Should I Retake The LSAT

The answer is “It depends.” If you are looking at sheer mathematical numbers, here are the official stats on students who retook the LSAT in 2007-2008:

Initial LSAT Score	Average Score After Retake
120	129.1
121	130
122	130.9
123	130
124	129.7
125	131.2
126	131.5
127	131.1
128	132.4
129	132.4
130	133.7
131	134.4
132	134.9
133	135.3
134	136.7
135	138.6
136	138.6
137	139.7
138	140.7
139	141.5
140	142.7
141	143.2
142	144.3
143	145.1
144	145.5
145	147.5
146	148.2
147	149.2
148	150.3
149	151.2
150	152.4
151	153.5
152	153.9
153	155.3
154	156.2
155	157.4
156	158.5
157	159.4
158	160.1
159	161.2
160	162.2
161	163.3
162	164.5
163	165.3
164	166.2
165	167.1
166	168.5
167	169.6
168	170
169	170
170	171.2
171	172.6
172	171.9
173	169.6
174	176.5
175	171.8
176	178
177	177
178	180
180	173.5

The average gain from the first to the second test for the years 2000-2007 goes as follows:

	2000-2001	2001-2002	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007
Gain	2.82	2.8	2.81	2.84	2.8	2.72	2.98

So, should you see an increase if you retake the test? Yes. On average though, you are probably not going to see whopping gains.

To see how Law Schools react (by school) to the retake score, be sure to check out this great information at Top Law Schools on retaking the test (about half way down they give a list school by school of how they deal with LSAT retakes.

Sources:

The Performance of Repeat Test Takers On the Law School Admission Test: 2000-2001 Through 2006-2007. Thornton, Marcus, Amodeo, & Reese.

Should I Retake The LSAT

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