June 16, 2021

Official Scoring Scale for the New LSAT

When LSAC added sections from the May 2020 LSAT-Flex administration to their Prep Plus package, it allowed us to see exactly how they score a Flex test. Although the Flex version of the test is no longer with us, this data is still relevant to the new LSAT. Let’s take a look at LSAC’s official scoring scale for the May 2020 Flex test:

Reported Score	Lowest Raw Score	Highest Raw Score
180	75	76
179	74	74
178	**	**
177	73	73
176	**	**
175	72	72
174	71	71
173	70	70
172	69	69
171	68	68
170	67	67
169	66	66
168	65	65
167	64	64
166	63	63
165	61	61
164	60	60
163	58	59
162	57	57
161	55	56
160	54	54
159	52	53
158	51	51
157	49	50
156	48	48
155	46	47
154	45	45
153	43	44
152	42	42
151	41	41
150	39	40
149	38	38
148	37	37
147	36	36
146	34	35
145	33	33
144	32	32
143	31	31
142	30	30
141	29	29
140	28	28
139	27	27
138	26	26
137	**	**
136	25	25
135	24	24
134	23	23
133	**	**
132	22	22
131	21	21
130	**	**
129	20	20
128	**	**
127	19	19
126	**	**
125	18	18
124	**	**
123	17	17
122	**	**
121	16	16
120	0	15

*** There is no raw score that will produce this scaled score for this form.

Note: This scoring scale is specific to the May 2020 LSAT-Flex, not any other Flex exams.

This Flex scale has a number of intriguing features, so let’s take a closer look!

The Scale is Loose at the Top

The scale is fairly loose at the upper end. 67 out of 76, or -9, for a 170 is the 4-section equivalent of missing 12. That’s far from extraordinary but it is on the more generous end of possible curves. In fact, only two other tests since December 2016 have been that loose or looser. If want to see all of the LSAT Score conversions (from June ‘91 to the most recently released scale) we have a comprehensive chart here: LSAT Raw Score Conversion.

**The Scale is Extremely Loose in the Middle**

The scale is unprecedentedly forgiving in the middle! Let’s look at some score markers through the mid-range for reference:

145: 33 correct answers produced a 145 on the May LSAT. That translates to a regular—traditional four-section—raw score of roughly 44 questions, a number one lower than any previously seen (a handful of past tests, mostly from the 90s, allowed for 45 questions correct). On recent tests, a 145 typically requires 47-50 questions correct, so this Flex offered a 3-5 question advantage for 145-scorers.

150: 40 correct answers produced a 150 on May. If we equate that to a regular test it comes to approximately 52-53 correct for that same scoring result. How far from normal is that? 53 right for a 150 has only happened three times in history, and not once in the past 27 years. And 52 correct for a 150 has never happened! A far more typical range is 56-58—and it’s often reached 59-61—so again test takers in the mid-range are allowed roughly three or four more missed questions for the same 150 result in May.

155: 46 correct answers produced a 155 on May. Converting that to a four-section raw score means 61-62 right answers for that same 155 outcome, which is another historically-low requirement, tying the record set by, and held since, the June 1992 LSAT! Test takers these days can expect to answer at least 64-66 questions correctly before they reach a 155, a bar set at least 2-4 questions higher than the one in May.

160: 54 correct answers produced a 160 on May. Again, translated that’s approximately 71-72 correct on a regular LSAT, a number only nearly-matched three times in the last ten years: December 2013, June 2014, and December 2017 were all 72 right for a 160. So, like the raw 145-155 numbers, we have an outlier for a 160, as well!

The Scale Tightens Up at the Bottom

The scale is historically unique at the low end, too…but oddly by being tighter than ever! This clearly won’t affect most people, but requiring 16 correct on May to achieve a 121 is the equivalent of needing at least 21 right on a 4-section test, and that has never happened before (the most ever needed previously was 20, and more commonly these days it’s closer to 18). Looking at a 131, in May you needed 21 right—that’s 28 on a typical, full-scale test—and only one test, June 2005, has ever required more correct answers for that score.

So as forgiving as the curve was for higher-scorers, lower-scorers were forced to answer more questions correctly than ever to get the same results.

Why Was the Scale More Forgiving Overall?

So what led to the overall looseness of the curve? Let’s explore some plausible factors.

I’ll start by dispelling what I believe to be a myth: LSAC was being charitable, lobbing out a first-Flex softball. The test makers adhere to a strict curve built around percentiles, so while fewer questions correct for any given score feels like a gift, it’s not. That means something about this test, not its creators, served to satisfy those percentiles by shifting people up the scale with a favorable calibration.

