What is the LSAT?

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a standardized exam administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). It is designed specifically to measure skills essential for success in law school, such as critical reading and structured argument evaluation.

 

What Role Does the LSAT Play in Law School Admissions?

For the vast majority of law schools accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), the LSAT is a core requirement of the application process.

Admissions committees evaluate applicants holistically, but your LSAT score and undergraduate GPA carry the heaviest weight. While letters of recommendation, personal statements, and work experience build a complete picture of who you are, the LSAT provides a uniform metric across candidates from different colleges and majors. A strong LSAT score can offset a lower undergraduate GPA or boost your candidacy for substantial merit-based scholarships.

 

What Is a "Good" LSAT Score?

The LSAT is scored on a scale from 120 to 180. The national average (median) score hovers around 151 to 152.

What constitutes a "good" score depends entirely on your specific law school goals:

• 150–155 (Average): Competitive for many regional law schools.
• 156–164 (Above Average): Strong contender for top 50–100 ranked law schools and potential scholarship opportunities.
• 165–169 (Very High): Competitive for top 20–50 law schools.
• 170+ (Elite): The benchmark range for top-tier programs (T14 law schools).

Because most law schools report their admitted students' 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile LSAT scores, a "good" score is generally one that hits or exceeds the 50th percentile of your target school.

 

What Does the LSAT Test?

Unlike the SAT, GRE, or the bar exam, the LSAT does not test vocabulary, memorized math formulas, or specific legal knowledge. Instead, it measures core critical thinking skills required to read and analyze legal texts:

• Logical Reasoning: Evaluates your ability to break down, analyze, and critique arguments. You will be asked to identify argument flaws, detect underlying assumptions, strengthen or weaken claims, and draw valid conclusions.
• Reading Comprehension: Tests your ability to read long, complex, dense texts with high accuracy. Questions ask about main ideas, rhetorical structure, implied meanings, author tone, and comparative analysis across two texts.

 

What Is the Layout of the LSAT?

The primary portion of the LSAT is a four-part multiple-choice exam. The LSAT also includes a separate writing section. Only the multiple-choice exam counts towards your LSAT score, but the writing section is a mandatory part of the test which is included with your results.

Unless you have special accommodations, you must take the test in a digital format. (If you’re curious what that looks like, our Drill Builder is designed to closely match the layout and tools of the real LSAC interface.)

As of 2026, the vast majority of test-takers are required to take the test in person. Students no longer have the ability to take the test remotely from their own homes.

1. Multiple-Choice Test (4 Sections Total)

The multiple-choice section consists of four 35-minute sections. The order is randomized, so you won’t know ahead of time which section will come first.

Section Type	Number of Sections	Details
Logical Reasoning	2 scored sections	~25 questions per section. Makes up roughly 66% of your final score.
Reading Comprehension	1 scored section	4 passage sets (~27 questions total).
Unscored Experimental	1 unscored section	Either Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension. Used by LSAC to test new questions.

Note on the Experimental Section: You won’t know which section is the experimental section while taking the test, so it’s important to treat each section with equal effort instead of trying to guess which section is experimental.

2. LSAT Argumentative Writing

The writing sample is completed separately on your own computer using remote proctoring software. It can be taken as early as eight days prior to your multiple-choice exam date. While unscored, your essay response is sent directly to law schools alongside your official test results.

 

How Many Times Can You Take the LSAT?

If you’re not confident about your first score, don’t worry. You’re allowed to take the LSAT more than once. All of your valid scores will be sent to law schools, though most law schools only or primarily consider your highest score rather than averaging your attempts. 

LSAC enforces strict policy limits on how often you can take the exam:

• Up to 5 times within the current and past five testing years.
• Up to 7 times over a lifetime.
• No retakes allowed if you achieve a perfect score of 180 within the 5-year reportable window.

Do canceled scores count? Yes, canceled scores (including those canceled via LSAC Score Preview) count toward your attempt limits. Standard withdrawals or absences prior to test day do not count.

How Should You Get Started Studying for the LSAT?

The LSAT is primarily a skills test, so your study strategy needs to emphasize building the core logical thinking and pattern recognition skills rather than memorizing content.

Does my undergraduate coursework help me on the LSAT?

Short answer: It depends. Students who are trained in formal logic or who read a lot of academic journals in their undergraduate work or a former job often find that these skills transfer well to the LSAT. At the same time, there is often no significant advantage on the LSAT for students who had a more “traditional” pre-law undergrad major (like political science or philosophy) compared with other fields, like STEM or the arts.

What does the study process look like?

Most test-takers prepare over 3 to 6 months (totaling 150–300 hours of study time).

1. Take an Un-timed Diagnostic Test: Begin with a full-length, official practice test under realistic conditions to establish a baseline score and identify your natural strengths and weaknesses.
2. Master the Core Concepts: Learn the structural mechanics of logical arguments (premises, conclusions, formal logic) and active reading strategies before worrying about speed.
3. Drill by Question Type: Focus on specific argument types (e.g., Flaw, Assumption, Strengthen/Weaken) in targeted practice sets to build speed and accuracy.
4. Conduct "Blind Review": After taking a practice set, re-solve every question you were unsure of without looking at the answer key. This forces you to understand why wrong answers are wrong and why correct answers are right.
5. Take Timed Full-Length Practice Exams: In the final month before your exam date, complete full 4-section practice tests to build endurance and refine pacing.

 

What resources should I use to study for the LSAT?

The most important way to study for the LSAT is to use real LSAT content released by the LSAC.

Currently, the LSAC has released 59 PrepTests in the modern format and around 7500 total questions. Four of these tests are available for free (you can find them here). The rest are only available for purchase. If you want to access them digitally, the LSAC requires that all students purchase a LawHub Advantage subscription. This includes students who study with 7Sage or any other virtual test prep provider.

Besides the questions themselves, lessons on logical structures and question types often help students build the skills and strategies that help them improve on the test. Analytics provide an extremely useful way to help you diagnose weakness areas, and focused drilling is a great way to focus on weak areas and put strategies into practice.

If you’re looking for more free articles, tutorials, and tools that can help you ace the LSAT, we highly recommend you check out our free resources page. It’s the best collection of free LSAT and law school admissions resources available anywhere on the internet.