Decoding the LSAT: What Constitutes a Good Score?

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a crucial step for anyone aspiring to attend law school. This standardized test evaluates the skills necessary for success in legal studies, including logical reasoning, reading comprehension, and analytical thinking. While the LSAT is undoubtedly a significant factor in the admissions process, understanding what constitutes a "good" score requires a nuanced approach. The LSAT score range is from 120 to 180 points.

Understanding the LSAT Score Range and Averages

The LSAT is scored on a scale of 120 to 180, with each correct answer contributing to your raw score. This raw score is then converted into a scaled score, which is the score you'll see on your score report. The average LSAT score is approximately 150, but achieving a score well above this average is often necessary to gain admission into a top law school.

The Importance of LSAT Scores in Law School Admissions

LSAT scores are often considered the most important factor in law school admissions. They provide law schools with a standardized measure to compare prospective students from diverse academic backgrounds. While undergraduate GPA is also a significant factor, the LSAT is designed to assess a student's potential for success in law school, regardless of variations in grading standards or academic rigor across different universities.

Some law school admissions departments openly claim that the LSAT makes up 70% of a student’s admissions chances, with the other 30% attributed to GPA. The logic is fairly straightforward. The LSAT was designed to determine how likely you are to succeed in law school. Your test scores provide the best apples to apples measure of how law school applicants stack up against one another. While levels of grade inflation and academic rigor vary from one undergraduate university to another, the LSAT was built to be a consistent measure of ability for all test takers.

LSAT Percentiles: Understanding Your Ranking

Your LSAT percentile score indicates how your performance compares to other test-takers. It represents the percentage of individuals who scored lower than you on a particular exam over the past three years. For example, a score in the 99th percentile (around 175) means you scored higher than 99% of other LSAT takers.

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The LSAT percentiles are important in how your LSAT score is evaluated - they may be more important than the actual score itself, raw or scaled. In addition to the general LSAT percentile score explained above, there is also the LSAT percentile for each school.

Decoding LSAT Percentiles for Your Target School

Understanding the LSAT percentile ranges for your target law schools is crucial. Law schools typically publish the 25th, 50th (median), and 75th percentile LSAT scores of their incoming classes. Aiming for a score within or above these ranges significantly improves your chances of admission.

25th percentile: Falling into the 25th percentile of your school’s range means that 75% of the recently admitted students had a higher score than you. However, that also means that 25% of the students admitted had a lower score than you, which means there is still a chance you could be accepted.
50th percentile: If you score in the 50th percentile, that means your score is average for this school.

What Constitutes a "Good" LSAT Score: A Goal-Oriented Approach

Defining a "good" LSAT score is subjective and depends on your individual goals and the law schools you are targeting. Here's a breakdown based on different aspirations:

Getting Into Any Law School

A score of 150 on the LSAT is within the range of “an LSAT score needed for law school.” In other words, it’s good enough to get into law school, despite what anyone says to the contrary…just not a top law school. So does that mean 150 is a good LSAT score? It does if your only goal is to get into any law school, and for many people, that’s exactly their goal. In this sense, you can think of a 150 as a good score for the passionate applicant. If you’re applying to law school primarily because you are searching for financial and professional stability, a 150 is probably not a promising score.

Aiming for Top 100 Law Schools

Generally speaking, a score of 160 and above is necessary to guarantee admission into top-100 schools like Tulane, UC Hastings, or Case Western Reserve.

Targeting Top 50 Law Schools

For top-50 law schools such as Fordham, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, or George Washington, 165 is a good number to reach for.

Aspiring to Attend a T-14 Law School

A good LSAT score for T-14 law schools is 170-171 or higher. In addition to the schools above, the following schools comprise the rest of the 2025 T-14 schools: NYU and University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (tied at #8)Columbia and Northwestern University (tied at #10) UCLA (#12)UC Berkeley (#13)Georgetown, UT Austin, Vanderbilt, and WashU (tied #14) On average, T-14 schools require an LSAT between 166 (25th percentile) and 172 (75th percentile score).

Shooting for the T-6 Law Schools

A good LSAT score for the T-6-and what one should aim for to get in-is 173 or higher. While the 25th percentile score for several of these top schools is less than 173, that number is likely offset by exceptionally high GPAs or other extraordinary applicant characteristics, such as being a member of an underrepresented group or having a unique extracurricular achievement.

