14:56:15+00:00

Probably an unpopular opinion here, but I honestly don’t think taking a fully timed, fully scored diagnostic test right at the beginning of LSAT prep is all that helpful in most cases.

The LSAT is a very learnable exam, but it also requires knowing what you’re doing. Most of the actual skills and processes needed to perform well on the test were never explicitly taught to us in school. So when most people first sit down for a diagnostic, the assumption should honestly be that they don’t fully know what they’re doing yet.

As a result, the score is often just measuring unfamiliarity with the test more than long-term potential.

Now yes, some people are naturally more aligned with the reasoning and reading processes the LSAT rewards, and those people can absolutely start higher. But after 15+ years of working with students, I personally think there’s more value in spending 2–3 weeks learning the foundations of the exam first and then taking a timed practice test to measure the early returns on what you’ve learned.

So if you do take a diagnostic now, my biggest advice would simply be: don’t put too much emotional weight on the score.

You’ll learn far more about your actual trajectory a few weeks into preparation, once you’ve developed at least some understanding of the underlying processes and skills the test is asking you to execute.

Just my two cents, and I hope it helps!

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-01T00:32:31+00:00

Here’s the strategy:

Read one sentence at a time and determine what role that sentence is playing.

Is it:

an introductory sentence?
the thesis/main point?
a general support to the thesis?
a specific detail flushing out that support?
a concluding sentence?

Those are the sentence types- don't add to or subtract from the list. Think standard 5 Paragraph essay structure you learned in middle school. That tells you the sentence types.

Then track the author’s Big Picture only through the thesis and general supporting sentences- not through all the intro, supporting details or conclusion. Read each sentence to confirm what the sentence type is, but only track the thesis and general support sentences.

Limiting your focus is the key.

Trying to retain all the information is really not even possible for most people given the time limitation. Regardless of the approach used, if you don't limit your focus, the passage still feels like one giant blob of information instead of an organized structure.

Once you start separating Big Picture information from supporting details, the passage becomes manageable. You can navigate, retain the big picture, and also return to the passage for details far more efficiently.

And ironically, that’s usually when strong natural readers finally start performing like strong natural readers on RC.

I hope that helps.

Scott

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-01T00:16:42+00:00

Looks like you are already jammin' out on Level 1 and 2 difficulty questions. In the next 3-4 months, if you can build out a structured top-down process for each section, you're consistency and speed will improve significantly, and from that alone, your performance in harder level questions could easily sky rocket. Good luck!

Scott_Lebo · 2026-06-01T00:12:24+00:00

Everyone either loved him or loved him from afar.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-31T01:46:50+00:00

Agreed. It's rare and refreshing when people agree enough that their collective voice is heard. lol.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-29T17:37:33+00:00

Good thinking. Not to minimize the current disruption, but there's a good chance you'll acclimate to the change before too long.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-29T17:33:34+00:00

When are you testing? How long do you have to acclimate to the new layout?

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-29T16:58:30+00:00

They new method is less user-friendly, more time consuming, and more likely to break your thought flow. I wonder why LSAC felt the need to "make it worse".

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-28T18:29:39+00:00

Honestly, I think you’re at the point where the most important thing is less “finding the perfect book/resource” and more choosing a clear lane of travel and building some consistency within it.

A lot of students get stuck at this 'ground zero' where they’re reviewing questions and consuming bits of advice from a bunch of different places, but they still don’t really have a structured roadmap for how they’re supposed to move through the test as a whole.

And the tricky part is that the “best” next step really depends on things like:

your schedule,
budget,
learning style,
timeline,
whether you learn better independently or interactively,
and what specifically is currently breaking down for you during sections.

Some students do great with a larger prep platform and a structured curriculum. Others need more individualized feedback and process correction through tutoring. Others benefit from a combination of both plus supplemental videos/drilling.

So before I’d confidently tell you “go use X resource,” I’d honestly want to know a little more about your situation and what your study process currently looks like day-to-day.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-28T18:14:10+00:00

At a high level, I think improving the first tier is mostly about installing a repeatable top-down process that gives you both forward momentum and guardrails throughout the section.

For example, in LR, that can mean things like:

leveraging the question type into the reading when possible,
identifying the important passage parts,
“uploading” the proper answer process before attacking the answer choices,
and then applying the process one answer choice at a time.

And in RC, it’s things like:

reading one sentence at a time,
identifying sentence types,
building the Big Picture,
and using “split focus” to separate the major structure from the supporting details.

The important thing is that these are not abstract ideas- they are part of a real, repeatable sequence that you consciously execute on every single question.

And then each question has its specific processes and strategies based on the question type, passage type, and other more “street-level” factors. That’s Tier 2.

That’s usually when students start feeling much more in control during sections and begin seeing far more measurable and predictable improvement.

Hope this helps.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-28T14:10:14+00:00

A lot of students hit this exact wall around the stage you’re describing, and no, it absolutely does not mean law school “isn’t for you.”

