How Is the LSAT® Scored?
There are two steps in calculating your LSAT® score. First, the number of questions you get right are added up, giving you a “raw score.” Then, this raw score is converted to a “scaled score” on the LSAT® score range of 120 to 180.
To achieve a perfect 180 on the LSAT®, you can (usually) only get one question wrong on the entire test, a feat only achieved by about 0.15% of test takers. The median LSAT® score is around 154.
What is the LSAT® score range?
Every LSAT® score lands between 120 (the floor) and 180 (the ceiling). Here’s a quick snapshot of how scaled scores line up with percentiles:
| LSAT® score | Percentile rank |
| 180 | 99.8% |
| 179 | 99.7% |
| 178 | 99.6% |
| 177 | 99.3% |
| 176 | 99.1% |
| 175 | 98.7% |
| 174 | 98.2% |
| 173 | 97.6% |
| 172 | 96.7% |
| 171 | 95.8% |
| 170 | 94.5% |
| 169 | 93.0% |
| 168 | 91.4% |
| 167 | 89.5% |
| 166 | 87.5% |
| 165 | 85.2% |
| 160 | 71.1% |
| 155 | 54.0% |
| 150 | 36.6% |
| 145 | 21.5% |
| 140 | 11.0% |
| 135 | 5.0% |
| 130 | 2.2% |
| 125 | 1.0% |
| 120 | 0.0% |
Scores are listed at single-point intervals from 165 to 180 and at five-point intervals from 120 to 160. Percentile ranks reflect the percentage of test takers who scored below each scaled score. A 120 is the lowest score the LSAT® reports, so no scores fall below it.
Source: LSAC — https://www.lsac.org/data-research/data/lsat-percentiles
Data period: 2023–2024, 2024–2025, and 2025–2026 testing years
Why does the LSAT® have a scaled score?
The LSAT® uses a scaled score to level the playing field between different versions of the test.
On a slightly easier test, you’ll have to get more questions right to achieve a certain scaled score. On a slightly harder test, you can attain that same scaled score by getting fewer questions right.
The adjustments between tests are fairly small. Usually, if you get the same number of questions right on two different LSAT® exams, your scaled scores won’t differ by more than a point or two.
The scaled score has also allowed LSAT® scores to remain consistent as the exam’s format has changed over the years, from the older four-scored-section exams, through the pandemic-era three-section LSAT®-Flex, to the current version, which dropped the logic games section entirely in August 2024. Whichever version a candidate took, law schools see a comparable scaled score.
Do hard questions affect your LSAT® score more than easy questions?
No. Your LSAT® score is based on the number of questions you answered correctly, not the difficulty level of those questions.
This has significant implications for your LSAT® timing strategy. Let’s say that you run into a Logical Reasoning question that is really, really tough. Maybe you could answer it if you spent five minutes carefully going through the argument and answer choices. Should you spend that much time on it?
Well, in those same five minutes, you could answer two or three easier questions! Each of those easy questions count just as much toward your score as the tough question, so you should quickly guess on the hard one, and then scoop up points by answering a larger number of easy questions.
Does guessing hurt your LSAT® score?
You should always fill in an answer choice on LSAT® questions, even if you’re just blindly guessing.
That’s because there is no penalty for an incorrect answer, so there’s no downside to getting a question wrong. And hey, you’ve got a 20% chance of guessing correctly, you might as well try your luck.
How do the different sections on the LSAT® affect your overall score?
The current version of the LSAT® consists of three scored sections: two Logical Reasoning sections and one Reading Comprehension section. (Analytical Reasoning, the infamous “logic games” section, was removed from the exam in August 2024.) There is also an unscored “variable section” used to collect data on new test questions; it will be an extra Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension section, and it does not affect your score in any way.
Every scored question on the LSAT® is weighted exactly the same. For example, missing a Reading Comprehension question will have the same exact impact on your score as missing a Logical Reasoning question.
Law schools will not see the exact questions that you missed on your LSAT® exam. They only see your overall scaled score and your score percentile. So, law programs will not know whether the questions you missed all came from one section or were spread evenly across the scored sections.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good LSAT® score?
It depends entirely on your target schools’ medians. The overall median is about 154; top-25 programs generally expect high 160s or better. Check each school’s most recent class profile.
Is 170 a good LSAT® score?
A 170 sits around the 94th percentile, which puts you above the median at the large majority of law schools, but a little below it at the most selective ones, where medians now run from about 170 to 174. Those medians have crept higher in recent cycles.
How long are LSAT® scores valid?
LSAT® scores are valid for 5 years.
