LSAT is a mandatory requirement for anyone aiming to enter law school. Similar to how GMAT is your gateway into business school, the LSAT is the standardized test that measures your aptitude for law school. For decades, LSAT was the only test accepted by law schools for admissions. However, in the 2016 University of Arizona announced that it would start accepting GRE in addition to LSAT for its law programs. This unprecedented move started a chain reaction across the U.S., and now some 67 law schools have followed suit.

If you have entertained the idea of LSAT, you might have wondered how many times are you allowed to take it. Moreover, a greater concern for students is whether taking the LSAT multiple times will reflect negatively on their application. Unfortunately, there is no objective yes or no answer for the latter as Law Schools don’t typically address such concerns.  However, we can still discuss the issue and try to arrive at a reasonable conclusion. So let’s take a closer look at some of these questions below.

How Many Times Can You Take the LSAT?

This question is more to do with official policy and hence can be answered objectively. According to LSAC’s official website, you can take the LSAT:

• Three times in a single testing year (the next testing cycle begins with the August 2021 test and goes through the June 2022 test).
• Five times within the current and five past testing years (the period in which LSAC reports scores to law schools).
• A total of seven times over a lifetime.

How Many Times Should You Take the LSAT?

This is a tricky question because the jury is still out on it. If you search around the internet, you will find answers ranging from “take it just once” to “it doesn’t matter how many times you take it”. However, the truth of the matter is that none of these opinions are based on facts. There is no single law school (that I know of) that explicitly states that students who retake the test risk their admission chances.

Standardized tests are not an exact science. There is only so much a test like LSAT can take into account, and it is almost inevitable for people to mess up their first take. For a first-timer, the testing environment, the test itself and everything related to it is new. It only makes sense that you might not do your utmost best on your first attempt.

Do Law schools look down on applicants who have taken the test multiple times? Not at all. Law Schools understand that a good portion of people will not do good on their first attempt. The same is true for any other standardized test like GRE and GMAT.

However, in my opinion, the important thing is that if you end up taking the test multiple times, there should be a distinct improvement in score. Law Schools don’t really care if you take the test twice or even thrice as long as they can see a clear improvement in score.

However, if you are just taking the test willy nilly after every few months with no improvements, then it’s possible for an admissions committee to question your aptitude for law school. In reality, aptitude is all that matters. If a law school sees that you are serious about a law degree and your LSAT scores show it, you don’t have much to worry about.

An improvement in score a second or even third time can speak to your commitment. Instead of reflecting negatively, it may even show hard work. However, if you keep scoring low even with multiple takes, then that’s a whole different scenario.

Hence, I would advise that you study the best you can to attain your goal score the first time. However, if you fall short of your target, there is no cause for concern. With adequate practice, most people would achieve their target by the second time.

However, I would say that if, for some reason, you cant reach your goal even on your second attempt, then perhaps ask yourself if the third time would be different? If you genuinely feel that you can see a significant improvement a second time, then go for it, but I can say without a doubt that taking the test two times shouldn’t be a problem at all.

The third attempt is where most people would object, but no law school explicitly forbids students from retaking the test.

Will Law Schools See All My Scores or Just The Highest? 

Law Schools will see every time an applicant takes the test. So yes, they will see all your scores. However, the good news is that they will likely only consider the highest score, especially if there is a significant improvement.

The reason this is the case is due to schools ranking. You see, it is in a law school’s best interest to report only the highest scores to ABA and ranking authorities like the U.S. News to get a higher ranking on the list. A high average LSAT score for a law school adds to the competitiveness and helps with attaining a higher ranking.

Hence, law schools are incentivized only to consider an applicant’s highest score. At the very most, you may be required to add an addendum to your application explaining how you achieved a significant jump in the score.