Detailed explanation about LSAT for the law major in the US and Canada

With China’s accession to the WTO and the continuous opening of the legal market, more and more third world countries’ students hope to study for a law degree in the United States and Canada, and at the same time invest in one of the three vocational colleges of law (the other two are business schools and Medical school), its investment income is also considerable: if you graduate from the JD of the top 20 law schools in the United States, the starting salary for graduation is generally more than 80,000 US dollars. This write-up can provide these students with some information about examinations and applications.

 

 

1. LSAT Overview

The LSAT (The Law School Admission Test) is sponsored by the LSAC (Law School Admission Council) in Pennsylvania, USA, used to apply for the JD (Juris Doctor) of American and Canadian law schools Entrance exam.

The LSAT test is the J.D. entrance test recognized by almost all American law schools and most Canadian law schools. It provides a standard for evaluating the reading and reasoning ability of J.D. applicants.

It mainly examines the examinee’s ability to accurately read and understand complex texts, organize relevant information and draw reasonable conclusions, critical reasoning ability, and ability to analyze and evaluate the reasoning of others.

 

The LSAT test is conducted four times a year (usually on a Saturday in February, June, October and December), covering hundreds of regions around the world.

Since more than 90% of law students in the United States are studying JD (the specific settings of the American Law School will be described in detail in Part 2).

Most states in the United States require that they want to obtain the qualifications of lawyers in that state. Must have a JD degree, so LSAT is almost an inevitable test for people studying law.

LSAT test is completely written

Unlike the more popular GRE and GMAT tests, the LSAT test is completely written.

The exam consists of five 35-minute multiple-choice sections, four of which are counted as the final score, and the other section is a test section. No score is counted, and it is used to test possible future exam questions.

The four sections are: a section of reading comprehension (Reading Comprehension Section), a total of 4 reading articles, 25-28 small questions. A section of Analytical Reasoning Section, a total of 4 logical analysis questions, 23-24 small questions and two sections of logical analysis single questions (Logical Reasoning Section).

Each section has 24-26 small questions. There is a 30-minute essay at the end of the exam. The essay is not scored, but it will be provided to the applicant’s school for the school to evaluate the applicant’s writing ability. The unscored section may be any one of the three sections.

 

The full score of the LSAT test is 180 points. According to LSAC’s official authoritative statistics for the latest test, the scores of the main candidates are concentrated in 140-155, but for students who wish to apply to the top 20 law schools in the United States, 160 points is a point.

Required scores, and for students who wish to apply to the Top 10 law schools in the United States, a score of about 170 is required.

170 means that out of the 101 scoring questions, only 10-14 are wrong (varies according to the difficulty of the test), and 160 points allow about 27-30 mistakes. Since the LSAT exam is much more difficult than the similar GRE and GMAT exams, 170 points is a relatively difficult score for most candidates.

However, Youyi Education believes that after a period of hard work, 170 points are still a predictable score.

  

Since the LSAT test is score-reserved, that is to say, during the 5-year validity period of the LSAT test score, LSAC will submit all test scores of the applicant to the applying school, and the school generally takes the scores of several tests

The average arithmetic score is used to measure the applicant’s real LSAT scores, so Youye Education recommends that the applicants are fully prepared before registering and taking the LSAT exam (the registration of the LSAT will be explained in detail later).

Similarly, according to LSAC’s statistics, more than 70% of candidates took only one LSAT test, while less than 5% of candidates took more than two LSAT tests.

 

 LSAT entry in China

The LSAT test has entered mainland China many years ago, but due to the limited number of candidates, there are only two tests in mainland China each year, in June and December, and there is only one test site, the Peking University LSAT test site.

 

If you want to take the LSAT test in mainland China, there are two main ways to register:

First, go directly to the Peking University Examination Center to pick up the registration form, and then fill in the registration form and send it to LSAC together with the test fee (normal registration test is 103 US dollars, if you postpone the registration, the additional 54 US dollars, but the fee may change).

 

Second, you can register for the LSAT test directly on the LSAC website Welcome to Law School Admission Council and Welcome to Law School Admission Council, and you need an international credit card to pay for the test online.

 

 

In addition, there are 4 examinations per year in Hong Kong. Those who are particularly impatient and have the means can consider taking the Hong Kong exam. In addition, if you are approaching the exam and feel that you have not prepared well (after all, LSAT is too difficult), in addition to CANCEL after the exam, there is another option to change the exam date.

You only need to fill out the form provided by LSAC one week before the end of the test, and then send it to LSAC along with about 30 US dollars to take the next LSAT test, so that you have enough time to prepare for the test.

The advantage of this is that there will be no record of CANCEL in the report sent to the law school in the future (it is said that good schools don’t like to see the score report with CANCEL record), and of course it can save dozens of dollars.

