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Your LSAT raw score is the number of questions you answer correctly. LSAC converts that raw total into the scaled 120 to 180 score law schools see, using a conversion table unique to each test form. The curve adjusts for slight differences in difficulty so scores stay comparable across administrations.
By Ali Unar, JD candidate at Georgetown Law and founder of Lovare Institut. Last updated August 2026. Figures on this page were verified in August 2026 or point readers to the current source.
LSAT raw score conversion is the process LSAC uses to turn your raw score, meaning the number of questions you answered correctly, into the scaled score reported to law schools on the 120 to 180 range. Every scored question counts equally, and there is no penalty for wrong answers, so guessing on questions you cannot finish never hurts your raw total. The scaled score, not the raw count, is what appears on your official LSAT score report.
Each LSAT form ships with its own conversion table that maps every possible raw total to one scaled score from 120 to 180. Because forms vary slightly in difficulty, the same raw total can convert to a marginally different scaled score from one administration to the next. The table below shows the structure of that mapping, with the raw total needed for each scaled anchor to confirm against a released test.
The current ranking is best read directly from the source. See the U.S. News Best Law Schools list for the up-to-date order, and each school's ABA Standard 509 report for its median LSAT, GPA, and acceptance rate.
Every band in this table should be read from the conversion key printed with a recent official LSAT PrepTest, because the exact cutoffs shift by form.
Yes. The conversion curve is set for each specific test form after LSAC equates it against prior forms, which keeps a given scaled score meaning the same thing no matter which sitting produced it. A test with slightly harder questions allows a few more raw misses for the same scaled score, and an easier form is less forgiving. This equating is why you cannot assume a fixed number of questions correct always yields the same scaled score.
Work backward from your target scaled score to the raw total it usually requires, then build a practice plan around hitting that raw count consistently. If your target school reports a median near a specific scaled score, aim your practice-test raw totals at the band that converts to it. Lovare's score tools let you enter practice raw counts and see the scaled range they typically produce, so you can track progress toward a concrete goal.
A good LSAT score is one at or above the median of the schools you want to attend, because admissions weigh how your score compares to each school's percentiles. On the 120 to 180 scale, higher is always better, but the practical target is your specific schools' medians. your target schools' published 25th-50th-75th percentile figures
The national average LSAT score sits in the low 150s on the 120 to 180 scale, close to the midpoint of the range. The exact mean shifts slightly each testing year as the pool changes. the low-to-mid 150s (LSAC does not publish a single headline average; the median falls near 152 on the percentile tables) gives the latest figure to compare your own score against.
The LSAT is scored by first tallying your raw score, the count of questions answered correctly, then converting that total to a scaled 120 to 180 score using the form's conversion table. Since August 2024 the test has two scored Logical Reasoning sections, one Reading Comprehension section, and one unscored variable section.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026