To prospective law school applicants, few questions are as confusing as whether law schools use the average of all your LSAT scores or just the high score. The confusion exists because law schools will see an average score if you take the LSAT more than once. The all-important US News rankings, on the other hand, use only the high score. To top it off, some schools specifically state they take the high score whereas others talk about an average score.
So, what’s the real story?
The definitive answer is good news for all law school applicants. Every law school uses the high score when making admissions decision. We don’t know of any schools that use the average score. That’s easy enough to say, so let’s provide some facts to back up this claim.
Rankings Use the High Score
The USNews rankings are the standard by which law schools are judged. Law schools are required to report only the highest score an applicant receives. Thus, if a school uses just the average score, they place themselves at a significant disadvantage compared to all schools using the high score. That’s an illogical path to take, so on the face of it there’s no sense in taking the average score.
We’ve Talked to the Deans
We have yet to talk to a Law School Dean that uses the average. We’re in a fortunate position to speak with law school deans about various admissions practices. When asked this question, thus far no dean has told us they use the average score. All have stated they use the high score. This covers schools in the T6, T14, T25, and all the way through the rankings.
You May be Referencing Out of Date Information
So what about the law schools that have websites referencing averages? They explicitly say they don’t only use the high score! This is the one counterpoint that often comes up when discussing this issue. Namely, some schools appear to reference the use of averages (such as NYU), or holistically considering all available scores (like Yale). I’ll let our good friend Mike Spivey from Spivey Consulting explain why schools still reference averages.
“The easiest answer is that we used to average in admissions because all scores used to go to USNews. But around 8 years ago that changed and USNews started only taking the high score. Some remnants of the prior averaging language still exists online, however. In other words, the wording is exactly as it was 8+ years ago. So again that is the easiest answer and simply something that hasn’t been cleaned up entirely online. More deeply, I honestly think some Adcoms almost believe it when they say ‘we average scores.’ What they are really saying, though, is that they SEE all scores (which is true). I think it sounds good to them to say ‘we average’ because it sounds more holistic, and there is sort of a pathway dependency to saying that and hearing others say it over time.
The fact of the matter is this: I know of not a single school, including Yale, that averages. I’ve written extensively on this topic, and the ‘averaging’ myth is the is single hardest falsehood I have had to combat with the hundreds of other law school admissions myths out there, and probably the most damning to applicants that believe it.”
I’m not sure you can get a more emphatic affirmation that law schools use the high score than his statements above. The bottom line is that if you’ve taken the LSAT once and think you can do better, there are few reasons not to retake the test. Of course, keep in mind the limitations LSAC has on retakes, but if you can post a higher score, you increase your admissions chances and increase your chances to receive improved financial aid offers.
Dave Reid says
Hello,
I’m wrestling with whether or not take the test again. I have only taken it once and scored well (within the 25-75 percentile for most of my target schools). For the school I would really like to go to, I am 1 point below the median, but have a 4.0 GPA and believe that I should be able to maintain that through when I will be applying.
I scored up to 5 points higher on practice tests but my average was around where I ended up testing on test day. All that being said, I’m not 100% confident that I would get a higher score the second time around (though I didn’t take a class, I self-prepared fairly rigorously for this first one).
Obviously, you don’t have a crystal ball but what would your advice be on whether I should take it again in order to give myself a good chance at the school where I’m 1 below the median? Can a 4.0 GPA and good extracurriculars give me a good chance to overcome being slightly below the median? I’m trying to get an idea of how much GPA matters in relation to LSAT score.
Thanks.
Dave Killoran says
Hi Dave,
I can understand why you are wrestling with this! Being at the median for the top schools is indeed important, and it can have a big impact. I’ve heard it said by more than one T14 dean that being a single point below the median is grounds enough for a retake in their eyes since it has such a big impact. That said, you should only retake if you are confident you can do better. And I’m not sure you feel that way since you said, “I’m not 100% confident that I would get a higher score.” So, could or should you retake? Maybe.