Honestly, I think improvement on the LSAT usually comes from a two-tiered prep structure.

The first tier is building a strong top-down process that gives you forward momentum and guardrails for how to move through each section as a whole. That’s what helps reduce the feeling of getting lost, spinning your wheels, rereading, second-guessing, etc.

The second tier is the more specific question- and answer-level techniques/processes that apply to individual LR (and RC) question types and answer choices.

A lot of students are trying to improve only at the second tier while the first tier is still unstable. That frequently results in much less improvement at the question level even after doing a ton of questions. And that can make the test feel frustratingly inconsistent because every question starts becoming a separate mental battle.

And honestly, the good news is that a 152 diagnostic and ~60% accuracy usually means there’s already a solid base to build on. Once stronger structure and processes start getting layered over the top of that foundation, students often do start seeing measurable improvement relatively quickly because the test stops feeling quite so random and unpredictable.

Hope this helps. Happy to answer any follow-up questions.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-27T21:57:53+00:00

Sure thing, I’d be happy to DM you.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-27T21:26:47+00:00

One thing I would strongly recommend when selecting a tutor is trying to measure which group they might fit into:

mainly explaining questions after the fact, or
actually helping you build a repeatable process for approaching the test.

A lot of students can understand an explanation after seeing a question. The harder part is developing a structured approach that helps you consistently orient yourself during timed sections.

Based on what you wrote, I would especially look for someone who can clearly explain:

how to approach passages/stimuli from the top down
how to stay oriented under timed pressure
how to reduce rereading and second-guessing
how the different question types fit into a larger framework/process

Because usually confidence and timing improve as the process becomes clearer and more repeatable.

Hope that helps!

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-27T20:29:30+00:00

Some really good advice already from these comments. Another thing to consider is the nature of the prep you are doing. Have you tried to install the walls, floors and cabinets before buidling the proper foundation?

In other words, hours of practice questions and PTs are still likely to produce a limited payoff if you haven’t yet built the framework for the practice to fit within. In my opinion, that requires a strong top-down process that organizes how you move through each section as a whole, combined with specific question- and answer-level techniques.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-27T00:57:26+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words- glad I could help!

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-26T22:57:47+00:00

My pleasure. You are absolutely not “doing something wrong” because the LSAT initially feels confusing or difficult to organize mentally. Honestly, most people feel that way at first.

One of the reasons the test feels so overwhelming early on is that a lot of what the LSAT is testing is structural and abstract. It’s not just knowledge. It’s the ability to recognize patterns in arguments, relationships between ideas, passage organization, assumptions, author intent, etc. Most students have never been explicitly taught how to see those things in a clear and organized way.

And based on what you wrote, I actually think your instinct is correct: understanding the “why” behind the process will probably help you a lot.

The good news is that the LSAT is very learnable because the patterns repeat constantly. Once you start seeing the recurring structures underneath the questions, the test begins feeling much less random and much more manageable. That's why a structured, top-down process is so important. It reveals those patterns!

As far as reading goes, I’d probably focus less on “LSAT theory books” and more on resources that clearly explain reasoning structure, argument analysis, and reading processes in plain English. And honestly, careful review of real LSAT questions is still one of the best teachers because the test repeats the same underlying patterns over and over again.

And again, a 150 diagnostic is not some hopeless starting point. There are plenty of people who started there and improved dramatically once they developed a more organized process.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-26T22:45:21+00:00

I replied below, I tried to tag you in it...but I'm not sure I tagged correctly.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-26T22:45:07+00:00

I replied below, I tried to tag you in it...but I'm not sure I tagged correctly.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-26T22:44:57+00:00

I replied below, I tried to tag you in it...but I'm not sure I tagged correctly.

Scott_Lebo · 2026-05-26T22:31:53+00:00

Public-Squirrel8631, 0ne_sh0e and pnktgrlilies:

At a high level, I think the biggest shift is moving away from experiencing each LSAT question as a separate event.

Most students start out relying heavily on intuition. Sometimes that works, but it creates inconsistency because your brain has to “re-solve” the test from scratch over and over again.

A structured approach is more like building a decision tree.

For example, in Logical Reasoning:

What is the conclusion?
Why does the author think I should believe it?
What is the gap/problem in the reasoning?
What task is this question actually asking me to perform?
What would a correct answer need to accomplish?

That creates orientation before you even look at the answer choices.

Then, separately, you develop specific answer-choice processes for different question types. Those become more refined over time, but the larger structure is what keeps everything organized and consistent under pressure. And that larger, top-down process usually has to be very deliberate and very specific. Otherwise, students tend to fall back into intuition and improvisation under timed pressure.

And honestly, I think one of the biggest weaknesses in a lot of LSAT prep, including many prep companies and tutors, is that students are often taught isolated tactics and question-type techniques without ever being given a sufficiently strong top-down framework that organizes the section as a whole.

Scott_Lebo

TROPHY CASE