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Curves for the last four released exams have been -11, -11, -11, and -14. We'll never know what the curve for the upcoming February test will be/was, but would anyone like to offer a reasoned prediction?

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Sorry, newb question, but what does "curve" mean. Like, a -11 means you get a 170? Thanks.

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Sauer Grapes wrote:

theZeigs wrote:Sorry, newb question, but what does "curve" mean. Like, a -11 means you get a 170? Thanks.

Correct, the curve means that's the amount you can miss to get a 170. -11 means that if you miss 11, you get a 170. December was -14, so if you missed 14, you got a 170 (actually both 13 and 14 missed were 170's). December was the "hardest" test of the past 4 going by the curve, since the curve is supposed to normalize all the tests.

Thanks for the reply!

We could bloviate about this all day, but it doesn't matter because we will probably never learn what the curve on the Feb test will be. Based on history it will be between -9 and -14, with the highest probability between -10 and -12.

I looked through the thread of Feb 2009 results from last year, and it was filled with people trying to figure out what the curve was. It was a total waste of time for all involved. Even if you find out that nobody received a 178 and a 175 it doesn't necessarily mean a -9 curve.

And once again, loose curve ≠ easy test.

i'm sorry, but this thread is an absolute waste of time. no way to figure it out, before or after the test.

You guys are misunderstanding me. I'm mainly interested in the reasons behind people's predictions than the predictions themselves. Before the September 2009 test, the guy who writes for the LSAT Ninja blog predicted a curve of -11 or -12, and it turned out to be -11. He reasoned that 1) the crappy economy would lead many people who weren't entirely sure law school was right for them to take the LSAT, and 2) the new 3-week LSAT postponement rule would lead to fewer cancellations than before, meaning more people who would have cancelled just a few days before the test in administrations past would now be sitting for it on test day. If you think these factors (not just abnormal question difficulty exclusively) have contributed to the more recent tests' "lenient" curves, then it's not unreasonable to speculate whether or not these factors will similarly influence the Feb. curve, regardless of the fact that we'll never know for sure what the curve turns out to be.

dbrddr wrote:You guys are misunderstanding me. I'm mainly interested in the reasons behind people's predictions than the predictions themselves. Before the September 2009 test, the guy who writes for the LSAT Ninja blog predicted a curve of -11 or -12, and it turned out to be -11. He reasoned that 1) the crappy economy would lead many people who weren't entirely sure law school was right for them to take the LSAT, and 2) the new 3-week LSAT postponement rule would lead to fewer cancellations than before, meaning more people who would have cancelled just a few days before the test in administrations past would now be sitting for it on test day. If you think these factors (not just abnormal question difficulty exclusively) have contributed to the more recent tests' "lenient" curves, then it's not unreasonable to speculate whether or not these factors will similarly influence the Feb. curve, regardless of the fact that we'll never know for sure what the curve turns out to be.

That guy doesn't know what he is talking about. The performance of other people on the LSAT has no effect on your score. It isn't normalized it is equated.

curve was -15 for February 1999 LSAT.

It's an undisclosed test so we aren't going to know anyway. Why bother?

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Alright... so how much info do you find out about your score?

I realize it isn't disclosed but what exactly does that mean besides for I won't be able to see which questions I got wrong? Does it tell you how many per section you got wrong? Or do you only get a score and a percentile?

bloodonthetracks wrote:i'm sorry, but this thread is an absolute waste of time. no way to figure it out, before or after the test.

+1 You might as well predict how many questions RC will have.

Forcier wrote:Alright... so how much info do you find out about your score?

I realize it isn't disclosed but what exactly does that mean besides for I won't be able to see which questions I got wrong? Does it tell you how many per section you got wrong? Or do you only get a score and a percentile?

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letsdoit1982 wrote:

bloodonthetracks wrote:i'm sorry, but this thread is an absolute waste of time. no way to figure it out, before or after the test.

+1 You might as well predict how many questions RC will have.

26!?

At least we'll know if I was right.