For 2025, the T-6 are Stanford and Yale (tied at #1); University of Chicago (#3); University of Virginia (#4); University of Pennsylvania (#5) and Duke and Harvard (tied at #6).

Exceptional Scores: 170 and Above

Most people consider anything above a 160 to be a good LSAT score on your LSAT test date. In this context, “good” really only means a score that sounds respectable and that most law schools will look upon favorably. To those of you who are aiming for top 20 schools, you’ll need to set your sights a bit higher than 160. As you can see from the tables, basically all of the top 20 law schools in the US have median LSAT score ranges of 162 or higher. As a reminder, that’s just the median score range, so your chances aren’t ruined if you don’t hit that mark. A 170 or higher means you’re scoring in the top 2-3% of LSAT test-takers, and almost no one is going to complain about that. Pretty much always. But will a 170 guarantee you a spot at Yale? Nope. Will a 175? Probably not. Will a 180? Unlikely.

Beyond the Score: Holistic Review and Other Application Components

While a strong LSAT score is undeniably important, law school admissions are holistic. This means that admissions committees consider various factors beyond just your LSAT score, including:

Undergraduate GPA
Personal statement
Letters of recommendation
Resume
Work experience
Other aspects of diversity

These factors can play a significant role, especially if your LSAT score falls slightly below the median for your target school.

Strategies for LSAT Preparation and Improvement

There’s only one way to increase your LSAT score: LSAT prep. You’ll need to put in the work to see the results.

Invest in comprehensive LSAT prep: Utilize resources like Magoosh LSAT, LSAT books, and practice tests.
Practice consistently: Dedicate ample time to studying and practicing with real LSAT questions.
Identify your weaknesses: Pinpoint areas where you need improvement and focus your efforts accordingly.
Consider a tutor: If you're struggling, a private LSAT tutor can provide personalized guidance and strategies.

Common Misconceptions About LSAT Scores

As you’re preparing for the LSAT, you may encounter some (or several) common myths about LSAT scores. These misconceptions can ultimately cause undue stress or even lead to ineffective preparation. Below, we’ll address five common myths about LSAT scores, as well as the truths to counter them.

Myth: “The LSAT is curved, so my score depends on other test-takers.”
- Reality: The LSAT uses statistical equating to ensure that achieving a particular score is equally challenging across various test dates. While the distribution of scores can look like a bell curve, your performance is not measured against your peers. Instead, it is measured against a fixed standard.
Myth: “The LSAT measures your intelligence or innate ability.”
- Reality: The LSAT is designed to measure specific skills such as logical reasoning, reading comprehension, and analytical thinking-not innate intelligence. For this reason, highly intelligent or creative people can still receive low LSAT scores if they have not developed those specific skills.
Myth: “You can’t improve your LSAT score by much through studying.”
- Reality: For most students, focused practice, exposure to real LSAT questions, and expert guidance can lead to substantial score increases!
Myth: “A perfect LSAT score will guarantee your admission into top law schools.”
- Reality: While a high LSAT score is important, it’s not the sole deciding factor in law school admissions. Law schools will also consider your GPA, personal statement, letters of recommendation, and whatever other application components they need to conduct a holistic assessment of each applicant. Just as a lower score doesn’t automatically disqualify you (assuming the rest of your application is strong), a perfect score does not guarantee admission.
Myth: “Small score differences are highly significant.”
- Reality: While it’s easy to fall into the trap of obsessing over slight score differences, these differences don’t matter much in the grand scheme.

Retaking the LSAT: Is It the Right Choice?

Many students retake the LSAT a second or even third time in hopes of raising their score. “It can be a really good idea for someone to retake it, but they shouldn’t retake unless they have reason to think something's going to be different this time around,” McEntee says. Don’t rush the next exam - take your time to thoroughly learn the skills and improve on areas where you fell short, experts say.

Good LSAT scores are more relative than absolute, especially given that nearly all law schools will take your highest LSAT score, rather than average your scores (if you’ve taken the LSAT more than once and have multiple scores).

The Impact of LSAT Scores on Your Future Career

On the whole, a strong LSAT score in or above the LSAT scores for the top 100 law schools will help you get into a top-ranked program, which in turn will help you graduate law school with a job and an impressive salary.

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