Your LSAT scores arrive as a single number between 120 and 180, and that number decides where you can go to law school. But before that scaled score reaches you, the Law School Admission Council runs your answers through a process called equating. Equating turns the raw count of correct answers into a standardized score that means the same thing on every test administration. A 165 in June carries the exact same weight as a 165 in October, even if one test was slightly harder than the other.
This is the difference between raw score and scaled score. The raw score is just the number of questions you got right out of roughly 75 to 100 scored items. The scaled score is what law schools actually see and what U.S. News ranks schools by. Every test taker since 1991 has been measured on the same 120 to 180 band, which makes year-over-year comparison possible and gives admission committees a reliable benchmark across generations of applicants.
This guide breaks down exactly how the conversion works, shows a sample 2025-26 conversion chart, explains percentile ranks at every score band, and matches scores to specific law schools. If you are still in the planning stage, check our lsat test dates page for the upcoming schedule and our lsat accommodations guide if you need testing modifications. Know what score you need before you sit for the exam.
One key fact upfront: there is no penalty for wrong answers. Every question counts equally toward your raw score, and a blank guess is statistically worse than a random one. That single rule shapes the entire scoring strategy. Always bubble every question, even if the last 30 seconds force a random guess. Five extra guessed bubbles add roughly one expected raw point, which can be the line between a 155 and a 156.
Why does any of this matter to your application? Because law school admission is essentially a numbers game at the top of the funnel. Median LSAT and median GPA drive U.S. News rankings, scholarships, and bar passage projections. Schools build their incoming class around those two medians, which means your scaled score is not just a measure of your skill but a direct lever on where you can study, how much you pay, and what doors open after graduation. Understanding conversion is understanding the rules of that game.
The scoring system also rewards consistent test-day performance over flashes of brilliance. Because all four scored sections feed equally into the raw score, a meltdown on one section drags down the entire total. A test taker who hits 88 percent across all sections almost always scores higher than someone who aces three sections and bombs the fourth. This is why steady accuracy across LR and RC matters more than chasing perfection on any one passage type.
One more piece of context before the conversion details. The LSAT changed format in August 2024 when LSAC removed the Analytical Reasoning section (Logic Games) and replaced it with another Logical Reasoning section. The score scale stayed identical at 120-180. Equating across the format change ensures a 165 in 2023 still equals a 165 in 2026, even though the test composition shifted. LSAC published transition analyses showing that score distributions held steady through the change.
The LSAT has about 75-100 scored questions across four sections. Your raw score (number correct) runs through an equating curve and converts to a scaled score from 120 to 180. A typical raw score of around 70 maps to a scaled 150, raw 80 to 160, raw 90 to 170, and raw 95 to 175. There is no guessing penalty, so always fill in every bubble.
The LSAT scaled score runs from 120 (lowest possible) to 180 (perfect). The median is 150 and the test is designed so that half of test takers score below 150 and half above. Every LSAT since 1991 uses this same 120-180 scale, so a 170 today equals a 170 from a decade ago. The scale itself does not shift year over year.
What does shift slightly is the conversion curve from raw to scaled. Each test administration gets its own equated curve based on difficulty. A harder test means a more generous curve, so you need fewer correct answers for the same scaled score. LSAC publishes the official conversion only inside the proctored experience, never in advance.
Percentile rank tells you what percent of test takers scored at or below your scaled score over the past three years. A 99th percentile means you scored higher than 99 out of 100 test takers. Top law schools care about both the scaled score and the percentile because the percentile shows your relative position against the entire applicant pool.
Percentiles are surprisingly stable year over year. A 170 has hovered around the 97th percentile for two decades. Small shifts of one or two percentile points happen, but the rough mapping holds: 180 is 99.9th, 175 is 99th, 170 is 97th, 165 is 90th, 160 is 80th, 155 is 65th, and 150 is the 50th percentile median.
U.S. News uses median LSAT scores to rank law schools, which means your scaled score is one of the two most important admission factors (the other is GPA). To assess your chances at any specific school, look at its 25th, 50th (median), and 75th percentile LSAT for the most recent class. If your score is at or above the 75th percentile, you are a strong candidate. At the median, you are competitive. Below the 25th, you face an uphill battle and would need a strong GPA or compelling personal statement.
T14 (top 14) law schools generally want LSAT scores of 170 or higher. Top 25 schools target 165+. Top 50 want 160+. Regional and lower-ranked schools accept 150-160 routinely. Below 145, bar passage becomes a statistical concern at many schools.
