This study was undertaken to evaluate the predictive validity of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) earned under accommodated testing conditions. Of special interest was the validity of scores obtained by test takers who were accommodated under nonstandard time conditions (i.e., accommodations that included extra testing time). Separate…

This study was undertaken to clarify the internal structure of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and shed light on the ability or abilities measured by the three item types that make up the test (logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, and reading comprehension). The study used data for two forms of the LSAT for general samples of LSAT…

This book aims to give students a thorough overview of the contemporary law school experience. It provides a comprehensive chronological account of what to expect, drawn from the experiences of recent law school graduates, designated the "'Law School Confidential' mentors." The chapters are: (1) "Thinking about Law School? Think…

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) was examined to see if the items on a form could be divided into different subgroups in which items looked statistically similar within the subgroups but statistically different between subgroups. Of such subgrouping can be detected, it is likely that the subgroups of items measure different abilities, and the…

In this study, two statistical approaches for adjusting grades were tested on data obtained from four law schools, with samples of 157, 188, 206, and 191. These approaches were previously validated using data on undergraduates but have not been used in a study of postgraduate performance. Neither method yielded consistent improvements in the…

Women's lower scores on standardized admissions tests were examined from the perspective of consequential validity using data from the Law School Admissions Test. Data do not show that women disproportionately remove themselves from the applicant pool and do not suggest that a consequence of lower scores is application to less prestigious schools.…

This study focuses on the relationship between the personality characteristics of entering law students and academic success in law school. The subjects (137) were entering law school students at Pepperdine University School of Law. Students were administered the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) as a measure of their temperament and…

Compares men's and women's performance on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), and suggests that the math section may have penalized women, since they scored equally to men on other sections. Questions the validity of mathematics performance as a predictor of success in law school and as a lawyer. (GC)

Learning-disabled college graduates' entry into professional schools has raised numerous legal issues concerning their matriculation qualifications, need for accommodations, and eventual ability to practice successfully. Discusses each issue in a legal education context, following an explanation of learning disabilities and the federal statutes…

Two statistical approaches for adjusting grades were tested on data obtained from four American law schools (642 students). Neither item response theory nor the general linear model yielded consistent improvements in the predictive validity of Law School Admission Test scores and undergraduate grades for three schools. (SLD)

This study of Law School Admission Test (LSAT) performance by selected subgroups has been conducted to provide some baseline information that can later be referenced in a variety of projects and activities. The study provides a detailed psychometric analysis, by selected gender and ethnic subgroup membership, of LSAT Form OLSS1. This form was…

This report proposes an approach to formalize the law school admission process by first requiring law schools to delineate the characteristics they want their incoming classes to possess (e.g., types of undergraduate major, percent of in-state versus out-of-state residents, and levels of cultural diversity). These are then used as constraints on…

This study was designed to address questions of differential validity and questions of differential prediction in the law school admission process. The former were evaluated by comparing the magnitude of validity coefficients resulting from both simple and multiple correlations between first-year performance in law school and the traditional…

This study was designed to address questions of differential prediction of law school grades for various racial/ethnic minority subgroups. Differential prediction was evaluated by comparing the predicted and actual law school first-year grade point averages (FYAs) for various racial/ethnic subgroups within individual law schools based on…

Heckman's correction for regression in selected samples for predictive validity studies was applied to a large data file on 7,984 law school applicants. Data included ethnic group, sex, socioeconomic status, undergraduate degree, school, scores on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), writing ability, undergraduate grade point average, and age.…