Softer scales reflect poorer attendee performance, and traditionally that’s meant more difficult test content. But the nature of the LSAT-Flex, especially the first-ever LSAT-Flex in May, shouldn’t be overlooked! For one, it seems reasonable to conclude that many test takers, particularly those in the mid-range of 145-160 where the scale was the loosest, were penalized by seeing 50% less Logical Reasoning than prior exams. Possibly it was losing the LR content that would’ve previously provided a boost. Perhaps it was the increased emphasis on Reading Comp and Games. Maybe some combination of both. Regardless, clearly the Flex construction doesn’t play to everyone’s skillset. Secondly, the unfamiliar experience of digital testing at home could have had a negative impact on performance; after all, taking a test as difficult as the LSAT in a novel way is liable to be unsettling.

The takeaway then is that people correctly answered fewer questions than usual from scoring ranges of about 140 and up. And the most severe performance drops occurred through the middle scores of 145-160, with a less notable—closer to a single point below average—dip at 165+. Fortunately, the curve appears to have functioned exactly as intended: it softened scoring requirements sufficiently to offset any ill-effects of the test itself.

So Many Missing Scores

A quick glance at the conversion chart shows that an unusually high number of 120-180 outcomes were impossible to achieve for the May LSAT-Flex, with nine total results missing from the scale. This too deserves discussion.

First, every LSAT-Flex is likely to exhibit this tendency. With only 77 possible raw scores—from 0 correct up to 76—versus the typical 101-102 question raw scoring range, there are simply fewer scoring outcomes to convert into a scaled number from 120-180. And given how many of the raw scores produce the same scaled score (see any score above where its high and low raw numbers are different), there are naturally going to be some scaled results that get left out. So no surprises there!

The Bell Curve At Work

As for where those absent results appear, all of the impossible scores occur below 138 and above 175, or in the bottom 7% and upper 0.5% of scores. Why? There are so few people comprising those two score zones that differences of even a single question answered correctly or incorrectly are magnified when raw scores are converted. Right and wrong become increasingly meaningful when there is less competition; it’s easier to separate yourself from fewer people, in other words. And sometimes there are so few people that a single answer right or wrong separates them not by one point, but by two, leading to the score skipping in question.

This is the inverse of why we see most duplicate scores—the same score produced by different raw question counts—in the mid-range: there are so many people piled up near the center of the bell curve that a single extra question right or wrong may not sufficiently distinguish them from one another, or at least not enough to warrant awarding them different final scores.

The Other Missing Score Imbalance…

The other notable trait of impossible scores and their distribution is that there are far fewer missing scores in the 160-180 zone (2 missing: all scores possible except 176 and 178) than in the 120-140 range (7 missing: 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 133, and 137). Two facts reconcile this apparent discrepancy. The first is that far more people are scoring in the 160-180 ranges than in the lower, 120-140 range. About 25% of test takers score at/above 160, while only about 11% are in the 120-140 range. So you have a far larger sample size to discriminate within in the top 21 scores than in the bottom, and a better ability to assign individual scorers in a meaningful way.

…Is Less Imbalanced Than It Looks

A further explanation beyond sheer volume is that each raw score from 0-15 resulted in a 120, turning the lowest 16 of the 77 raw outcomes into the same (duplicate) scaled outcome. That duplicate scaled score only happens four times at 160+ (161, 163, 165, 180). Combining duplicates (like 0 through 15 all for a 120, or 61 and 62 for a 165) and performing some quick math tells us that we’re really looking at 14 raw numbers for scores of 120-140, and 17 raw numbers for a resultant 160-180…and that three-question surplus means you can calculate more scaled scores near the top (and very nearly accounts for the 2 vs 7 missing score tallies high vs low).

How Would It Look As a Regular Scale?

Finally, a natural question is, “How would this Flex scale appear if it were drawn from a regular LSAT?” Or, “What would this Flex scale look like if applied to a past PT?” Below is this Flex scale side-by-side with its expanded, 101-question equivalent:

Flex Low	Flex High	Score	Original Low	Original High
75	76	180	99	101
74	74	179	98	98
**	**	178	**	**
73	73	177	97	97
**	**	176	96	96
72	72	175	95	95
71	71	174	94	94
70	70	173	93	93
69	69	172	91	92
68	68	171	90	90
67	67	170	89	89
66	66	169	87	88
65	65	168	86	86
64	64	167	85	85
63	63	166	83	84
61	62	165	81	82
60	60	164	79	80
58	59	163	77	78
57	57	162	75	76
55	56	161	73	74
54	54	160	71	72
52	53	159	69	70
51	51	158	67	68
49	50	157	65	66
48	48	156	63	64
46	47	155	61	62
45	45	154	59	60
43	44	153	57	58
42	42	152	55	56
41	41	151	54	54
39	40	150	52	53
38	38	149	50	51
37	37	148	49	49
36	36	147	47	48
34	35	146	45	46
33	33	145	44	44
32	32	144	42	43
31	31	143	41	41
30	30	142	40	40
29	29	141	38	39
28	28	140	37	37
27	27	139	36	36
26	26	138	34	35
**	**	137	**	**
25	25	136	33	33
24	24	135	32	32
23	23	134	31	31
**	**	133	30	30
22	22	132	29	29
21	21	131	28	28
**	**	130	27	27
20	20	129	26	26
**	**	128	**	**
19	19	127	25	25
**	**	126	**	**
18	18	125	24	24
**	**	124	23	23
17	17	123	22	22
**	**	122	**	**
16	16	121	21	21
0	15	120	0	20

