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The LSAT test, or Law School Admission Test, is the standardized exam most ABA-accredited U.S. law schools require for admission. Administered by LSAC, it uses multiple-choice Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension sections plus an unscored writing sample to measure reading and reasoning skills, not legal knowledge. Scores range from 120 to 180.
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.
The LSAT test is the Law School Admission Test, a standardized exam administered by the Law School Admission Council, or LSAC. Most ABA-accredited law schools in the United States and Canada require or accept it for admission. It assesses the reading and reasoning skills that predict success in the first year of law school, and it is scored on a 120 to 180 scale.
The scored LSAT test consists of two Logical Reasoning sections and one Reading Comprehension section, each 35 minutes and multiple-choice. An unscored variable section is used to pretest future questions, and a separate LSAT Writing sample is submitted online. Since August 2024, the Analytical Reasoning section known as Logic Games is no longer part of the test.
Law schools use the LSAT test because, combined with undergraduate GPA, it is a strong predictor of first-year performance and gives a common yardstick across applicants from different majors and colleges. Median LSAT scores also factor into how schools are ranked and reported. As a result, the LSAT weighs heavily in admission and scholarship decisions.
People applying to law school take the LSAT test, usually in the year before they intend to enroll, and many take it more than once to improve their score. LSAC offers the exam on set dates across the cycle, and the current calendar shifts year to year; see the linked U.S. News ranking for the current No. 1. Most applicants aim to test early enough to apply at the start of the cycle.
The purpose of the LSAT test is to measure the reading comprehension, logical reasoning, and analytical skills that predict success in law school. It gives admissions committees a common, standardized metric to compare applicants from different colleges and majors. Because it tests skills rather than legal knowledge, it does not require any specific undergraduate coursework.
Anyone applying to an ABA-accredited law school generally needs to take the LSAT test, unless the school accepts an alternative like the GRE. There is no degree or major requirement to sit for it. Most test takers are college students or graduates preparing to apply to law school in the upcoming admission cycle.
LSAC limits how often you can take the LSAT test within set time windows, including caps per testing year and over your lifetime. The current limits are no per-testing-year cap, five times within the current five-year reportable period, and seven times over a lifetime. Many applicants take it two or three times to improve their score, since most schools consider the highest score they receive.
Some law schools accept the GRE in place of the LSAT test, but not all do, and many still prefer or require the LSAT. Whether the GRE is an option depends on each school policy. Before relying on the GRE, confirm that every school on your list accepts it, because the LSAT remains the standard exam.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026