Starting August 2024, the LSAT has four scored sections plus one unscored experimental section. The four scored sections are two Logical Reasoning sections, one Reading Comprehension section, and one additional Logical Reasoning section that replaced the old Analytical Reasoning (Logic Games) section. Each section is 35 minutes long.
All four scored sections feed into the same raw score. There is no sectional weighting on the surface, though Logical Reasoning effectively counts more because it appears in three out of four scored sections. The unscored experimental section can be any of LR or RC and is used by LSAC to test future questions; it does not count toward your score even though you cannot tell which section it is during the test.
LSAC keeps the exact conversion table for each test secret, but recent disclosed PrepTests give us a reliable model. The table below shows what a typical raw score converts to on a modern LSAT. Curves vary by one or two raw points either direction, so treat these as benchmarks rather than exact promises. The general shape, however, is stable enough that prep students plan their raw-score goals around these numbers.
The math reveals an important pattern. The middle of the curve is steep: gaining five raw points around the median can lift you from 150 to 155, a jump of 15 percentile points. At the top of the scale, the curve flattens. Going from raw 90 to raw 95 might only earn five scaled points but moves you from the 97th to the 99th percentile, which can be the difference between a Top 14 acceptance and a regional school. Understanding this shape changes prep priorities.
Each LSAT administration has its own conversion curve because equating compensates for difficulty differences. If one test happens to have slightly harder logical reasoning passages, the curve becomes more forgiving so a raw 78 might earn 160 instead of the usual 159. The goal is to make sure a 160 in June carries the same meaning as a 160 in November. LSAC statisticians run this equating using overlap questions and statistical models before any score is released to test takers.
Disclosed PrepTests from 2018-2024 show that curve variation is small but real. A raw 80 has earned anywhere from 159 to 161 across recent administrations. A raw 70 has converted to 149 to 151. The peaks and troughs of one or two scaled points either way are normal and built into the system. You cannot game this by trying to predict which test will have a friendlier curve. Focus on raw accuracy and let equating handle the rest.
Once equating runs, your scaled score is locked. LSAC has very strict policies on score review; only clerical errors can change a reported score. The conversion process itself is not subject to appeal. This is why test prep strategy focuses on raw accuracy rather than trying to guess the curve. You control which answers you bubble; you do not control the curve.
The honest answer is: it depends on where you want to go to law school. A 155 is a strong score for many regional law schools but barely competitive for the Top 50. A 170 puts you in striking distance of every Top 14 school but is no guarantee. School-specific benchmarks matter far more than abstract notions of good or bad scores. Always compare your number against the median and 75th percentile of your target programs.
Three percentile thresholds matter most for admission planning. The 50th percentile (around 150) is the median scaled score among test takers; below this you are in the lower half of the applicant pool. The 90th percentile (around 165) opens up most top-50 law schools as realistic options. The 99th percentile (around 175) makes you competitive at every law school in the country, including Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. Above 175, you become a target for major scholarships.
If you are still in early prep and assessing your starting point, take a free lsat practice test first to get a baseline. From there you can chart a path. Most students gain 7-15 points with three to six months of focused prep using quality materials like those covered in lsat practice test pdf resources.
Your LSAT percentile rank is the percentage of test takers scoring at or below your scaled score over the most recent three-year window. Percentile is the practical translation of your scaled score into competitive position. Admission officers think in percentiles as much as scaled scores, especially when comparing applicants across years and test administrations.
The 50th percentile lands at scaled score 150, which is the published median. From there, percentile ranks rise quickly. By 155 you are already at the 65th percentile. At 160 you crack the 80th. At 165 you hit the 90th. The jumps get harder as you climb, which is why pushing from 165 to 175 takes more work than going from 150 to 160 even though both involve roughly the same raw-question improvement.
LSAT percentiles barely shift year over year, which is one reason the test remains useful for ranking applicants. A 170 was the 97th percentile a decade ago and remains roughly the 97th percentile today. Small fluctuations of one or two points up or down happen due to changes in the test-taker pool, but the structure holds. This stability lets law schools compare 2026 applicants directly against their 2018 medians without statistical gymnastics.
U.S. News and World Report ranks law schools partly by the median LSAT of the entering class. This makes the median score the single most influential number on any school's profile. Schools work hard to maintain or raise their median because it directly affects rank. Knowing a school's median tells you what you need to be a midline candidate; the 75th tells you what makes you a strong scholarship candidate at that program.
