The LSAT may be undergoing drastic changes in the next four years.
The potential changes are the result of a lawsuit filed by Angelo Binno and Shelesha Taylor in Michigan federal court against the LSAC, claiming violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act. Binno and Taylor are both legally blind, and Binno requested that the Analytical Reasoning section be waived for his LSAT administration, which the LSAC denied. Most students solve LSAT logic games by drawing diagrams, something Binno argued he was unable to do, putting him at a disadvantage. While LSAC did approve several accommodations for Binno, it stopped short at waiving the Analytical Reasoning section altogether.
The parties reached an agreement in October 2019, with LSAC announcing that it was going to research and develop alternative ways to assess analytical reasoning skills over the next four years, resulting in a new Analytical Reasoning section.
LSAC has said “Should there be any significant changes to format, extensive research and development, followed by several stages of pilot testing and data analysis would be required to ensure the continued validity, reliability, and fairness of the test. Therefore, it is too early in the process to speculate on how the test will evolve as a result of our ongoing research.”
LSAC has said that it is unlikely there will be any major changes to the logic games before 2023. So it will not be affecting anyone writing the LSAT in the near future.
Also it likely won’t just be simply “eliminated” – LSAC will just come up with a way to test Analytical Reasoning that is fair for everyone.