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How many times can you take the LSAT is set by LSAC's own per-period and lifetime limits, which we did not verify and will not guess at. What LSAC does publish is behavior: 49.1 percent of 2024-25 test takers sat more than once, and mean second-attempt gain was 2.39 points.
LSAC enforces limits on how many times you may test within a period and over a lifetime. Our verified fact set does not contain the current numbers, and we are not going to publish figures we have not checked against LSAC's own page.
That is a real gap and worth stating plainly, because the limits are the thing the question actually asks about. Confirm them directly with LSAC before you plan a third or fourth attempt.
What we can tell you, from data LSAC does publish, is what the population of test takers actually does, which turns out to answer the underlying worry better than the limit does.
In the 2024-25 testing year, 49.1 percent of test takers tested more than once, per LSAC Technical Report TR 26-01 (https://www.lsac.org/sites/default/files/research/TR-26-01.pdf). Taking the test twice is the experience of nearly half the field.
Number of attemptsShare of 2024-25 test takersOnce only50.9 percentTwice29.7 percentThree times13.1 percentFour times4.7 percentFive or more1.6 percent
On the evidence, it is unremarkable. Thirteen point one percent of test takers in 2024-25 took the test three times, from the same LSAC report, which puts a third attempt inside ordinary behavior rather than outside it.
Schools report your high score for their own purposes, which is the structural fact behind the whole question. An admissions committee looking at three scores sees the highest one carrying the weight, and sees a candidate who worked at it.
The point at which attempts start to read badly is not a number, it is a pattern: several sittings with no movement suggests the preparation is not changing, which is a fair inference and a fixable problem.
Less than people expect and enough to matter, and all of it is LSAC-published. Mean second-attempt improvement was 2.39 points in 2024-25, 2.50 in 2023-24 and 2.69 in 2022-23.
Mean third-attempt improvement was 2.03 points in 2024-25. All four figures come from LSAC Technical Report TR 26-01 (https://www.lsac.org/sites/default/files/research/TR-26-01.pdf).
AttemptMean point gainSecond attempt, 2024-252.39Second attempt, 2023-242.50Second attempt, 2022-232.69Third attempt, 2024-252.03
You will find pages stating that some percentage of retakers improve, some stay flat and some decline. Those figures are not in LSAC's technical report, and we could not source them anywhere authoritative.
Our verification note on this is explicit: LSAC does not publish the percentage of repeaters who improve, decline or stay flat in TR 26-01, so any percent-improve figure circulating online is unsourced (LSAC Technical Report TR 26-01 (https://www.lsac.org/sites/default/files/research/TR-26-01.pdf)).
Means are what exist. Use them, and treat any distribution claim as decoration.
When nothing about your preparation will be different. A mean gain of roughly two and a half points is what the average retaker gets by doing roughly what they did before, and repeating the same method reliably reproduces the same score.
When the date pushes your application past the rolling-admissions window and the expected gain does not offset a thinner pool and a committed scholarship budget.
And when the score is not the binding constraint on your file at all, which is more common than the internet suggests.
Every LSAC figure on this page was taken from LSAC's own pages and last checked on July 26, 2026. Prices, dates and policies move without notice, so the source link sits next to each number rather than in a bibliography at the bottom.
Where LSAC has not published something, this page says so in those words rather than filling the hole with a plausible number. That is the difference between a gap and a guess, and only one of them is safe to plan around.
LSAC sets limits per testing period and per lifetime. Our verified fact set does not include the current numbers, so confirm them on LSAC's own page rather than from any summary, including this one.
It is common rather than damaging. In 2024-25, 13.1 percent of test takers tested three times, per LSAC's technical report, and schools work from the high score.
The mean second-attempt gain was 2.39 points in 2024-25, and the mean third-attempt gain was 2.03 points, per LSAC Technical Report TR 26-01.
LSAC does not publish it. Any percentage you find circulating is unsourced, so the means above are the honest figures to plan with.
Practice varies by school and by what a school reports. Confirm with each school on your list rather than assuming a universal rule.
Written by Ali, Georgetown Law, founder of Lovare Institut.
August 5, 2026
August 5, 2026