LSAT Percentiles

Along with the score that you have attained, the score report of your LSAT test comprises of LSAT percentiles. For a student who is not aware of what LSAT percentiles are, it could be a little confusing to have a look at this report. However, there is no need to be confused since LSAT percentiles are closely related to your score. LSAT percentiles help in describing the attempt of an individual student as against other students taking the test. That is why it can also be called a comparison score.

Explanation of LSAT Percentiles

LSAT percentiles help in determining your position amongst all the test takers. Therefore, it indicates the number of students who have scores lower than yours. LSAT percentiles do not indicate the number of questions you have answered correctly or the score you have obtained, but it is derived from your score using a conversion chart. In order to explain the LSAT percentiles let us have a look at the scores. The LSAT is scored on a scale of 120 to 180. Each score between 120 and 180 is placed on a relative position to other test takers, which is higher than some scorers and lower than others. Therefore, it is possible to form a relation between the score of a student and the score received by all the test takers. In order to define this relation, each LSAT score is awarded an LSAT percentile.
For example, if you have received the score of 155 in LSAT and 67th LSAT percentile, it means that you have scored more than 67% of test takers. In other words, 67% students have score below you. LSAT percentiles compare your score against the score of LSAT students in the last three years. Therefore, if you have received an LSAT percentile of 80, it indicates that you have done better than 80% of students taking the test in the past three years.
The LSAT percentiles are awarded according to a conversion table that is prepared according to the performance of students of the previous three years. This means that the comparison of scores is done not only amongst the students taking a particular test, but it widens to the students who have already taken the test in the past three years. This should be understood by the students in order to realize the kind of competition they are facing.

ROLE OF LSAT PERCENTILES IN THE ADMISSION PROCESS

LSAT percentiles are very helpful in the process of admissions. LSAT percentiles help the college authorities to judge your performance and place you in a suitable category. LSAT percentiles help to determine if you come under average scorer, above average scorer or a top scorer. This helps them form a deadline for admissions and pick out students who have scored more than most of the students.
It is through these LSAT percentiles that a median score can be determined. Moreover, the first and third quartile can also be determined, which is the 25th and 75th percentile respectively. This way it can be found what the average performance of students is. It has been seen that most of the students score between 25 and 75 percentiles, and the marks tend to concentrate around the median, or the 50th percentile.

footer for law school essays page