The first place I’d start is assessing whether you could score higher. You mention self-studying, and I’d note that I am a strong supporter of that approach (that’s perhaps obvious since I wrote the LSAT Bibles and we offer numerous tools for self-study, but still worth stating). But, sometimes self-study isn’t the best approach for everyone. I liken it to teaching yourself math — you can get a lot of knowledge that way, but there’s still something being said for having someone else who knows what’s going on and can teach it to you; just having a math textbook isn’t always enough. If you came to the conclusion you could indeed score higher and be fairly comfortable with it, then that’s a strong case for a retake. But if you don’t feel confident, then don’t do it — you are just rolling the dice and hoping at that point, and that’s not worth it. That’s especially the case since you have a top GPA.
I hope that helps. Thanks!
Dave Reid says
Thanks for taking the time to reply. That does help, though it will still be a difficult decision. One last question I have related to this is… do you foresee that medians will have risen across the board by the time I apply (fall 2021 cycle)?
Dave Killoran says
Hi Dave,
Yes, and it’s a good point to consider as well. They will rise this year, and then that will spill into next year. They may come down a bit next year, but there are enough high score applicants right now to have a two-year effect:/ The big question is: how much of an effect next year? and that we can’t know just yet or reliably predict.
Thanks!
Hailey says
Hi Dave,
That definitely helps! In regard to averages, I have had some friends also applying to law school this year mention it and when looking it up found a couple articles that seemed to cite admissions officers claiming that while it didn’t matter for rankings anymore, it was still used to predict an applicant’s capabilities during the first year of law school and was considered in that way even if more weight was given to the higher score (the articles were slightly older, from around 2014/2016).
And I was leaning towards no with the addendum since I don’t have a strong reason- there were some technical difficulties, but I also had some technical difficulties during my second test (overall both were minor and I was able to get back into my tests fairly quickly). I could argue that the first time I wasn’t fully prepared for the online format/minor technical difficulties I would have during the test? But just unsure if it’s worse to have an addendum that probably isn’t super necessary or to leave an admissions officer wondering.
Thanks for your help!
Dave Killoran says
Great–you can ignore those older articles 🙂
As far as saying “I wasn’t fully prepared,” I don’t advise that. It’s not a good luck to the school to say you walked into a very important test underprepared. They may extrapolate that out to think you’d do the say in law school :/
Thanks!
Hailey York says
What if I did significantly better (i.e. 12 point jump) on an LSAT retake? I’ve been reading too that schools look at the ‘average’ score to predict performance as advised by LSAC, and since I’m looking to get into T14 that could hurt my chances. I don’t have a super compelling reason for the score jump- just that I self-studied throughout the process and realized my first score wasn’t indicative and so changed up my study habits to ones I knew would work better for me in the second round. Should I submit an addendum? Or send one in to accompany applications I’ve already submitted? There’s lots of conflicting information so any advice would be helpful!
Dave Killoran says
Hi Hailey,
You ask a good question, and one that I’ve had the opportunity to address multiple times in the last month. I’ve talked a bout it on multiple podcasts, in free admissions webinars, and on various forum, and the news is good for you: law schools only care about the high score. In the old days the average was important, but it is no longer reported to the ABA, and thus not used in rankings. And so consequently, nobody cares about it. That’s true even for your very nice increase 🙂 Side note: where are you reading this about the averages? Every major law admission expert has been saying for years now that the average is not important.
As far as an addendum on the topic, it’s a tough call but I would likely lean to leaving it alone. The reason being that you can’t point to anything other than “more/better” studying.” If there was a different reason–say a technical issue with the first test–then I could see it as more compelling. On the other hand, 12 points is a decent increase, and there’s a reasonable likelihood that someone might wonder what happened there, although I tend to think that mindset was more common 5-8 years ago than now.
I hope that helps. Thanks!
Jason says
Hi guys,
This post is from a few months ago, but I’m hoping it’s not too late for some clarification!
I’ve taken the LSAT 4 times. In Nov, after a 163, 169, C, I finally hit my goal score (175+), and I’m shooting for HLS. My LSAT is above their 75th percentile, my gpa is at the median, but I’m seriously worried that having taken the LSAT 4 times is going to keep me out. Let me know what you think guys, hopefully you can ease my mind. Thanks so much.