 

2 The establishment of American and Canadian Law School

As of now, there are approximately 203 law schools in the United States, of which 178 are approved by the American Bar Association. Most of these schools are attached to universities, and a few are independent law schools. There are two types of law schools, public and private.

The public is mainly established by the state government, and the students are mainly from the state. Generally speaking, the tuition fees of state universities are lower than private universities, but some well-known state universities are also very expensive.

Private universities account for the majority of law schools, such as Harvard University, Yale University and Columbia University in the east, and those in the Midwest. The University of Chicago and Stanford University on the Pacific Ocean have students from all over the country, including many foreign students.

 

There are four major professional settings in American law schools:

1. Because ordinary students are mainly engaged in the career of lawyers, J.D. (Juris Doctor) is the choice of most law school students. Obtaining a J.D. degree generally requires at least 3 years of full-time study.

2. LL.M. (The Master of Laws) is mainly for students who wish to engage in law research work. The school system is generally one year. People with LL.M. degrees in individual states can also take the bar exam (such as New York State, California).

3. M.S.L. (Master of Studies in Law) is mainly aimed at a small group of students who do not want to become legal workers but are interested in law. It is mainly some journalists who choose to study this major. The length of schooling is generally one year.

4. J.S.D. (The Doctor of the Science of Law) is mainly for students who have studied LL.M. for one year and hope to further study in the field of law research and teaching. The major applications of Chinese applicants are J.D. and LL.M.

3 Application for Canadian Law School

➤Since Chinese students mainly apply for J.D. and LL.M., UYE Education mainly introduces the application requirements of these two majors.

 

For applicants who wish to study J.D. in the U.S. and Canada, they must have a bachelor’s degree (but there is no requirement for majors). U.S. Law School requires applicants to submit materials including:

 

(1) LSAT transcript.

 

(2) Transcripts during college. The transcript must be in both Chinese and English, and stamped with the school’s official seal.

 

(3) The completed application form for human studies. Each law school has its own anthropology application form. Applicants should fill in truthfully and correctly.

 

(4) Two to three letters of recommendation. The recommendation letter should generally be written by a professor who is familiar with you, but if you leave school for a long time after graduation, it can also be written by the person in charge of your unit.

 

(5) Personal autobiography. You must write your own characteristics in your autobiography and highlight the differences from others in order to attract the attention of the Humanities Committee. In addition, when writing an autobiography, you must be careful not to be humble, and you can directly show any advantages. At the same time writing an autobiography should be concise, objective, comprehensive and organized.

 

(6) Students from non-English speaking countries must provide TOEFL scores (some schools do not need to provide TOEFL scores).

 

After receiving the above materials, the Law School Admission Committee will consider each applicant’s different circumstances and decide whether to admit. Admission generally considers the following factors:

LSAT scores, undergraduate academic records, undergraduate courses, undergraduate schools, undergraduate activities, ethnic background, personal characteristics, letters of recommendation, personal autobiography, work experience (if any), Motivation for studying law, what difficulties have ever been overcome, how do people prepare before school, and other related content.

However, with the exception of individual schools, most schools mainly look at the applicant’s LSAT scores and undergraduate academic performance (this score judgment will be comprehensively considered with the applicant’s school factors, and more and more law schools require uncertified undergraduate degrees.

Appraisal and evaluation by designated international educational institutions. World Education Service (WES) is such an institution, its website is International Credential Evaluation | World Education Services.

 

➤For applicants applying for LL.M., the law school requires that the applicant must have passed the undergraduate law study and obtained a bachelor’s degree in law (if there is no bachelor’s degree in law, but applicants who have passed the lawyer qualification examination in China can By negotiating with the Admission Committee of the American Law School, you can prove that you have the academic research ability equivalent to those who have a bachelor of law, and you can also apply for LL.M.).

At the same time, you need to prove that you have sufficient ability to engage in law research and submit major publications. And academic works. In addition, take the TOEFL test and achieve the required scores of the school. If you have a certain period of working hours in the law direction, it will be of great help to the application. Other application requirements are similar to those of J.D., but the LSAT test scores are not required.

Regarding the application, there is another suggestion:

Quite a number of domestic applicants who are considering applying for JD, especially law students, often apply for the LL.M. major of the American Canadian Law School first, and then pass the LSAT exam after graduation to apply for JD. 

From the point of view of Youyi Education, this method can also be regarded as a curve way to study J.D. Because the LSAT test requires very high English reading ability for candidates, and one year of study in law school will greatly help improve reading and logical analysis skills, so the test score will be greatly improved after learning LL.M.

 

Finally, let us talk about the cost of learning. As the law school, business school, and medical school are also called the three professional schools, there are not many opportunities to provide scholarships, so applicants generally need to prepare their own tuition and living expenses before they can obtain a visa.

