How Good is a 155 on the LSAT?

A 155 lands in the middle of the scale, which is also the steepest part of it. Points are cheaper here than anywhere else on the test.

You are standing on the softest part of the curve. One scaled point is worth 3.1 percentile points here — several times what the same point buys someone in the 170s — because this is where everybody else is bunched up.

The short answer

Middling — which, on this test, is the most improvable place to be. A point is worth 3.1 percentile points here.

Compare against a 155
Move the slider to see what a different score would change.
Score
155
Percentile
63rd
Score band
152–158
vs a 155
0 pts

Percentile and rarity

Where a 155 falls on the curve
0255075100155 · 63rd120130140150160170180
The LSAT percentile curve is steepest through the 140s and 150s and almost flat above 172. A 155 sits at the 63rd percentile.

You are past the crowd but not clear of it. About 36.6% of test takers are still at or above a 155, and in absolute numbers that is a lot of people applying to the same places.

The curve is steepest through the 140s and 150s and nearly flat above 172, which is why the same five points mean completely different things to different people. For you they are worth 17 percentile points.

What another few points would do

What each improvement is worth from 155
+1 → 1563.1+2 → 1576.7+3 → 15810.3+5 → 16017+10 → 16528.1percentile points gained
Percentile points gained by moving up from a 155. Because the curve flattens as it climbs, the same number of scaled points is worth steadily less the higher you start.

The question is not whether you could score higher. It is whether the next point is worth what it costs, and at a 155 that point is worth 3.1 percentile points.

Think in fives rather than ones, because that is how retakes actually land. A 160 would put you 17 percentile points higher. Very little else in an application moves that far.

How to move up from 155

People stuck around 155 tend to study broadly when the problem is narrow. Two or three question types are doing most of the damage, and finding them is worth more than another prep book.

Build it in this sequence: get the answers right without a timer, then get them right inside the section limit, then sit whole tests for stamina. Reversing that just teaches you to make the same mistakes faster.

In practice that means three things: a question-type error log so you know where the points go, daily logical reasoning because it is the biggest slice of the test, and a three-month plan so the work has an end date.

Roughly what 155 → 160 costs in questions
Logical Reasoningabout half the scored questions+6Reading Comprehensionfour passages, 26-27 questions+3Anywhere (pacing)questions lost to the clock, not to difficulty+2
A five-point move at this level is worth about 11 more correct answers on a typical form. Raw-to-scaled conversion varies by test, so treat this as the shape of the job rather than an exact quota — the conversion chart has per-form detail.

What a 155 puts in reach

A 155 against real school medians
Fordham168 · ReachArizona State167 · ReachGeorge Washington167 · ReachBoston College166 · ReachOhio State (Moritz)164 · ReachWisconsin164 · ReachSMU (Dedman)163 · ReachTulane163 · ReachRutgers160 · ReachSt. John's160 · ReachHofstra (Deane)156 · TargetSuffolk154 · Targetyour 155
Each bar is one school's reported median LSAT; the vertical line is a 155. Schools left of the line report a median at or below your score. Medians are the figures behind our law school admissions calculator.

The list that matters is the one built off medians. A 155 clears 0 of the schools we track outright and matches 2 more.

Reach, Target and Likely are positions, not predictions. A median is the midpoint of an admitted class, which means half of everyone who got in scored below it. Schools in your Reach column admit people like you every year; the rest of the application just has to do more of the work.

What a higher score would actually open up

Before deciding how hard to push, go and see what the push buys. Enter a 155 and your GPA into the law school admissions calculator, then change the score to 160 and compare the two school lists side by side.

Compare 155 and 160

What a 155 means as a range

A 155 is really the range 152–158
15515252nd15874th120140160180
LSAC reports a standard error of measurement near 2.6 points. The shaded window is the range a 155 actually represents — the 52nd to the 74th percentile, a spread of 21.6 percentile points.

The test reports a single figure and hides the uncertainty behind it. For a 155, that uncertainty spans 152 to 158.

Because the curve is so steep here, that range is worth 21.6 percentile points. Noise alone can move you further than a casual month of studying would.

Should you retake?

Almost certainly. People who retake from around a 155 after a real preparation cycle usually land somewhere near 160, and that is 17 percentile points of movement.

The reason is structural rather than motivational: this part of the curve is crowded, so every extra correct answer moves you past more people than it would higher up. Moving from 150 to 160 walks through what that takes in practice.

What to do next

Retake. That is the honest recommendation from this part of the scale, and a 160 is an ordinary outcome of one focused cycle rather than an ambitious one.

Frequently asked questions

What law schools have a 155 LSAT median?

Hofstra (Deane), Suffolk report medians within two points of 155. Medians move year to year, so confirm against each school's current ABA 509 report.

Is a 155 a high LSAT percentile?

Roughly 36.6% of test takers reach 155 or higher, which places the score at about the 63th percentile.

Is a 155 LSAT score enough for law school?

On the median table a 155 reads as Likely at 0 schools and Target at 2, so yes for a real list of programmes.

Is it worth retaking the LSAT after a 155?

Your score band is 152-158, a spread of 21.6 percentile points, and schools take your highest score. That combination usually favours retaking.

Nearby scores