What Is a Good LSAT Score? 2026 Percentiles and the IQ Question

A good LSAT score is one that sits at or above the range of the law schools you apply to. Nationally, anything over 155 is above the middle. LSAC's table for the 2023-2024, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 testing years puts a 160 above 71.06% of scores, a 165 above 85.17%, a 170 above 94.48% and a 175 above 98.72%. A 155 is above 54.03%, so the typical score is just under 155.

Below: the full percentile table, why the same score ranks lower than it did a few years ago, how much one point is worth, what the test looks like now and in 2027, and whether an LSAT score says anything about IQ.

What is a good LSAT score?

A good LSAT score depends on where you want to go, because law schools compare your score with the scores of the people they usually admit. The national percentile tells you how you rank among everyone who has recently taken the test. LSAC defines it as "the percentage of test scores that are lower than the given scaled score".

The LSAT score range is 120 to 180, and the LSAT score percentile tells you where a score falls. LSAC's table for the 2023-2024, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 testing years gives these percent-below figures:

• 180: above 99.85% of scores
• 175: above 98.72%
• 170: above 94.48%
• 165: above 85.17%
• 160: above 71.06%
• 155: above 54.03%
• 150: above 36.56%
• 145: above 21.48%
• 140: above 11.00%
• 130: above 2.17%

Read it from the top. A 170 and above is the best-scoring 5.5% of scores. A 160 is better than seven in ten. A 150 is still above more than a third. The table counts scores, not people, so someone who sits the test twice appears twice.

What is the average LSAT score, and what is a good LSAT score for law school?

The middle of the field is just under 155. The LSAC percentile page does not print a mean, but its table shows that a 155 is above 54.03% of scores. That means more than half of recent scores fall below 155, so the median is a point or so lower.

For comparison, an IQ test sets its average at exactly 100 by design. The LSAT sets no average at all. Its scale is anchored by equating, which is how LSAC keeps a 160 meaning the same skill level from one test date to the next.

Why does a 170 rank lower than it used to?

Because LSAC rebuilds the table from the three most recent testing years, and recent scores have run higher. We compared the current table with the one LSAC published for 2021-2024. Every score from 140 to 180 ranks lower in the new table:

• 180: 99.90% then, 99.85% now
• 175: 99.04% then, 98.72% now
• 170: 95.69% then, 94.48% now
• 165: 87.80% then, 85.17% now
• 160: 74.62% then, 71.06% now
• 155: 57.49% then, 54.03% now
• 150: 39.06% then, 36.56% now

The biggest drops are in the middle. A 160 lost 3.56 percentile points and a 155 lost 3.46. At the very top the change is tiny, 0.05 points for a 180. The tables do not say why. What they show is that the score distribution has moved up between the two windows.

This matters if you are reading an old guide. A prep site that says a 170 is the "top 4%" is using the older table: 100 minus 95.69 is 4.31. Today it is 100 minus 94.48, which is 5.52. Check the years on any percentile chart before you quote it.

How much is one LSAT point worth?

Less and less as you climb. The steps between neighbouring scores shrink toward the top, because most test takers bunch in the middle of the scale.

• 159 to 160: 67.93% to 71.06%, a gain of 3.13 points
• 164 to 165: 82.75% to 85.17%, a gain of 2.42 points
• 169 to 170: 93.03% to 94.48%, a gain of 1.45 points
• 171 to 172: 95.77% to 96.72%, a gain of 0.95 points

So a point near 160 does more for your rank than a point near 172. Whether it does more for your application is a different question, and only the schools you target can answer it.

What is on the LSAT now, and what changes in 2027?

Logic games are gone. LSAC sunset the Analytical Reasoning section after the June 2024 test. Since August 2024 the LSAT has two scored Logical Reasoning sections and one scored Reading Comprehension section, plus one unscored section of either type.

A second change arrives with the August 2027 test. LSAC says "all test takers will take the Reading Comprehension section first, followed by the two Logical Reasoning sections", and that the LSAT "will move to embedded pretesting". Both the current format and the new one have 27 scored Reading Comprehension questions and 50 scored Logical Reasoning questions.

LSAC also says "LSAT scores of 120-180 will continue to represent the same skill levels" and that "scores will continue to be comparable across testing cycles". So a score earned today and one earned in 2028 should mean the same thing. If you want to practise the kind of reasoning the Logical Reasoning sections reward, our logical reasoning test and critical thinking test work with the same skills, though neither is the LSAT.

Is a good LSAT score the same as a high IQ?

No. There is no official LSAT-to-IQ conversion, and LSAC does not offer one. Our guide to GRE and LSAT scores to IQ covers what the research does and does not show. In short, the LSAT predicts law-school results and relates to general reasoning, but nobody has equated it against an IQ scale.

The reason is the pool. An IQ percentile ranks you against the whole adult population. An LSAT percentile ranks you against other LSAT scores, a group who chose to take a law-school admission test. The same percentile therefore does not mean the same IQ.

To see how little the arithmetic can bear, suppose you did place the LSAT percentiles on the general IQ curve (average 100, standard deviation 15). The result would be roughly these numbers. They are not IQ estimates, and no one has measured the pool that would make them valid:

• 175 (98.72nd percentile): about 133
• 170 (94.48th): about 124
• 165 (85.17th): about 116
• 160 (71.06th): about 108
• 155 (54.03rd): about 102
• 150 (36.56th): about 95

Our review of the average IQ of lawyers makes the same point with the older Army and LSAT data. Other score guides on this site show how percentiles from selective tests behave, including Watson-Glaser, CCAT and SHL. Use our IQ percentile calculator to turn any percentile into a position on the IQ curve.

Take the IQ Metrics test for a score ranked against the whole population. Your LSAT percentile ranks you among people applying to law school, and you should read it that way.

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