If you are taking the February LSAT, here are 3 things you might not know about it.  These are not necessarily substantive tips about the February LSAT, so you should not change anything you are doing regarding your studying.  However, these tips are larger, big-picture items you should have in your mind as you prepare for and take the exam.

3 Things to Know About the February LSAT . . . .

(1) The February LSAT is the only regularly-administered LSAT that is not disclosed.

When you receive your official score for the February LSAT, you won’t have access to the test booklet and answer sheet. Thus, you won’t be able to review LSAT explanations and see what questions you missed or where you messed up (if at all). Obviously, this may not be a good thing because, if you plan on re-taking the exam, you would want to focus on your weaknesses and improve them for the June LSAT. If, however, you score high on the February LSAT, this point doesn’t matter.

LSAC likely does not release the February LSAT because it wants to use some of the material from it on another exam a few years later. Although the fact the February LSAT isn’t released might create a certain aura of fear or mystery around it, you shouldn’t let that bother you. Some people might tell you the February LSAT is the hardest of all the LSATs. There may be some truth to that, but not much and, certainly, not enough current information (see #3 below).

LSAC prides itself on making sure each LSAT has the same level of difficulty. Otherwise, a score on the February LSAT wouldn’t be considered the same as a score on the October LSAT, and law schools would begin weighing scores from different LSATs differently. The February LSAT is an LSAT just like any other, so you should leave all that peripheral nonsense out and focus on preparing for the exam.

(2) The February LSAT has the fewest number of registrants.

The February LSAT attracts the fewest number of test-takers because it’s late in the LSAT cycle for students who want to start law school the following fall (that same year), and it’s early for those who want to wait to start law school the following year.

What does this mean for you? Not much. Maybe the location where you take the February LSAT will be less hectic than if you had taken the October LSAT. So, in that case, a quieter or less hectic atmosphere may decrease stress, which is obviously a good thing. For others, less noise and fewer people may stress them out even more. It really depends on the individual.

(3) February LSAT test-takers may be comprised mostly of December LSAT re-takers and last-minute applicants.

This often-floated rumor is likely true. But it doesn’t mean what you think it does. Many people claim the LSAT is scored on a curve. Therefore, as the theory goes, because February LSAT test-takers are either December LSAT re-takers (i.e., low scorers) or last-minute applicants (i.e., major slackers), the competition for a high score is less fierce, and you can easily score higher on the February LSAT than you could on other another exam, like the June or October LSATs.

Don’t let this myth about the February LSAT fool you!

LSAC does not apply a curve to the LSAT. Rather, it equates each exam, which is the process by which it adjusts scores across all the exams (including the February LSAT) to make them comparable to each other.

The notion of a “curve” is misguided. There is, however, enough information from the raw conversion charts on the last few years of LSATs to conclude that the December LSAT requires the fewest number of correct questions to achieve a certain score, and the June LSAT requires the greatest number of correct questions to achieve a certain score. If you want to call that a “curve” (it’s not), then you can say the December LSAT has the easiest curve, and the June LSAT has the hardest curve.

Because the February LSAT isn’t released (and not since 2000), there is no information about that exam from which to place it in this spectrum. However, the raw conversion charts from the late 1990s versions of the February LSAT indicate it often required the most (if not the second-most) correct answers to achieve a certain score. You can’t compare those numbers to the recent exams from the past few years because you now need more correct questions to achieve a certain score than in the past.

So, the point here is the fact that some or many February LSAT-takers might offer less competition likely doesn’t mean what you think it does. They are there, however, and that may be a good thing, but for a different reason. Lower scorers or last-minute applicants might equate to more humble, more realistic, and less competitive test-takers. Sitting next to such an individual or chatting with one during a break is much more desirable than sitting next to or chatting with a wired, hyper-competitive student during the October LSAT who scored a 168 and really wants to break the 170 barrier. Your February LSAT companion is likely going to be a cooler kid.

Our conclusion about the February LSAT . . . .

As you prepare for the February LSAT, keep these tips in mind. However, remember that the exam is going to resemble other exams, and you shouldn’t do anything differently.  For the most part, the February LSAT is no different than other exams, and so you should treat it that way.

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