Under normal circumstances, the cost of studying at a US law school for a year is around US$50,000 (including tuition and living expenses, but fluctuates greatly depending on the specific city). 

LLM generally does not provide loans, but JD students, generally good schools provide loans guaranteed by the school, the loan amount is sufficient to cover tuition and living expenses, and the loan interest rate and repayment time are also very favorable. So for applicants from Mainland China who are interested in studying JD in the United States and Canada, the cost is not an important issue.

The key is to be able to obtain relatively good LSAT scores and undergraduate scores and be admitted to an excellent American and Canadian law school. From the perspective of those from mainland China who have gone to the United States to study for a J.D. degree in recent years, most of them have completed their J.D. studies through school loans (in addition, in fact, American students study for J.D. also through loans).

 

How to prepare for LSAT?

Preparation for LSAT: As the most difficult LSAT test, it also has the highest requirements for candidates’ English language and logical analysis skills. Candidates who hope to pass the test of 165 or more generally require about 6 months of preparation time (candidates with CET-6 passing level).

If you have previously prepared for a similar test, such as GRE, GMAT, half of it will take at least 3 months.

First of all, you need to have a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics and main points of each part of the LSAT, and be familiar with the entire test content. At this stage, Youyi Education recommends that candidates can choose a training class to study.

 

❶ The teacher of the training class can give out the specific characteristics and solutions of each part, which saves the examinee’s time to study the characteristics and solutions of the test questions;

 

❷ The students in the training class are all taking the LSAT test, and everyone can promote each other. In many cases, the study group is very helpful to the candidates’ study. While attending the training class, it is necessary to use the LSAT real questions as the blueprint to quickly enter the state of LSAT learning.

 

Secondly, after the training class is over, it takes a period of time to master and be proficient in the methods and skills learned in the training class. Under normal circumstances, the training period is relatively short.

The holiday LSAT class only has 20 days. After receiving a considerable amount of content in a short period of time, it takes a period of time to digest, especially for some difficulties and key points. After that, you need to summarize the content of the exam by yourself and make it your own.

This stage is particularly important, and it generally takes about one and a half months to three months. The suggestion for review is to break through one type of test questions for a period of time. For example, spend about three days to practice specifically and summarize the supporting and refuting questions in the logic single questions. This can cultivate a sense of the question type.

 

Finally, it enters the sprint stage of review preparation, which is mainly a mock test. It is recommended that candidates keep 8-10 sets of the latest test questions for the mock test (LSAC will publish the latest test questions every year).

In each mock test, on the one hand, it is a test of one’s own level, to examine the results of a period of review, and more importantly, to find out their shortcomings through the mock test.

Attention should be paid to the mistakes in the mock exam questions and the questions that are not sure in the mock exam. Classify and summarize these questions to see what areas are weaker, and then supplement them with the same types of questions in other existing LSAT exam questions. In this way, after about 10 sets of test questions, under normal circumstances, it can make up enough knowledge points that were missed in the previous review.

In addition, you need to pay attention to the time and rhythm of the exam during the mock exam, which should be exactly the same as the time configuration of the exam room, so that you can truly experience the feeling of the exam site.

 

Through the above four parts, YouYe Education introduced some general conditions of the LSAT test and the law school application in the United States and Canada (mainly the United States). After 6 months or more of preparation, Indian and Chinese students can fully test the LSAT with a score of 160 or more.

Scores, some students get 170 points or more in the test every year. With the continuous improvement of American and Canadian law students’ openness to Chinese students, more and more outstanding Chinese students have the opportunity and ability to enter the world’s best law school for further study.

 

Which are the Top 20 rankings American law schools?

 

1. Yale University

 

2. Harvard University

 

3. Stanford University

 

4. Columbia University

 

5. New York University

 

6. University of Chicago

 

7. University of Pennsylcania

 

8. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

 

8. University of Virginia

 

10.Northwestern University

 

11. Cornell University

 

11. Duke University

 

11. University of California-Berkeley

 

14. Georgetown University

 

15. University of California-Los Angeles

 

15. University of Texas-Austin

 

17. Vanderbilt University

 

18. University of Southern California (Gould)

 

19. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

 

20. Boston University

 

20. George Washington University

 

 

 

Which are the top Ranking Canadian Law Schools?

 

1. University of Alberta, Faculty of Law

 

2. University of British Columbia Faculty of Law

 

3. University of Calgary, Faculty of Law

 

4. Dalhousie Law School

 

5. University of Manitoba, Faculty of Law

 

6. University of New Brunswick, Faculty of Law

 

7. Queen’s University, Faculty of Law

 

8. University of Saskatchewan College of Law

 

9. University of Toronto, Faculty of Law

 

10. University of Victoria, Faculty of Law

 

11. University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law

 

12. University of Windsor, Faculty of Law

 

13. York University, Osgoode Hall Law School