Most schools publish three numbers: 25th percentile, median (50th), and 75th percentile. The 75th percentile is the score below which the top quarter of admitted students fell. If your LSAT lands at or above the 75th, you significantly improve your odds and become a scholarship target. At the median, you are competitive. Below the 25th, you are a long shot and would need exceptional non-LSAT factors. For full context on how these tiers work, see our lsat score range breakdown.
The numbers below reflect typical recent class medians at top law schools. Always verify the current year directly from the school's ABA 509 report because medians shift by one or two points each cycle. Use these as a planning baseline rather than a final word.
The T14 is an informal grouping of consistently top-ranked law schools. All have median LSATs at or above 169. Yale typically posts a 173 median; Harvard and Columbia 173; Stanford 172; Penn 172; Chicago 171; NYU 171; Michigan, Berkeley, Northwestern, Duke, Cornell, Georgetown, and Virginia generally range 168-171.
Outside the T14, strong programs like UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Texas, and Notre Dame post medians of 164-168. Regional flagships like ASU, Florida, and Boston University land in the 160-164 range. State school programs in the Top 50 to Top 100 generally accept 155-162 as median admitted scores.
Scholarships at most law schools tie directly to LSAT performance. A score at or above the 75th percentile of a school's incoming class often triggers automatic merit scholarships ranging from partial tuition to a full ride. This makes the 75th percentile a strategic target even if your dream school's median is lower. Apply where you sit at the 75th to maximize aid offers, then negotiate using competing scholarship awards from peer programs as leverage in your final decision.
You complete the LSAT and submit your answers. No score appears immediately because LSAC needs time to apply equating and check for irregularities.
LSAC processes raw responses. Equating analysis runs on overlap questions to set the conversion curve. Any score reviews or item flags get resolved during this phase.
Score release email arrives, typically 3 weeks after the test. The email includes your scaled score, percentile rank, and breakdown by section. Scores release in waves through the morning Eastern Time.
Your CAS (Credential Assembly Service) profile updates with the new score. Law schools you have applied to receive the score automatically through CAS.
If you ordered Score Preview, you have 6 calendar days from release to cancel. After that, the score becomes permanent and visible to schools.
All your LSAT scores from the past 5 years remain on your record. Law schools see all scores but use only the highest for admission decisions, per ABA reporting rules.
Most students do not hit their target on the first try. LSAC data shows that roughly one in three test takers retakes the LSAT, and the average score improvement on a second sitting is about 2.8 points. Some students gain 7 points or more by focusing on identified weaknesses; a smaller group sees no change or even a small drop. Knowing how reporting works helps you decide whether to retake.
Under current ABA reporting rules, law schools report only the highest LSAT score for ranking purposes. Schools see all your scores during admission review, but they care most about the highest because that is what gets reported to ABA and feeds into U.S. News rankings. A pattern of three scores like 158, 162, 168 reads as steady improvement and rarely hurts your application. A pattern like 168, 162, 158 raises questions about that first score.
LSAC offers two ways to manage a bad score. Score Cancel lets you cancel within 6 days of the test without seeing your score; the cancellation is logged on your record but no score reports out. Score Preview lets you see your scaled score first and then decide whether to keep it within 6 calendar days. Score Preview costs an extra fee but gives you actual information to decide. First-time test takers benefit most from Score Preview because they have no baseline to compare against.
The best predictor of your real LSAT score is your average across the last five timed, full-length practice tests under realistic conditions. Average them, then subtract 2-3 points for test-day anxiety. Most students score slightly below their practice average on the real test. Free tools like LSAT Demon, 7Sage, and Khan Academy LSAT track your practice scores and project a likely range. Treat these projections as one input among many.
A splitter is an applicant whose LSAT and GPA tell opposite stories: high LSAT with low GPA, or high GPA with low LSAT. Some schools welcome reverse-splitters (high GPA, lower LSAT) because the GPA boosts their other reported median. Others prefer high-LSAT splitters. Knowing which schools favor which profile is part of strategic application work.
Students often ask how the LSAT compares to other admission tests. The short answer is that direct conversion is not statistically sound; a 170 LSAT roughly aligns with a 95th+ percentile GRE Verbal but treating these as exchangeable misleads applicants. For structured prep planning, see our lsat classes overview and consider full curricula through lsat courses if self-study is not lifting your score fast enough.