Comments

Brittney says
August 30, 2021 at 11:15 am
Received a raw score of 59. Abit confused on the placement. Can you elaborate on this for me?
Reply
Lakara Silver says
February 22, 2021 at 11:28 am
Paul,
What other Practice Material do you use besides the Law Hub. I moved my test to June Flex, so I’m kinda nervous to run out of practice material. So far I’ve been using Khan Acaemy, Kaplan book, and Law Hub. Any additional would truly help! Also thanks for the explanation for the LSAT Flex score . I guess the best thing to do is just try and score high on all 3 sections truly .
Reply
Lakara says
February 16, 2021 at 2:15 pm
So I’ve been usikng Law Hub from LSAC to practice for the LSAT flex , I’m still trying to improve but received a 10,7,10 and plugged that into the conversion calculator you all have posted which gave me a 36, would that mean my flex score would be a 147 ? This was from the May 2020 Lsat flex test I took. How do I keep getting my LSAT flex scores to see where I’m at as far as score wise— how to get to my flex number score.
Reply
Lakara says
February 10, 2021 at 1:36 pm
Hello,
I have been using the LSAT-FLEX Score Conversion Chart that you all have posted , however, I was wondering if I can kind of see where i’m scoring usong the Raw Score as an estimation ?/for example my lowest score was a 147 throughout the studying journey , I usually just do 3 sections ,plug the raw score in and that’s it…..I’ll compare it to the chart raw core and then look at the chart to verify ….so all in all can I stick with the 3 sections and tally my score up by just the 3 to find what I’d estimate my s LSAT core to be ?.
Reply
- Jon Denning says
  February 10, 2021 at 7:22 pm
  Hi Lakara – thanks for posting! It sounds like you’re askinig how to essentially reverse engineer a raw Flex score/estimate from a final, scaled score (like the 147 you mention), in which case let me walk you through that process!
  For the most accurate estimate, you’ll need the scoring conversion chart for the test in question. I’ll use November 2019’s for our purposes here, but since each test has a unique scale you’ll want to use the one included with the original PT you’re scoring.
  So let’s use the result you give, a 147, and see what that looked like on PT89 (November 2019). To get a 147 on that test you could answer either 50 or 51 questions correctly out of the total 101. So to convert that to Flex, simply take those fractions (50/101 and 51/101) and multiply them by the total number of questions on the Flex test, which would be either 75 or 76 depending on which LR you do. You’ll discover that gives raw scoring outcomes of 37-38 questions correct. So that’s the Flex number you’d need to hit to get a Flex 147 on November 2019.
  And that same process works for any other score, as well! So a 165 on November 2019 required 84 questions answered correctly, so take 84/101 and multiply it by your Flex total question count for a Flex raw score of 62-63 (again, depending on whether you do the 25- or 26-question LR).
  Finally, if you want a quicker, albeit slightly less precise, estimate, just mutliply the original raw score (the number answered correctly) by 3/4 to get a Flex raw number…not always quite as accurate as the method outlined above, but it’ll certainly get you a very-close Flex number in a hurry, if needed 🙂
  I hope that helps!
  Reply
  - Lakara says
    February 11, 2021 at 9:40 am
    Thank you John for the response. So I don’t know if I’m confusing myself , but
    what I’m using is the LSAC’S Law Hub and there’s 82 tests (I believe) So most of the test up there are from 1996- November 2019 being the last practice test . If I’m practicing on Law Hub using the test pt19 1996 test, Law Hub doesn’t have conversion charts, so I’ve been also using the Powerscore Calconic Calculator to calculate my score, which roughly gives me the estimation of where I’m scoring currently according to the background information . Is it fine to also use yalls calculator for the flex tests that was created :https://app.calconic.com/api/embed/calculator/5e9a47c6a4ca0d00290b0ef0
    Secondly, When using the LSAC Law Hub there’s only two flex tests up thee , When taking theLaw hub PT the final number it gives you correct, for example like 39 it says as how many were correct for all three sections — but when looking a the flex scale would that automatically mean the score is 150 —- meaning you don’t have to compare conversion scoring charts for that PT # ? ( Hope this makes sense)
    Reply
    - Paul says
      February 18, 2021 at 2:25 am
      Hey Lakara I am in the same position as you, using the lawhub access to all PTs (did you receive a fee waiver also?) — and I think I understand what you are asking.
      Here is the problem: there is no way with complete precision to get an LSAT flex score from any of the lawhub practice tests EXCEPT the two that are presented as such (and as a result, have an accompanying test-specific scoring chart). This is because the difficulty of each practice test varies, and the only real test-specific scoring chart that exists for each test is one that was designed to give a final score to someone who took all four sections.
