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LSAT Performance With Regional, Gender, and Racial/Ethnic Breakdowns: 1993–1994 through 1999–2000 (TR-00-01) ![]() by Susan P. Dalessandro, Lisa Anthony Stilwell, and Lynda M. Reese Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide summary information about Law School Admission Test (LSAT) performance for test takers classified by country, region of the United States, gender, race/ethnicity, and race/ethnicity within gender. LSAT performance is summarized for the 1993–1994 through 1999–2000 testing years. By compiling this summary information into a single report, trends with regard to the performance and representation of various subgroups may be tracked and monitored. The primary results observed for the time period covered by this report are summarized below. In evaluating the results reported below, the reader should bear in mind that the test takers who contributed to the various regional, gender, and racial/ethnic statistics were self-selected. That is, these test takers chose to take the LSAT themselves; they were not randomly chosen to be assessed. Also, test takers voluntarily self-reported their gender and race/ethnicity. That is, individuals chose whether or not to respond to these classification questions and decided how they would respond (especially with regard to race/ethnicity). As a result, differences in LSAT performances across region, gender, or racial/ethnic subgroups cannot be attributed to these subgroups in general, but merely to representatives of these subgroups who chose to take the LSAT and identified themselves as belonging to these groups. General Trends Regarding the LSAT Trends Regarding Canada and Foreign Countries Trends Regarding the United States The performance of test takers from the various regions has remained fairly constant. Test takers in the Northwest have scored highest on average, and test takers in the Southeast and South Central regions have scored lowest on average. Trends Regarding Gender The percentage of test takers who did not indicate their gender has been consistently small for the past six years and decreased in the 1999–2000 testing year to 0.04%. The no-response group has had the highest mean LSAT score in the past six years. Trends Regarding Race/Ethnicity The percentage of test takers who did not indicate their race/ethnicity had steadily increased from about 0.5% in the 1993–1994 testing year to about 2.0% in the 1997–1998 testing year, but has decreased in the last two testing years to about 0.6% for the 1999–2000 testing year. The no-response group had the highest mean LSAT score in the 1999–2000 testing year and the highest or second highest mean LSAT score in the previous six years. Trends Regarding Gender and Race/Ethnicity Among the Caucasian subgroup, there have been more male than female test takers, while there have been more female than male test takers for the African American subgroup. Male and female test takers have been approximately equally represented among the Hispanic, Puerto Rican, and Mexican subgroups. For the Asian American subgroup, there were more male test takers before the 1995–1996 testing year and more female test takers afterward. The number of test takers who indicated neither their gender nor their race/ethnicity increased noticeably in the 1997–1998 and 1998–1999 testing years compared to previous testing years. |