Your LSAT Score

You will receive your LSAT score report via electronic mail approximately three weeks after taking the test. The LSAC will also mail you a paper score report if you specifically request it. In addition, you will have five working days after taking the LSAT to cancel your score. If you choose to cancel your score, the cancellation and the date you took the test will be noted on all future score reports. Keep in mind that if you take the LSAT multiple times, the LSAC will report your average LSAT score from all attempts, as well as each individual LSAT score and any score cancellations.

Scores you will see on your LSAT score report:

• Overall Scaled LSAT Score (120-180 points)

  Your combined performance on all four scored sections results in one single scaled score ranging from a minimum of 120 to a maximum of 180 points, reported in 1 point increments. You will not receive scores for each section of the test.

• Score Bands (A range of scaled score points)

  Because all standardized tests have some measurement error associated with them, the LSAC cautions law schools not to consider small differences in LSAT scores as indicative of substantial differences in test takers' abilities. The LSAC therefore reports score bands-in addition to overall LSAT scores and percentile ranks-that serve as a range of scaled scores higher and lower than the test taker's actual LSAT scaled score. The LSAC considers this range to be indicative of the test taker's true score. That is, the LSAC believes that if the same test taker were to take the LSAT on multiple occasions, his or her actual scaled LSAT score would fall in this range of scores two out of three times.

• Percentile Rank (1-99)

  Because the LSAT is graded on a preset curve, you will also receive a corresponding percentile rank ranging from 1-99 that represents the percentage of all test takers who scored lower than you on the test. For example, a scaled score of 160 corresponds to the 77th percentile, indicating that the test taker scored better than 77 percent of all other test takers. The median LSAT score is 151 and corresponds to the 50th percentile. Your percentile rank is important because law school admissions officers can use it to get a quick idea of where you rank in the overall applicant pool.

  In order to have a reasonable chance of being admitted to even the least competitive law schools, you will need a score near the 50th percentile. On the other hand, in order to be considered competitive for well-regarded "second-tier" programs, most applicants will need a minimum score in the 75th percentile or higher, which corresponds to a scaled score of at least 162.

What your LSAT score means to Law Schools

Although many factors play a role in law school admissions decisions, there is no question that your LSAT score is one of the most, if not the most important. While average law schools may accept some applicants with LSAT scores in the 150-155 point range, most applicants will need a score of at least 160 to be considered competitive by second-tier law schools. And in order to have a realistic chance of being accepted by top law schools such as Stanford, Chicago, Harvard, and Yale, you will need an LSAT score in the 166-175 point range-above the 90th percentile!

Click here to see the average LSAT scores of students accepted to the top 20 law schools in the United States.

2009 © All Content Copyright
IF Multicultural Interactive Solutions