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Yes. Law schools see every reportable LSAT score in your LSAC file, not just your highest, along with any cancellations and absences. LSAC reports all scores from the past five testing years, though most schools now emphasize your highest score in admissions. You cannot hide a lower score, but one weaker score rarely sinks a strong application.
By Ali Unar, JD candidate at Georgetown Law and founder of Lovare Institut. Last updated August 2026. Every figure on this page was verified in August 2026 against the sources listed below.
Yes. When a law school receives your LSAC report, it sees every reportable LSAT score on file, not only your highest, plus any cancellations and any test dates you registered for but missed. LSAC reports all scores earned within the past five testing years, its current reporting window. You cannot selectively send only your best score to ABA-approved schools.
LSAC packages your full testing history into the Credential Assembly Service report that ABA-approved schools require, so a complete record is built into the system. The LSAT is scored on the 120 to 180 scale, and every scored attempt within the reporting window appears on the report. Schools see the pattern of your attempts, but the American Bar Association requires them to report only your highest score for their published medians, which shapes how they read your file.
Multiple LSAT scores rarely hurt on their own, because most law schools weigh your highest score against their medians. An upward trend across attempts generally reads as persistence rather than weakness. A single much lower score usually needs no explanation, though a long string of low attempts or repeated cancellations can raise questions you may want to address briefly in an addendum.
If a low LSAT score sits in your file, focus on posting a strong highest score, since that is the number schools weigh against their medians. Retaking is often worthwhile when you have clear room to improve, subject to LSAC's current limits, which cap the LSAT at five times in the current reportable period and seven times over a lifetime, with no per-testing-year limit. Add a short addendum only when a genuine, explainable circumstance caused the low result.
Most ABA-approved law schools take your highest LSAT score, because the American Bar Association requires schools to report the high score for their published medians. A handful may consider your full history, but averaging multiple scores is now uncommon. This is why retaking to raise your top score generally helps far more than it hurts.
Your law school admission chances depend mostly on how your highest LSAT score and undergraduate GPA compare to each school's published medians. Applicants at or above both a school's median LSAT and median GPA are admitted at high rates, while those below both face long odds. Compare your numbers to each target school's ABA 509 figures to estimate your odds.
Most law school applicants apply to roughly 6 to 12 schools, split across reach, target, and safety tiers based on how their LSAT and GPA compare to each school's medians. Applying across that range gives you real options and a safety net without spreading your time and application fees too thin.
There is no fixed GPA or LSAT cutoff for law school. Each ABA-approved school publishes 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile LSAT and GPA figures, and your goal is to reach or beat a target school's medians. A strong LSAT can partly offset a lower GPA, so schools read the two numbers together rather than as hard minimums.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026