How the LSAT is scored
Your score is the number of questions you got right, converted to the 120–180 scale. That is the whole mechanism. The facts below are from LSAC, last verified October 10, 2026.
The test format
- 4 multiple-choice sections, 35 minutes each: 2 scored Logical Reasoning sections, 1 scored Reading Comprehension section, and 1 unscored variable section.
- The unscored section can be Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension. LSAC uses it to test questions for future exams. Sections can appear in any order, and you can't reliably tell which section is the unscored one — so treat every section as scored.
- Each section holds roughly 25 questions (about 24–26 per LR section, about 26–28 for RC), for roughly 75 scored questions in total. Exact counts vary by test form.
- There is a short break between the second and third sections.
- The writing sample (LSAT Argumentative Writing) is separate and unscored. It doesn't affect your 120–180 score, but law schools receive it with your application.
Raw score: count the correct answers
Your raw score is the number of scored questions you answered correctly — nothing more. Only the three scored sections count. The unscored section contributes zero to your score whether you ace it or skip it.
Scaled score: raw to 120–180
LSAC converts your raw score to a scaled score between 120 and 180. Because no two test forms are exactly equal in difficulty, each administration gets its own conversion table — a process called equating. It adjusts for difficulty so that a 165 reflects the same level of performance no matter which form you happened to take.
There is no fixed raw-to-scaled table, so don't memorize one. Every official practice test ships with its own table; use the one that came with that test. Any estimate from another source — including our score converter, which is labeled an estimate for exactly this reason — is a ballpark, not an official score.
No guessing penalty. Every question counts the same.
Wrong answers subtract nothing. Every question on the scored sections contributes exactly one raw point if right and zero if wrong — the last question of the section is worth precisely as much as the first.
That has two practical consequences. First, answer every question: a guess can only help, never hurt. Second, budget your time accordingly: spending four minutes on one question costs you four other questions' worth of points at the same value.
Percentiles
Your official score report also includes a percentile rank: the percentage of test scores below yours, computed from LSAC's published table covering the 2023–2024, 2024–2025, and 2025–2026 testing years. A few reference points from that table (whole-number column):
| Scaled score | Percent of recent scores below it |
|---|---|
| 175 | about 99% |
| 170 | about 94% |
| 168 | about 91% |
| 165 | about 85% |
| 160 | about 71% |
| 155 | about 54% |
| 150 | about 37% |
| 145 | about 21% |
So a 170 means about 94% of recent test-takers scored below you. Percentiles describe the field, not your ability: they move as the applicant pool moves. For the full table, see LSAC's published percentiles.
What this means for how you study
- Never leave a question blank. No penalty means every unanswered question is a free point you threw away.
- Don't bleed time on one question. Equal weighting means a question you can't crack in two minutes is worth the same as one you can solve in thirty seconds. Flag and move.
- Don't try to outguess the curve. Equating already adjusts for form difficulty. Your job is correct answers, not predicting the conversion table.
- Know your target in percentile terms. Law schools report medians, and medians live in percentile context. A 165 is a strong score in absolute terms and sits around the 85th percentile — that context matters for school selection.
Sources
- Test format, raw scoring, scaled conversion, and no-penalty guessing: LSAC. Last verified October 10, 2026.
- Percentile figures: LSAC's published percentile table for the 2023–2024, 2024–2025, and 2025–2026 testing years (whole-number column). Last verified October 10, 2026.
Estimate your score
Plug a practice-test raw score into the converter for an estimated scaled score and percentile — or take the free diagnostic for a real baseline.