      As a result, the closest we do if we are doing an LSAT flex-ified version of a practice test (meaning skipping one of the LR sections), in terms of getting an actual bonafide this-is-what-you-would-have-gotten-as-an-LSAT-score-if-this-had-been-the-LSAT-you-took, is to use that calconic link you gave to give an approximat-ish full raw score. Then use that approximat-ish full raw score, and apply it to the existing conversion chart for the test you just took.
      It won’t be perfect, but that method at least takes into account the difficulty of the test (since you are using that test’s specific score chart), and the only fudging being done is the calconic calculator’s approximation between a 3-section and 4-section test. Really though, any of the methods you outlined will give at least a deeecent approximation, certainly within the +-2 range.
      Reply
Sage Purohit says
January 2, 2021 at 3:11 am
Hi David,
I have a few questions! I’ve been using the Prep Plus program in preparation for the January 2021 LSAT. I do the sections in the order they are presented and treat the first LR section as the only LR section to gauge my performance and because the LSAT-Flex score calculator only allows me to input one LR section. I want to treat the 4 section test like a true 3 section flex test. I then use the LSAT-Flex score calculator and plug in the calculated raw score to the May 2020 Flex scale. Will this method get me as close as I can get to an actual flex score or should I be doing something different? Also, do you have any predictions for how the January 2021 scale will differ? For example if I use the method described above and get a raw score of 55 which is 161 on the May 2020 flex scale, is there any prediction of what a raw score of 55 would actually be on the upcoming January test? Do the raw points on each test range within 2 to 3 points or is it much higher? Meaning- should I expect that raw score of 55 to range between 52 or 56 instead to account for scale differences between different tests?
Reply
- Dave Killoran says
  January 3, 2021 at 1:29 pm
  Hi Sage,
  That will get you close, but this is also why we offer over 50 Flex forms in our Testing and Analytics platform: so you don’t have to go through these hoops to get an approximate score.
  As far as January, there is no way to reliably know what happens, but we continue to expect that the scales will be in the middle, which is a point we have made on our LSAT Podcast repeatedly over the last 6 months or so. So, aside from that general guideline, trying to get this specific is basically impossible until we know what the content was 🙂
  Thanks!
  Reply
  - Sage Purohit says
    January 3, 2021 at 11:10 pm
    Thank you!
    Reply
Roumita Dey says
December 4, 2020 at 7:21 pm
Thank you so much for your prompt reply.
Reply
Roumita Dey says
December 4, 2020 at 1:42 am
Hey David, whether the above LSAT flex chart published by PowerScore is an accurate one to follow for an aspiring LSAT test-taker?? I am going to take the LSAT early next year, hence asking for confirmation from your end. I want to make a target score by looking at this chart & attempt practice tests. Please confirm the LSAT flex chart.
Reply
- Dave Killoran says
  December 4, 2020 at 5:53 pm
  Hi Roumita,
  Yes, it’s accurate as a representation of how such scales look, but remember, each LSAT has a slightly different scale. That’s true for the Flex as well as the regular LSAT. We talk about this on our podcast frequently, so I’d recommend becoming a listener if you have the time!
  The bottom line is you might see certain scores require a few more or a few less right answers, but that will be a function of the difficulty of the test itself, as explained here: https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/scale.cfm. So, don’t get fixated on an exact number correct; get in the areas of those numbers and then it will depend on the exact LSAT you take.
  Thanks!
  Reply
Angie G. says
December 2, 2020 at 5:46 pm
Hi,
Should I use this as a guide to see what score I would get on the LSAT Flex in January? If the curve adjust to the amount of people taking the test, what if January has a higher attendance? What kind of score would I be looking at then? Should I base my score off this chart (the flex chart)?
Reply
- Dave Killoran says
  December 2, 2020 at 7:13 pm
  Hi Angie,
  Yes, you can use this! And happily, the curve is not adjusted to the number of people taking the test–volume has no effect on the scaling 🙂 This will help explain how the scale works: https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/scale.cfm.
  As far as what kind of score you should be looking at, take a look at law school 50th percentile LSAT medians. You usually want to be at or above those at a school to have a solid shot at admission! Those are published on every law school website 🙂
  Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!
  Reply