TL;DR: The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) is a standardized, fully digital exam administered by LSAC and required by nearly all ABA-accredited law schools. It tests logical reasoning and reading comprehension across three scored sections, scored 120–180. Since August 2024, the LSAT no longer includes Logic Games. Study timelines vary by your starting score and target score.

What is the LSAT?

The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) is a standardized, fully digital admissions exam developed and administered by LSAC, the Law School Admission Council. Nearly every ABA-accredited law school requires it — or, at an increasing number of schools, the GRE — from JD applicants . The test measures reading comprehension and logical reasoning skill, not legal knowledge. Scores range from 120 to 180.

Most applicants take the LSAT in the spring or summer before the fall they intend to apply, since law school admissions runs on a rolling cycle and earlier applications generally have an advantage. LSAC also runs the Credential Assembly Service (CAS), which packages your transcripts, letters of recommendation, and LSAT score into a single report that every school you apply to receives in the same format.

The reason law schools lean so heavily on a single standardized test is comparability. Undergraduate GPAs come from different schools, different majors, and different grading curves, which makes GPA alone a weak apples-to-apples comparison. The LSAT gives admissions committees one number, generated under identical conditions for every applicant, that they can weigh against GPA when building an entering class.

The GRE has become an accepted alternative at a growing list of law schools, largely because some applicants — particularly those coming from STEM backgrounds or already holding GRE scores for other graduate programs — found the LSAT to be a redundant, additional testing burden. Even so, the LSAT remains the default because it was purpose-built to predict first-year law school performance, while the GRE was not.

What's on the LSAT?

The digital LSAT currently consists of three scored sections: two Logical Reasoning sections and one Reading Comprehension section. As of August 2024, LSAC permanently removed the Analytical Reasoning section, commonly known as Logic Games, from the exam. Each scored section runs 35 minutes. The test may also include an unscored section used for LSAC's own research and test development .

SectionWhat it testsScored?LengthLogical Reasoning IShort arguments; identify flaws, assumptions, strengtheners/weakeners, parallel reasoningScored35 minutesLogical Reasoning IISame question types as LR I, different passagesScored35 minutesReading ComprehensionFour passages, including one comparative-reading set of two shorter passagesScored35 minutesUnscored/variable sectionAny of the above formatsUnscored, used for test development35 minutes

Logical Reasoning now makes up two-thirds of your scored performance instead of one-third, which is the single biggest structural change from the pre-2024 LSAT. Each Logical Reasoning question presents a short argument — often just two or three sentences — followed by a question stem asking you to find the flaw in the reasoning, identify an unstated assumption, or select the choice that would most strengthen or weaken the conclusion.

The Reading Comprehension section presents four passages on subjects ranging from law and science to history and the humanities, each followed by five to eight questions that test your ability to track structure, tone, and the author's argument rather than recall isolated facts.

Separately, every applicant must also complete LSAT Writing, a proctored, unscored essay administered through secure software before a school will release your full score report. It isn't graded on a scale, but skipping it means your score report is incomplete and most schools won't process your application until it's finished.

How is the LSAT scored?

The LSAT converts your raw score — the number of questions you answered correctly across the three scored sections — into a scaled score between 120 and 180 using a conversion table unique to that specific test form. There is no universal percentage-to-score formula. A 180 is a perfect score; 120 is the lowest possible score.

Because every LSAT administration uses a slightly different set of questions, LSAC applies a statistical equating process so that a given scaled score means the same thing regardless of which test date you sat for — a 165 in June should reflect the same underlying performance as a 165 in October, even if the two forms had different raw-score cutoffs.

Your scaled score also maps to a percentile rank, showing how you performed relative to other test-takers over a rolling multi-year testing period, as published by LSAC. LSAC also offers Score Preview, a feature that lets you see your score before deciding whether to keep it on your record, typically for an additional fee .

One detail worth planning around: LSAC currently limits how many times you can sit for the LSAT within a single testing year, across a rolling multi-year window, and over your lifetime . These caps have shifted in recent testing cycles, so confirm the current policy directly on LSAC's site before registering for another attempt.

How long to study for the LSAT?

There is no single correct amount of time to study for the LSAT. The right timeline depends on the gap between your diagnostic score and your target score, how many hours you can realistically study each week, and how much prior standardized-test experience you're bringing in. Most successful test-takers build a plan around a specific test date, not a fixed number of weeks .

A sound planning process looks like this:

1. Take one full, timed diagnostic test under real testing conditions before you study anything else.
2. Identify which section — Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension — is dragging your score down the most.
3. Set a target score based on the published medians of the law schools you actually intend to apply to.
4. Build a study calendar counting backward from your registration date, not forward from today.
5. Take periodic timed practice tests, roughly every one to two weeks, to track real progress rather than just accuracy on untimed drills.
6. Shift your final two to three weeks toward review, pacing, and rest instead of new content.

The biggest planning mistake applicants make is treating every study hour as equally valuable. Drilling question types you've already mastered feels productive but moves your score less than isolating and repeatedly attacking your specific weak pattern, whether that's a flaw-in-the-reasoning question type or a comparative-reading passage. Official LSAC PrepTests, not third-party approximations, should form the core of your timed practice, since they're the only material that reliably matches the real test's difficulty and phrasing.

How Lovare approaches LSAT prep: Lovare treats LSAT prep as the first stage of a longer process, not an isolated project — the same diagnostic data that shapes your study plan also informs how you build your school list and your application timeline later on. If you're mapping out that fuller sequence, start with our full law school admissions guide before you lock in a study calendar.

FAQ

Is the LSAT required for law school?

Yes, nearly every ABA-accredited law school requires either the LSAT or the GRE for admission. A growing number of schools now accept the GRE as an alternative , but the LSAT remains the dominant test because it was designed specifically to predict first-year law school performance.

How many times can you take the LSAT?

LSAC limits how many times you can sit for the LSAT within a single testing year, across a rolling multi-year period, and over your lifetime . Confirm LSAC's current official policy before registering for a retake, since these caps have changed across recent testing cycles.

What is a good LSAT score?

A good LSAT score is one that meets or exceeds the published median LSAT score of your target law schools' most recently admitted class. There is no universal "good" number. It depends entirely on which schools are actually on your list.

Is the LSAT hard?

Most test-takers find the LSAT demanding because it rewards a specific, trainable skill — reading dense argumentative text quickly and precisely — rather than memorized content. It isn't inherently harder than other graduate admissions tests, but its format is unfamiliar, which is why structured, timed practice matters more than raw intelligence.

Can I take the LSAT online?

Yes. LSAC administers the LSAT as a fully digital exam, either at an official test center or, for eligible test-takers, remotely from home on a secure, LSAC-provided platform. Paper administrations are essentially phased out except for approved testing accommodations.

Does the LSAT still have Logic Games?

No. As of August 2024, LSAC removed the Analytical Reasoning section, commonly called Logic Games, from the LSAT permanently. The exam now consists of two scored Logical Reasoning sections and one scored Reading Comprehension section.