Are You Thinking About Retaking the LSAT?

The Law School Admissions Council recently released an interesting article in their LSAT Technical Reports Series entitled "The Performance of Repeat Test Takers on the Law School Admissions Test: 2006-2007 through 20012-2013 Testing Years". This report shows general trends in repeat LSAT takers and can provide insightful statistics about retaking the LSAT.

The most pertinent information to a prospective law student thinking about retaking the LSAT begins on page 8 of the report in the discussion on mean score gains.

• "Second-time test takers scored an average of 2.8 points higher than they did the first time"
• "Third-time test takers scored an average of 2.2 points higher than they did the second time"

As an example of what this means, let's suppose you scored a 150 the first time you took the LSAT. If you retook the LSAT and studied hard an average increase would bring your score up to a 153 (rounding to the nearest full point). If you then took the LSAT a third time an average increase would bring your total score up another two points for a high LSAT score of 155.*

So to answer the question "Should you retake the LSAT?", the answer is probably yes; however, you will need to do your own cost/benefit analysis. Would increasing your score make a significant difference in your chances of gaining admission to the law school of your choice? Would increasing your LSAT increase scholarship opportunities? Do you have time to devote to a full study cycle? Ect...

You also need to remember that you can only take the LSAT three times within a two year period. If you do retake the LSAT do not take the endeavor lightly. There is no guarantee that you will increase your score by retaking the test. You must study hard so that you can perform your best on test day. Preparation is your only insurance to increase your score.


*an important caveat to note is that the mean score for first-time test takers is a 151.0. The mean LSAT score for second-time test takers is a 151.7. The mean LSAT for third-time test takers is a 149.4. There is a bit of an imbalance between the "mean score" and the "mean score gains" for repeaters. If the mean score gain for second-time test takers is 2.8 points then one would expect the mean LSAT score for second-time test takers to be a 153.8 (151.0 + 2.8); however, since this is not the case, the numbers suggest that those who retake the LSAT are likely to be those who scored below average (probably a mean score of 148.9 (151.7 - 2.8)) the first time and thus have the most to gain in retaking the LSAT and thus inflate the median gains; however, no reports have studied this correlation so it is an unsubstantiated assumption. Basically, the point of this note is to highlight that the mean score gains are a bit more complicated than they first appear and that there is no guarantee that you will increase your score by five points of you take the LSAT three times.