The Law School Admission Test (LSAT*) is a half-day standardized test required for admission to all Law School Admission Council (Law Services) member law schools. The LSAT* is designed to measure skills that are considered essential for success in law school: reading and comprehending complex passages with accuracy and insight; analyzing arguments and drawing reliable conclusions; organizing and managing information; and writing persuasively.
The LSAT* consists of 5 sections (175 minutes) of multiple-choice questions, a break of 10-15 minutes, and a 30-minute writing sample. A typical LSAT* can last 5 hours or more because of administrative necessities before and after the test. The writing sample is always administered last, and you will always receive a 10-15 minute break between multiple choice sections three and four. However, the five 35-minute multiple choice sections can appear in any order. (Click on any question type to see more information and some sample questions.)
|
Section
|
Number of Questions |
Time in Minutes |
|
Logical Reasoning |
24-26 |
35 |
| Reading Comprehension |
26-28 |
35 |
| Logic Games |
23-24 |
35 |
| "Experimental" |
23-28 |
35 |
| Writing Sample |
1 |
30 |
The experimental section is unscored and allows Law Services to test questions that they may use on future tests. It will look exactly like a scored section of the same question type, so on test day don't spend time trying to figure out which section is experimental.
The scoring scale for the LSAT* is from 120-180; 120 is the lowest possible score, and 180 is the highest. Your scaled score is based on your raw score, which is the number of total questions that you get right. All questions are weighted equally. Your scaled score also corresponds to a percentile ranking, which allows law schools to see where your score places you in the applicant pool.
Sample LSAT* scoring chart :
|
Number of questions correct
|
Correct scaled score |
Approximate percentile |
| 90
|
172 |
99 |
| 85
|
168 |
97 |
| 80
|
165 |
94 |
| 75
|
162 |
89 |
| 70
|
159 |
81 |
| 65
|
156 |
72 |
| 60
|
153 |
65 |
| 55
|
150 |
48 |
| 50
|
148 |
40 |
| 45
|
145 |
30 |
| 40
|
141 |
15 |
| 35
|
138 |
7 |
(*This scale may not correspond exactly to every LSAT* administration because of slight differences between exams)
