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LSAT scores last for five years. LSAC reports every score from the five most recent testing years to the law schools you apply to, so a score you earn today can be used across five admissions cycles, according to LSAC's LSAT scoring policy. Most schools then focus on your single highest reported score.
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.
An LSAT score lasts for five years. The way the rule works comes down to a few points:
LSAC reports scores for up to five testing years, so a result stays reportable for five years, according to LSAC's LSAT scoring policy.
The five-year clock applies to scored results, so a cancelled score is not calculated, although the administration can still be noted on your report. Absences from registered tests may also appear. Once a score is older than the window, LSAC removes it from what schools receive, and no exception extends it back into reportable range.
Because an LSAT score lasts five years, you can test well before you apply and still use the result, which suits applicants taking time between college and law school. If your best score is close to expiring, a retake keeps a current score reportable. Since most schools consider your highest score, one strong result continues to help throughout the window.
You can use an old LSAT score while it is still inside LSAC's five-year reporting window. LSAC reports scores from the five most recent testing years to law schools, so an older in-window score stays valid for applications. After five years the score drops out of what LSAC reports and can no longer be used.
Most law schools take your highest LSAT score and do not average multiple attempts. The LSAT is not superscored, so schools never combine sections from different sittings; they read your top single score. Every score within your five-year window still appears on the report, but the highest score tends to weigh most heavily in the decision.
Under current LSAC policy there is no limit on how many times you can take the LSAT within a testing year; you may take it five times within the current five-year reportable period and seven times over your lifetime, according to LSAC's Limits on Repeating the Test policy. Because scores last five years, any retakes inside that window all appear on the report the law schools you apply to receive.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026