It’s difficult to get into a law school. There is a plethora of alterations you’ll need to make, as well as a few key tests to choose from. Previously, law schools only looked at the LSAT, but some prominent law schools are now accepting the GRE.
Harvard Yale, UPenn, Columbia, and NYU, for example, now accept the GRE and LSAT. While this may be a relief to some, it creates a conversion issue.
Now, the big question is; how do you compare the results if there are two exams?
While having additional alternatives is nice, the GRE and LSAT are two separate exams with separate results. They’re scored differently and contain portions that are all their own. As a result, it’s critical to understand how the results of both tests compare.
What is GRE?
The Graduate Records Examinations is a computerized test that is divided into six sections. One section is experimental and without a score and Writing, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning make up the other sections.
While the analytical writing section comes first, there’s no particular order to how the other sections come. Hence, your ability to save questions for a later time. Interestingly, it has a lot of questions on it.
Most graduate programs prefer the GRE test because it provides a thorough picture of students’ academic abilities and while law schools used to only focus on the LSAT, the GRE has also proven to be effective and, can be taken multiple times.
Students can take the GRE more than twice per year, providing them more chances to improve their scores.
What is LSAT?
The LSAT is a test for law school admissions consisting of five sections. While the quantitative reasoning section is missing, it has appealed more to law students. However, it does not hold up well in other professions.
If you want to pursue a graduate program outside the legal field, this is definitely not the test you should take.
The fact that the LSAT is given twice a year makes it time-consuming and gives the students limited options. How?
If you don’t get a good score for the first time, you’ll have to wait at least six months to take it again. As a result, the LSAT represents a significant time commitment for students.
Therefore, it was created for persons interested in law school; otherwise, it would be a waste of time.
GRE to LSAT Conversion: Importance for Law School Applications
It is a laudable goal to pursue a profession in law. For prospective lawyers, there are several prospects, and the industry rewards those who work hard with a nice lifestyle.
The first step is to apply to law school, and you’ll need to take the LSAT or GRE to do so. Even so, the LSAT and GRE do not guarantee you a spot at your preferred law school.
This is because schools use a holistic approach to evaluating students for law school and the programs must scan through all of your previous accomplishments. Both assessments are only tools for comparing and contrasting prospects.
While the LSAT and GRE do not guarantee admission, they can help you increase your chances and win scholarship money.
How does GRE to LSAT Conversion Work?
While the LSAT and GRE have certain similarities, the conversion is not straightforward. Some components of the GRE outweigh the others, resulting in an uneven conversion.
This has both positive and negative aspects and allows pupils to concentrate more on individual portions, but if you don’t perform well in those sections; your overall score will suffer.
How does the GRE Sections Convert?
The LSAT is graded on a scale of 120 to 180 points, with a single score for the whole test. This differs from the GRE, which contains separate verbal and quantitative portions with scores ranging from 130 to 170.
Because the LSAT is entirely verbal, it weights higher than the quantitative section when the GRE converts to the LSAT. The quantitative component accounts for 40% of the overall score, while the verbal section accounts for 60% of the entire score.
Regrettably, these results in inconsistency. The margin of error, according to ETS, is plus or minus 5 points. Even yet, this margin of error is narrow enough to determine whether you’ll be admitted to a law school.
Are Percentiles used to Convert the GRE to LSAT?
The LSAT scores students using a bell curve that is defined before the exam is given. This generates a standard deviation, which categorizes students’ results and divides them into groups.
The 99th percentile on the LSAT is often a score of 175 or higher. While a converted GRE score can translate to an LSAT percentile, the +/- 5 point margin of error makes placing students into percentiles difficult.
This is because the LSAT percentiles aren’t always determined by the same number of points. This means that the 50th and 60th percentiles are only 3 points apart, while the 90th and 99th percentiles are only 3 points apart.
Furthermore, these tests are changing each year, and the students who take them come from a variety of backgrounds.
The LSAT comprises legal students, whereas the GRE is made up of individuals from a wider range of backgrounds. For percentiles, this makes getting precise findings difficult.
Conclusion
That law schools consider both the LSAT and the GRE complicates matters all the more, but it’s a good thing. The LSAT is a comprehensive exam, but it has its limitations. When colleges like Harvard take the GRE into account, more students pursue a legal career. Not only does this increase the range of law professions, but it also permits students to pursue other interests if law does not suit them.
Still, this implies that schools have more to consider, and conversions become more difficult. The good news is that there is software that law schools and students can use to convert GRE score to LSAT score that is comparable.
While the software is functional, it is not without flaws. Even so, with a five-point margin of error, you can have a good sign of where you stand when applying to law school.
References
- https://testprepinsight.com/resources/gre-vs-lsat-conversion-guide/
- https://testmaxprep.com/blog/lsat/gre-to-lsat-conversion
- https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools
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