Do I have to do the LSAT writing sample?
LSAT Argumentative Writing: unscored, and still required
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Yes, you have to do it. It is not scored, and your LSAT score will not be released until it is completed and approved.
That combination — no score, hard requirement — is why it gets neglected and why neglecting it is expensive. A missing writing sample does not lower your score; it withholds it, which during an application cycle is worse.
The format
LSAT Argumentative Writing runs 50 minutes in total: a 15-minute prewriting analysis period, which you may advance past after 5 minutes, then 35 minutes to write the essay.
The prewriting step is doing real work. You are given material to analyse before you write, and the structure exists because the task is an argumentative one — take a position and defend it — rather than a free-response prompt.
The multiple-choice portion and the writing component are administered differently and on different days, so do not assume that a change to one applies to the other. Our page on in-person testing covers the multiple-choice side.
How much it matters
Your essay goes to law schools with your score report. It is unscored, which means no admissions formula assigns it a number, but a human reader can open it.
The sensible calibration is somewhere between the two extremes people land on. It is not worth weeks of preparation. It is worth not submitting something visibly careless, particularly since it is one of the few unedited writing samples a school will ever see from you — and for a profession that runs on written argument, that is not nothing.
Practical advice
- Do it early. Your score is held until it is done and approved, and approval is not instantaneous.
- Take a position and defend it. The task is argumentative; a balanced survey that never commits is answering a different prompt.
- Use the prewriting period even though you can skip ahead after five minutes. Thirty-five minutes is not long to write an organised argument from a standing start.
- Check your setup before test day. It is remote-proctored on your own machine, and a technical failure costs you the session.
Sources
Counsel is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Law School Admission Council. LSAC publishes the authoritative description of the LSAT; where this page and LSAC disagree, LSAC is right.