The Law School Admission Test is the exam that anchors law school admissions in the United States and Canada. It doesn't test law. It tests whether you can take apart an argument, hold a dense passage in your head, and stay precise under time pressure, skills the first year of law school leans on daily.
The current LSAT is four 35-minute sections: two scored Logical Reasoning sections, one scored Reading Comprehension section, and one unscored experimental section that looks like either of the other two. Logic Games, the diagramming section older guides still talk about, was removed in August 2024. The test is delivered digitally through LSAC's LawHub, either remotely or at a test center.
Logical Reasoning gives you a short argument and asks one question about it: what's its flaw, what does it assume, what would weaken it. Roughly 50 of your ~75 scored questions come from LR, which is why almost all serious prep starts there, and why we've written a dedicated guide for every LR question type below.
Reading Comprehension gives you four passages (one a paired "comparative" set) with 5, 8 questions each, testing main point, inference, author attitude, and structure, the same reasoning skills as LR, applied to longer text.
Your raw score, the number of questions answered correctly, with no penalty for guessing, converts to a scaled score from 120 to 180. The median sits near 152. Because the scale compresses at the top, single questions matter more as you climb: the jump from 170 to 173 can be as few as three questions. Try our LSAT score calculator to see how raw scores map to the scale and percentiles.
Worried your grades hold you back? The LSAT is the number you can still change, see whether your GPA is too low for law school and how the two balance.
The plan a 170+ scorer would actually hand you, pillar page, honest weekly schedules, the habits that break the 165 plateau, and when tutoring is worth the money.
The diagnostic-first plan in four phases. The pillar guide.
1, 3, and 6-month plans with honest expected score gains.
The five habits that separate 165 from 172.
When self-study wins and the three signals a tutor is worth it.
LR rewards classification: each question type has a distinct task, a recognizable stem, and its own trap patterns. Start with the types below, together they cover the large majority of what you'll see. Each guide includes recognition language, strategy, a fully worked original example, and the traps that snare test-takers under time.
Name the specific error in the argument's reasoning.
Find the unstated premise the argument can't live without.
Pick the new fact that makes the conclusion more believable.
Pick the new fact that damages the argument most.
Find what the statements, taken together, actually prove.
Identify the conclusion the whole argument exists to sell.
Match the argument's logical skeleton, ignoring its subject.
Bridge general rules and specific cases, in both directions.
Browse them all on the question types hub.
Diagnosis before prescription. Before buying courses or grinding drills, find out which questions cost you points, timing on inference questions is a different problem from misreading conditional logic, and they have different fixes. Our free 4-question diagnostic takes five minutes and returns a study plan built around your specific misses.
Ready to build a study plan? Start with how to study for the LSAT, pick a 1, 3, or 6-month schedule, and, if you're aiming high, read how to get a 170. Torn between grinding solo and hiring help? See self-study vs. tutoring.
If you're stuck at a plateau or on a deadline, 1-on-1 tutoring with a 170+ scorer starts with the same diagnostic and a free 15-minute consult.
The Law School Admission Test is the standardized exam used in admissions by law schools in the United States and Canada. It tests argument analysis and reading comprehension, no legal knowledge, and is scored on a 120, 180 scale.
The current LSAT has two scored Logical Reasoning sections, one scored Reading Comprehension section, and one unscored experimental section, each 35 minutes. Logic Games were removed from the test in August 2024.
The median score is around 152. A 160 clears roughly 80% of test takers; a 165 clears roughly 90%; 170+ is elite territory associated with the most selective schools. "Good" ultimately means at or above the median for the schools you're targeting.
Most students prepare for two to six months at 10, 20 hours per week. What matters more than raw hours is diagnosis: knowing which question types cost you points and drilling those specifically.
Four questions, five minutes, instant personalized plan.
Take the free diagnostic →Last updated July 9, 2026 · by the theLSATguru team