Comparing Your Score to the LSAT Percentiles

The LSAT includes five multiple choice sections, each of which is scored independently. The experimental section is scored, but that is only for administrative purposes and it does not influence a student's average LSAT score. The writing sample is also graded and combined with the multiple choice sections to determine a student's average LSAT score.

LSAT scores are then placed on a scale from 120 to 180. However, this scale does not make a determination about LSAT percentiles, because it is simply based on a raw score which is then placed on the scale which was predetermined before the test was given.

Instead of LSAT percentiles, the scores are then adjusted, with the resulting scores generally fitting on a bell curve, with lowest and highest scores having the students falling in that range. Most students will have a score that falls within the middle of the highest and lowest grade, resulting in the bell curve.

However, the experimental section does influence the outcome of the average LSAT score. Although the score for the experimental section does not count towards a student's raw score, it can influence an individual test takers raw score when compared against another. For example, two students may have gotten differing numbers of questions wrong on the entire test, but they may receive the same raw score. Questions that were wrong in the experimental section show that there were things the student did not know, but those wrong answers do not influence their raw score.

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