Dave Killoran says
Good news Jason: It won’t keep you out, and they don’t care AT ALL about the 4 takes 🙂
That’s it, full story right there. So go forth and have no worries about that!
cancelornah says
Hi. Just took the September LSAT and unsure whether I should cancel it. I have 169 from a previous test and I have no clue how I performed on this one. The testing condition was not ideal, and my mind was bit foggy first three sections (which are all scored sections, i.e. no dummy). Been reading guidelines from schools how they look at every score and how LSAC actually suggested averaging scores out is a good indicator. My GPA is around 25th percentile of schools I am interested in, and I do not jeopardize my application. I’m unsure what to do and would love to get someone’s advice!
Dave Killoran says
Hi Cancel,
Thanks for the message. Schools really only use the high score these days, regardless what they say (there’s tons of commentary on this over the last year, in my twitter feed, our forum, comments here on the blog, etc). That said, cancel discussions are the hardest things to have since obviously only you know what happened 🙂 The general rule is to cancel if you feel you had a bad performance or went significantly under where you are practicing. If you might have gotten close to your normal PT scores, then the advice is to keep. In your case, I can’t tell how much the “foggy” first three section affected you, although for a 169 test taker it’s not a great sign at all. A lower score won’t hurt you, but if you know you went under 169, what’s the point of keeping it? Thanks!
Ann says
Hi Dave,
I have two LSAT scores on the file – First try, I wasn’t quite on my target score during the PTs, but still took the exam and got the similar score of high 150s. I thought I could do better & retook the exam when I was getting high 160s on my PTs. I do not want to give an excuse, but the test environment wasn’t great (They made us stand, lined up in the testing room for more than 2 hours prior to taking the exam, which did not happen during the previous exam). I ended up getting low 150s. Will schools consider the second score during the application review? I understand that it will be difficult to get into my original target school with my first score either, but at this point, I am very discouraged & stressed out. I am lost whether I should retake the exam with now the virtual version of the LSAT. Would schools consider the lower retake score during the application? Do you recommend retaking the exam? If not, should I add the addendum with the application? Any advice will be truly truly helpful.
Thank you
Dave Killoran says
Hi Ann,
The evidence is overwhelming that schools will ignore the low scores and focus just on the high score. This has happily been proven repeatedly 🙂 So, you can stop worrying about that aspect.
Should you retake? If you can do better, YES. There’s no question about that and I have written on that topic hundreds of times in various forums. If you do that and score better, no need for an addendum–they don’t really care unless you have a compelling/unusual reason for the score variance.
Thanks!
Zachary Kolodny says
Does all through the rankings include unranked schools? Also I got a 152 when my average was around that on the LSAT. Obviously, this is not a great score, so I am retaking. All of my PTs since that have been 1-8pts above that, with a plurality being a 159. I am clearly not going to a top school (I have taken a class and have self practiced), but with a 159 I could get a good scholarship at a T3/T4 school (I think) or get into a T2 school. That is why I am concerned if it includes unranked schools. Also, when calculating our PT average, should we use only recent practice test scores or older ones too.
Dave Killoran says
Hi Zachary,
I’m not sure I follow you perfectly here, but the good news is that every law school uses the high score when making admissions decisions (ranked and unranked), and we know of no law school that uses the average score. So if you can go out and get, say, a 159, you will definitely been in good shape.
PT averages are often calculated over the last 3-4 LSATs, which gives you a good recent snapshot of how you are doing.
Hopefully that covers your questions, if not, please let me know. Thanks!
Richard says
Hi David,
When you state “The bottom line is that if you’ve taken the LSAT once and think you can do better, there is no downside whatsoever to retaking the test,” does that mean that if after taking the test 3 times, if you still didn’t reach your target score, you should even take it a 4th or 5th time to attempt to reach that goal target score (assuming you work hard and believe you can improve)?
Thanks.
Dave Killoran says
Yes, it does! In the old days taking the LSAT multiple times was a problem, but now with the unlimited retake policy and the reporting of only the highest score, 4-5 takes is nothing unusual now. I think that currently anything more than 5 warrants an addendum, but even that will change as we move forward. by next year, 6 takes won’t be a big deal. At least in this aspect, times are improving!
Richard says
Thank you so much!
And by “next year,” do you mean this upcoming application cycle – the 2019-2020 application cycle?
So if a person gets scores fluctuating in the 160s for the first 5 takes, but gets a 175 on his 6th take, that 175 is the only LSAT score the law schools report and consider in making the admission decision?
