Will the Coronavirus Affect the March 2020 LSAT?

Will the Coronavirus Affect the March 2020 LSAT?

The World Health Organization has recently declared coronavirus a pandemic. Many drastic steps have been taken by officials around the world to quell the spread of the disease, including locking down cities and entire countries hard hit by the disease, while suspending university classes, conferences, and music festivals across the U.S. in an effort to deter large gatherings of people. Students planning to take the March 2020 LSAT in the United States may fear their test date may be postponed or canceled. In this post, we cover what the LSAC has to say about the coronavirus and its effect on the March 30^th exam.

Will the Coronavirus Affect the March 2020 LSAT? 

What LSAC has said about the situation:

LSAC released an updated statement on March 9, 2020, addressing the coronavirus outbreak. You can read it in full here.  In the United States and Canada, the March 2020 LSAT will proceed as planned. LSAC has canceled the March 2020 LSAT. They communicated this to takers of March 16, 2020. However, LSAC acknowledges that the situation could change, and should it become necessary to close or move testing centers, they will communicate directly with registrants to reschedule the test.

Switching to a different LSAT date:

LSAC acknowledges the uncertainty of the health crisis and therefore is allowing March 2020 LSAT registrants to switch to the April 2020, June 2020, or July 2020 exams at no cost. The usual change fee is $125.

If you wish to switch from the March test to a new date, you must do so by March 20, 2020. You can submit a March 2020 test date change request here.

Note that the April 25, 2020 LSAT is also scheduled to proceed as planned.

What you can do to prepare for March 2020 LSAT:

LSAC canceled the March 2020 LSAT on March 16, 2020. You can read more about their decision here. In short, all March 2020 takers have been automatically registered for the April 2020 or June 2020 exam, depending on the region. They are working with law schools who are still in the admissions process on how to best proceed and are seeking ways to administer the exam to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus.

LSAT cancellations in Asia:

You may have heard that the LSAT has been canceled but thus far it is only for Asian countries that were severely impacted by the coronavirus. LSAC canceled the March 2020 LSAT in South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, and all four planned test locations in the Chinese mainland. At the moment, they are also postponing the opening for the June LSAT registration in China.

We will continue to monitor the status of coronavirus across the United States and provide more information as it relates to the LSAT as it becomes available. For now, the March 2020 LSAT is moving ahead as planned.

Looking For LSAT Help?

Looking for LSAT tutoring? We offer personalized, one-on-one tutoring from experts who scored in the 95% percentile and above on the LSAT. You can read about our LSAT tutoring and pre-law options here.