If you have been researching the LSAT recently, you have probably noticed how hard it is to get a straight answer about what the test actually looks like, partly because it keeps changing and partly because so much of the advice online is quietly describing older versions of it. Several real changes have arrived over the past two years, and the most significant of them land in August 2026, so it is worth walking through them from newest to oldest, so that you know exactly which test you are preparing for.
The test is moving in person, on a new platform
The biggest change for anyone testing from August 2026 onward is where and how you will sit the exam. After several years in which taking the LSAT from home was the norm, nearly all test takers will now need to test in person at a Prometric center, a shift driven by a new test delivery platform built for tighter security. Because that platform is new, the on-screen experience is changing along with it, though it is worth saying clearly that only the interface is changing, not the content of the test.
Most of those interface changes are small. The tools you already rely on, such as highlighting a line, flagging a question to return to, or enlarging the font, simply live in slightly different places, most of them tucked into an expandable menu on the right side of the screen. The new version also adds a few genuinely useful features, including a full-screen mode, a fuller set of accessibility options with new color schemes and adjustable line spacing, and a review panel that shows you at a glance which questions you have answered, which you have skipped, and which you flagged, so you can jump straight to any of them. None of this changes what the questions ask, but it is worth getting comfortable with the new layout before test day rather than meeting it cold. One note on timing: if you are testing in June 2026 you are still on the current interface, so practice on that one, because the new layout applies only from August onward.
The writing section is new
The writing portion has changed as well, and a little earlier. The old writing sample has been replaced by a new Argumentative Writing section, in which you are given fifty minutes to build and defend a position on an assigned topic rather than simply weigh two options against each other. It is still unscored, and it is still completed online on its own, separately from test day, but it now asks for a genuine argument, which is worth a little practice rather than none at all.
Logic games are gone
The change that reshaped the test most deeply is also the oldest, and it is the one outdated advice still stumbles over. Back in August 2024, the Analytical Reasoning section, universally known as logic games, was removed for good and replaced by a second scored section of Logical Reasoning. That single shift rebalanced the whole exam. The LSAT today is four sections of thirty-five minutes each, with two scored Logical Reasoning sections, one scored Reading Comprehension section, and one unscored section that could be either, which means logical reasoning now accounts for two of your three scored sections and therefore roughly two thirds of your score. If a book or a video you find still spends its time teaching games, that is your clearest sign it is describing a test that no longer exists. Our free guide in the resource library lays out the current format in more detail if you want the full picture.
What has not changed
Underneath all of this, the essential nature of the test is the same. The LSAT still measures a specific and learnable set of reasoning and reading skills, it is still scored on the same 120 to 180 scale, and it still rewards steady, structured practice far more than any last-minute trick. The changes are real and worth knowing, but they do not alter the fundamental work in front of you, which is to build those skills patiently over months. And the simplest way to protect yourself from outdated guidance is to use it as a test in itself: if a study plan spends its energy on logic games, set it aside, lean on official sources for anything factual, and treat the rest with the healthy skepticism the LSAT is, after all, trying to teach you.
