What is the LSAT out of?

What is the LSAT out of? Simple question, and the short answer is, the LSAT is out of 180. But that really doesn’t tell you what you want, and need, to know, which is: what law schools can I get into?

So let’s do a snap review of the LSAT scoring system.

The lowest possible score is a 120. The highest possible score is a 180. These are not 120 points, or 180 points. Instead, these are scaled scores, which means that the lowest scorers get a 120 and the highest scorers get a 180.

So how does the scaled score come into being? The LSAT consists of 100 (plus or minus one or two) scored questions. As a practical matter, almost no one gets all 100 questions correct. Also, as a theoretical matter, anyone who guesses on at least a few questions would get at least a point or two. As a practical matter, almost no one gets fewer than 30 questions correct (simply guessing randomly on all 100 questions would yield you an average of 20 points). Once you have taken the test and gotten a raw score, based on the number of questions you answered correctly, then LSAC needs to work its magic. LSAC takes all of the test-takers’ raw scores and then scales them, so as to be able to put them into an orderly distribution. And this is where the scaled scores come into being. By scaling the scores, LSAC makes it possible to compare results from two test takers who took two tests at different times.

Although the scaled scores potentially range from 120 to 180, the vast majority of students will score in the 140-160 range. For example, anything over a 170 would be an exceptionally good score, putting you above the 98th percentile, while a score of 130 or less would eliminate you application from contention, and even a score of 140 or less would pretty much eliminate your chances of admissions to any law school (unless, of course, you improve your score when you retake it, in which case the schools that you are likely to get in to will simply use your highest LSAT score instead of averaging your score, as very competitive law schools do. See this blog post for more info about retaking the LSAT.)

So, now that you know what the LSAT is out of, I encourage you to view some of the free prep material on our site, or check out our classes and tutoring options. Whatever you do, don’t let the LSAT drive you out of your mind!

Tags: law school, lsat info, lsat score