And when you mention “more than 5 warrants an addendum,” if someone took the LSAT 6 times, will that addendum be a negative factor on that application? Will that 6th LSAT take be a negative factor on the application? Will they still only consider the highest score? Is the purpose of the addendum just to provide context/background and will not be a positive or negative factor on the application?
Thanks so much!
Richard says
And throughout the article, when you mention “the high score,” that’s the same thing as the “highest score” right? So if one got a 160, 165, and 173 on 3 LSAT attempts, law schools only use the 173 (the highest score) in making admission decisions? Thank you!
Jason says
Hi guys,
This post is from a few months ago, but I’m hoping it’s not too late for some clarification!
I’ve taken the LSAT 4 times. In Nov, after a 163, 169, C, I finally hit my goal score (175+), and I’m shooting for HLS. My LSAT is above their 75th percentile, my gpa is at the median, but I’m seriously worried that having taken the LSAT 4 times is going to keep me out. Let me know what you think guys, hopefully you can ease my mind. Thanks so much.
Dave Killoran says
Good news Jason: It won’t keep you out, and they don’t care AT ALL about the 4 takes 🙂
That’s it, full story right there. So go forth and have no worries about that!
Dave Killoran says
No, the one after that, starting in Fall 2020!
Yes, your analysis there re: the 175 is exactly the case (and I know of a student with a somewhat similar record who was able to secure admission to multiple top law schools recently).
The addendum is just a way to explain what’s going on, because humans will want to know why someone subjected themselves to 6 LSATs! So, in most cases it checks a box and is considered no further–neither positive nor negative. and it’s not that the 6th is negative in any event, it just reaches a point where an interested reader starts to wonder, and the rule is that you do not leave unanswered questions in your application (and that would be one–why did he take it 6 times?). It’s very easily handled in most cases to be honest.
And yes, “high” = “highest” in my comments 🙂
Thanks!
Hunter says
What if a student does significantly worse on a retake?
I have three tests on record. The first one I underperformed by quite a bit due to test anxiety, and ended up with a high 150s score. The second, I was in the high 160s which was near my practice tests. I decided to take a shot again and go for that 170+, and needless to say something went wrong and I ended up with my first score again. I believe I might have misbubbled.
At this point, I’m devastated, I have given up so much time, energy, and money on this test (and I have only self studied, can’t imaginethe cost if I paid for courses). Being a first generation college student has made this progress tiring, and I’m stressed that my retake fail might have just destroyed my T14 dreams. Cause right now my high 160 looks like a fluke, even though it is consistent with the amount of talent and effort I have given.
Jon Denning says
Hey Hunter – thanks for posting, and sorry to hear this latest score wasn’t what you were hoping for.
First, if misbubbling is a genuine concern, look into a handscoring request: LSAC can, and often does, adjust scores when it’s clear that a bubbling error resulted in missed questions that would’ve otherwise been correct.
https://www.lsac.org/lsat/taking-lsat/scoring/handscoring
You’ve only got 40 days post-test to request it, there are no guarantees, and it’s not cheap ($100), but given the difference it can make—and I’ve seen students gain 6+ points via handscoring when an obvious error was present—it’s often a smart gamble.
Asssuming your score stays where it is though, I have some great news: US schools won’t care! Seriously. They’ll see it, shrug, and use your high-160s result to evaluate you. Even if to *you* it may look like a fluke, to schools it looks like a reportable outcome by which they can theoretically justify accepting you, and that’s all that matters.
So don’t fret about the most recent score! Instead start to look at your target schools and consider where your GPA and highest LSAT puts you in terms of their 25th/75th percentile acceptance rates. If you’re at or above the median in both categories I’d say you’re in great shape! If your highest LSAT is still sub-median at your intended school then start thinking about a retake…you know you can hit the 170s, and a fourth attempt would be well worth it if you could make that number happen on the real thing!
Sarah Donofrio says
Is an addendum necessary if jumping up more than 10 points on the LSAT? Will law schools care about the first lower score?
Dave Killoran says
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the question! Schools really do not care about that lower score, so it’s not necessary to add an addendum. The only benefit would be is if you had some type of compelling explanation that you could explain in a humorous and engaging way (marching band going by the test center, for example). In that instance, you could add a bit of personality to you app. However, such a situation would be rare, and not available to most people.
Thanks!