How to Calculate Your LSAT Scores and Percentile

Score conversion statistics

Getting on , a modern three-section PrepTest, would have resulted in a scaled score of required an incorrect rate of at most:

Estimated Score Conversions

Note: The estimated data in this table is only for quick reference. See below for detailed analysis and charts.

Raw score* Scaled Score Est. Percentile**
77-78 180 99.90%
76 179 99.82%
75 177 99.52%
74 175 99.04%
73 173 98.15%
72 172 97.50%
71 171 96.67%
70 170 95.69%
69 169 94.50%
68 168 93.07%
67 167 91.52%
66 166 89.79%
65 165 87.80%
64 164 85.58%
63 164 85.58%
62 163 83.08%
61 162 80.53%
60 161 77.61%
59 161 77.61%
58 160 74.62%
57 159 71.57%
57 159 71.57%
55 158 68.11%
54 157 64.69%
54 157 64.69%
52 156 61.14%
51 155 57.49%
50 155 57.49%
49 154 53.87%
48 153 49.98%
47 153 49.98%
46 152 46.29%
45 151 42.54%
44 150 39.06%
43 150 39.06%
42 149 35.47%
41 148 32.14%
40 148 32.14%
39 147 28.79%
38 146 25.67%
39 146 25.67%
36 145 22.92%
35 144 20.29%
34 143 17.74%
33 142 15.49%
32 141 13.37%
31 141 13.37%
30 140 11.56%
29 139 9.89%
28 138 8.44%
27 137 7.20%
26 136 6.11%
25 135 5.17%
24 134 4.39%
23 133 3.70%
22 131 2.66%
21 130 2.24%
20 129 1.89%
19 127 1.40%
18 125 1.03%
17 122 0.72%
16 121 0.62%
0-15 120 0.00%

* Based on June 2020 LSAT. The actual conversion varies between test administrations.

** Based on the average of three LSAT administrations. 

How to Calculate Your LSAT Score and Percentile

The term "LSAT score" is ambiguous. That means it has more than one definition. It has three definitions:

1. Raw Score
2. Scaled Score
3. Percentile Rank

Each of these three "scores" are very different from the others. Each serves a different purpose and is meaningful depending on what you're attempting to measure. It's crucial that you understand the difference.

This chart shows you actual conversions between raw score, scaled score, and percentile, including how to scale your raw score into the LSAT score range between 120-180 as well as into an estimated LSAT percentile. Descriptions of the three score types are further down this page.

Note that the raw score is shown here as number of incorrect answers rather than number of correct answers. When studying for the LSAT many students find it useful to think in terms of how many questions you can miss to get a particular LSAT score. For instance, if there are 75 scored questions, and you had a raw score of 64, you would be -11 on that PrepTest.

PrepTest
Year
Month
-0
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6
-7
-8
-9
-10
-11
-12
-13
-14
-15
-16
-17
-18
-19
-20
-21
-22
-23
-24
-25
-26
-27
-28
-29
-30
-31
-32
-33
-34
-35
-36
-37
-38
-39
-40
-41
-42
-43
-44
-45
-46
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141142140140142142139142141142139140143139140140141141142139141139141141141140140142140142139140140141140141141139140141141139141139141141140141140141142140141140139141141140142141139139140139140139140139141139140139138139139139140138139139140138140139141140138140137136140138139137141138140140139139141140139139139140139139139139139139141141140140139140140139140141141139140140141140140140140140140139140140140139140137140139140140141141141140142141139142140142141142140141-

Note: We are also currently working on updating the data in the score conversion table above as some of the data is based on the classic four section PrepTest.

The 7Sage Digital Tester Options

The classic LSAT had four scored sections—two Logical Reasoning sections, one Logic Games section, one Reading Comprehension section, and a fifth unscored variable section. It consisted of approximately 100 questions.

The modern LSAT, however, has three scored sections—Logical Reasoning, Logic Games, Reading Comprehension, and a fourth unscored variable section. It consists of approximately 75 questions.

After August of 2024, the LSAT will replace its Logic Games section with a second Logical Reasoning section (learn more here). There will still be an experimental section, and there will still be approximately 75 questions.

Are You Taking LSATs the Wrong Way?

Most students do not simulate the test environment accurately when they practice, and it kills their LSAT score on test day.

You need to simulate the test environment by taking timed PrepTests on the digital tester.

You should take about 10% of your PrepTests on the LSAC digital tester to get familiar with the interface that you will use on test day.  You can take the other 90% of your PrepTests on our digital tester so you can utilize the tracked data to improve your score.

Are You Reviewing LSATs the Wrong Way?

Most students make two fatal mistakes when they review the LSAT.

First, they only track their scores and correct/incorrect per section.  All they can tell you are vague ideas like "I'm getting better" and "I need to work on reading comprehension".  Barely helpful.

