How long is the LSAT?
About 3 hours for standard test takers: four 35-minute multiple-choice sections with a 10-minute intermission between the second and third.
Since August 2024 the sections have been two scored Logical Reasoning, one scored Reading Comprehension and one unscored experimental — logic games are gone.
LSAT Argumentative Writing — 50 minutes for most test takers — sits separately, online and unscored.
And starting with the August 2026 LSAT, the multiple-choice part runs in person at Prometric test centers, with remote testing only as a limited exception.
How long is the LSAT?
LSAC's published answer: the LSAT takes approximately 3 hours for standard test takers.
That covers the multiple-choice part of the test — four 35-minute sections — with a 10-minute intermission falling between the second and third sections.
So the sitting runs two sections, the 10-minute intermission, then two more.
Two boundaries keep that number honest.
It is LSAC's figure for standard test takers, so confirm your own schedule with LSAC when you register.
And the writing sample is not inside it: LSAT Argumentative Writing is the test's second part, handled separately from the multiple-choice sitting — this page's writing section below covers it.
This page stays on test-day mechanics.
For the fuller picture — what the LSAT is, who takes it and how schools use scores — see what the LSAT is.
Which sections are on the LSAT (and were logic games removed)?
The section list changed in August 2024.
Since that administration, the multiple-choice part of the LSAT has been two scored Logical Reasoning sections, one scored Reading Comprehension section, and one unscored section that can be either Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension.
Each of the four runs 35 minutes.
Analytical Reasoning — the section nicknamed "logic games" — is no longer part of the test.
If a prep book or website still lists logic games, it is describing the exam as it stood before August 2024, and the same caution applies to any source that treats the current LSAT as an at-home test.
What remains is what law schools see: three scored sections — two Logical Reasoning, one Reading Comprehension — feeding the 120–180 score.
Per LSAC, the LSAT is the only admission test accepted by all ABA-approved law schools.
Is there an unscored section on the LSAT?
Yes.
One of the four multiple-choice sections is unscored — an experimental section that, since the August 2024 change, is either another Logical Reasoning section or another Reading Comprehension section.
Unscored means it does not affect the result on the 120–180 scale.
The score comes out of the three scored sections, where every question is weighted equally and there is no deduction for wrong answers.
Practically, that means some of your test-day work never reaches the score — but the unscored section draws on the same two question types as the scored ones, so it is not a separate subject to study for.
One boundary: the writing sample is also unscored, but it is not this section.
It is a separate part of the LSAT, taken apart from the multiple-choice sitting — the next section covers it.
What is the LSAT writing section, and when do you take it?
The writing part is LSAT Argumentative Writing: the unscored writing sample that makes up the test's second part.
Most test takers get 50 minutes for it — 15 minutes of prewriting analysis, then 35 minutes of essay writing.
The task is to take a position on a debatable issue, working from three or four supplied perspectives.
When you take it is the part that surprises people: it is not on test day.
The writing is administered online, on demand, through LawHub with remote proctoring software, and it opens about eight days before each test administration — a separate session from the multiple-choice sitting.
There is a deadline hidden in that logistics.
First-time test takers must complete LSAT Argumentative Writing and have it approved before LSAC releases their score, and that approval processing can take up to three weeks.
The essay is unscored, so it adds nothing to the 120–180 number — but for first-time test takers, an unapproved writing sample can hold up the release of the score the three scored sections produced.
Can you take the LSAT online or at a test center?
At a test center, as the rule.
Starting with the August 2026 LSAT, LSAC requires in-person testing at Prometric test centers.
Remote testing survives only as an exception, for two groups: test takers with limited medical or disability accommodations, and test takers who live more than 180 miles or three hours from a test center.
This is the change older coverage misses: material written for earlier cycles still describes an at-home LSAT.
For the current cycle that is out of date — for most test takers, the multiple-choice part is taken at a Prometric center, and the writing is the one part taken online through LawHub.
So the current picture is split: four 35-minute multiple-choice sections in person, the writing session on demand online — 50 minutes for most test takers.
Plan for both when you schedule.
Career information, not legal advice. LSAC administers the LSAT and sets its format and rules; confirm current details with LSAC before you register.
Format details are cycle-specific — confirm with LSAC