There are many days that go down in the history books. D-day. The bombing of Pearl Harbor. 9-11. The day Britney Spears shaved her head in a barbershop.

At Blueprint Prep, we believe that June 11, 2007 will also live on forever. You see, that was the day that students across the country took the June 2007 LSAT. Ever since then, the people at Blueprint Prep have been telling the story to their students about how, on that day, the LSAT changed forever.

There were two big changes that were implemented on this exam. The first and largest was in the reading comprehension section. For years, students at Blueprint Prep and other companies had been practicing for four long passages that would show up on game day. (At Blueprint, part of the prep revolves around the fact that at least one of these passages is likely to cover the troubled past of Native Americans).

But then, mere months before thousands of students were set to take the exam, LSAC informed everyone, and us at Blueprint Prep, that there would be a change. Say hello to comparative reading. The brains at Blueprint Prep immediately went into a tailspin. What is this comparative reading? What will be compared? What are we eating for lunch? (Come on, it can’t be all LSAT all the time).

Comparative reading presents students with two shorter passages rather than the one, longer, traditional-style passage. One of the four passages on each LSAT since June 2007 has been a comparative passage. This change forced Blueprint Prep and other LSAT companies to quickly adapt their strategies. Not surprisingly, these passages required test takers to compare and contrast the two passages, noting similarities and differences as well as points of agreement and disagreement.

At Blueprint Prep, we created a number of replica passages to help our students prepare. Since the comparative reading was introduced, the reaction has been split. We at Blueprint Prep have found that many students find it to be more difficult, while others enjoy the natural break between the two passages.

The second change on the June 2007 LSAT came and went without much fanfare. After students struggle through hours of multiple-choice purgatory, they are forced to complete a writing sample. This section of the test is not scored, but it does go to law schools in your application packet. Students at Blueprint Prep are trained to do an adequate job on the writing sample so as to not hurt their chances, but to spend the vast majority of their energy on the stuff that counts.

The writing sample has always been a decision prompt: choose between two fundamentally equivalent options and defend your choice with an argument. But in June 2007, they introduced an argument evaluation prompt. Essentially, they made a terrible argument and you had to explain why it was terrible. (An example we used at Blueprint Prep: My girlfriend told me that he was just a friend, so I am sure that is the case. Valid argument?) In a sad twist of fate, this new writing sample apparently did not go over very well and was scrapped in 2008 for the good old decision prompt.

Because of these changes, LSAC offers the June 2007 LSAT as a practice LSAT on their website free of charge. Ain’t that sweet of them?

Blueprint Prep offers live and online LSAT prep courses. Matt Riley of Blueprint Prep was teaching LSAT courses in 2007 and lived through these drastic changes. He still has nightmares.