Your LSAT review should tell you:

  • How many people chose A instead of C on a particular question?
  • How difficult a particular section or question is?
  • What type of reading comp passages are giving you the most trouble?
  • Which logical reasoning question types YOU need to focus on to maximize your study time.

Now this is helpful.  How do you get these insights?

Sign up for a Free Account and you'll get access to the LSAT Analytics that will tell you all that and more.  Do it in less than 15 seconds.

Second, they check the answers before reviewing the test.  That is completely backwards.  If you want to improve as fast as possible, you must Blind Review your test.

LSAT Raw Score

Of the 75 questions the LSAT contains, the raw score measures how many questions you got right. That's the sense in which it's "raw." A raw score of 55/75 means that you got 55 questions right. This is very useful information when you are studying for the test. It allows you to look at each section and determine where you are the weakest and apt to improve the most. A 25/25 on your Reading Comprehension paired with a 10/23 on Logic Games means that you should put away the latest issue of Scientific America and bring out the Sudoku. It helps you target your studies.

Note: There is no penalty for guessing on the LSAT. Wrong answer are NOT subtracted from your raw score. If you can't finish a section, guess!

LSAT Scaled Score

As helpful as the raw score is to you (and your LSAT tutor), it is just as irrelevant to anyone else. Nobody cares about your raw score. The law schools boast the scaled scores of their most recently incoming class. Harvard Law School proudly publishes the fact that its incoming students score on average around 175. So, to gauge your chances at a law school, you should use the scaled score. I always say to students that if they want to go to X Law School, then they should get a Scaled Score that's the average for X Law School to have a good chance.

Scaled Scores are normally distributed. Simply, that means that most students are clumped together in the middle (around a 152) it's hard to break away from the pack (both in the upward and downward direction). More than that, the farther you already are from the middle, the harder it becomes to gain more distance. The extra 15 (or so) questions that you'll need to improve from 160 to 170 will be harder than the extra 15 (or so) questions that you'll need to improve from 150 to 160.

See the chart above for an example of the conversion from Raw Score to Scaled Score. Please note that this is from the June 2020 LSAT. They vary from LSAT to LSAT, but not by too much. For those of you targeting the Top 5 schools, a good rule of thumb is to consider a Raw Score of 66 to convert to a Scaled Score of 170.

LSAT Percentile Rank

The third score is your Percentile Rank. Each Scaled Score is assigned a Percentile Rank. The Percentile Rank puts your Scaled Score in relation to all other LSAT test takers. In other words, it tells you roughly what percentage of LSAT test takers your Scaled Score beat. For example, 175 is a 99th percentile score. That means you are in the top 1% of all LSAT test takers. That means if you randomly selected a group of 100 students (of the 100,000 or so who take the LSAT every year), you did better than all but 1 of them. That's a damn good score.

The chart above combines information from several LSATs and tries to give meaningful data for the top and bottom scores. It will give you a good estimate of the conversion from Scaled Score to Percentile Rank. Like the conversion from Raw to Scaled scores, this conversion changes just slightly year to year.

So why does your Percentile Rank matter? It's a more truthful representation of performance. Let's consider Scaled Scores of 150, 160, 170, and 180. They are each seperated by 10 points. So, you would think that improving from one Scaled Score to the next means roughly the same thing in terms of performance improvement and, by extension, odds of getting into a top law school. But, that's not right. They are way more different than the +10 points would suggest. The Percentile Rank reveals this.

A 150 is a 40th percentile score. You did better than 40% of the students taking this test.
A 160 is a 77th percentile score. +10 Scaled Score points bump you up to having done better than 77% of the students taking this test. That's +37% improvement.
A 170 is a 97th percentile score. This next +10 Scaled Score points only bump you up 20%. Now, you're doing better than 97% of the students taking this test.
A 180 is nearly a 100th percentile score. The last +10 Scaled Score points bumps you up by a mere +3%.

What this means is that the difference between a 150 to a 160 is huge compared to the difference between a 170 to a 180.  At 150, your competition pool for entrance to a law school is roughly 56% of the application pool. Assuming 100,000 applicants, you're competing against 56,000 of them. But, if you bump it up to a 160, your competition pool all of a sudden drops to 20%, or 20,000 applicants. You've just out paced 36,000 applicants with that +10 Scaled Score improvements.

In contrast, if you're at 170, your competition pool is already around 2% of the applicants or 2,000 students. Improving that to a 180 won't help you all that much. You'll likely reap higher marginal returns by focusing on things like your personal statement and letters of recommendation.

How to improve your LSAT Score for FREE

Get a Free Account to get a ton of free resources that will help boost your LSAT score.  It includes a LSAT Grader, a LSAT Preview Course, LSAT Explanations and more.


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