Should I Apply to Law School with an LSAT or GRE Score?

Until recently, the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) was the only test accepted for law school admissions. In 2016, the University of Arizona began experimenting with accepting the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) in place of the LSAT, followed the next year by a few other law schools. Soon after, the floodgates opened. 

Now, roughly 70 law schools accept the GRE, and some even accept the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Educational Testing Services (ETS), the nonprofit organization that designs and administers the GRE, maintains a current list online of law schools that accept the GRE.

Based on my conversations with sources in admissions, test prep companies, ETS, and my own experience working with clients, here is my advice about the difference between the LSAT and GRE, and which I recommend for law school admissions.

What is the LSAT?

The LSAT has four sections: logical reasoning, analytical reasoning (“logic games”), reading comprehension, and a separately administered unscored writing section. The logical reasoning section covers argumentation, like strengthening or weakening an argument. The logic games section consists of four logic puzzles, based on making deductions from incomplete information. And the reading comprehension section asks test takers to analyze four densely worded passages. The three scored sections yield a combined score on a scale from 120-180. 

Currently, the LSAT is remotely administered nine times per year, and it takes roughly three hours. It is an exhausting, fast-paced test, intentionally designed to be too difficult for the average person to complete in time.

[Next Read: When Should I Take the LSAT?]

What is the GRE?

The GRE is the standard, universal graduate school entrance exam. While the GMAT is specific to business school, and the MCAT is specific to medical school, the GRE is generally used for most other graduate programs from Astronomy to Zymology. 

The GRE consists of four sections: a math section, a verbal section, a reading comprehension section, and a writing section. Only the first three yield numeric scores that actually contribute to your GRE score. GRE scores range from 130-170 for quantitative and verbal sections and 0-6 on the writing section, which is scored separately and not usually relied on by most schools in evaluating your application. The GRE takes roughly four hours and it is remotely administered online with frequent test dates.

GRE and the Law School Admissions Process

Standardized test scores and undergraduate grade point average are together the most important factor in law school admissions. Why? Because studies have found a correlation between undergraduate grades, LSAT scores, and GRE scores with law school grades. Of course, grades can be subjective and arbitrary, varying between colleges and programs. Thus, law school admissions offices look to both the GRE and LSAT as reliable indicators of academic potential.

Since the GRE is more frequently administered and more widely used than the LSAT, law schools hope that accepting the GRE might broaden their applicant pool and encourage more graduate school applicants to consider applying to law school. Law schools saw the exclusivity of the LSAT as a barrier faced by many qualified applicants, especially those in non-traditional law fields like STEM who rely on the GRE when applying to graduate programs in their field.

Is the LSAT or GRE Harder?

Both tests are difficult, but which one you find harder likely depends on whether you prefer logical reasoning to math and English. Studying for the GRE requires a mastery of a broad range of material familiar to most applicants, like algebra and grammar. Studying for the LSAT, on the other hand, is more narrowly focused on breaking down forms of reasoning like conditional and causal logic, understanding their nuances, and finding their flaws.

While the GRE is a responsive test, programmed to give you harder questions based on your performance early on, each LSAT generally moves from easier to harder questions. LSAT questions can get a lot harder than you might think, often turning on easily overlooked nuances in an argument.

Since each test plays to different strengths, the best way to decide which one fits your interests is to take practice tests. While few people do well on either test without practice, practice tests can give you a sense of which kind of material makes you feel most motivated to invest the time required to achieve a high score.

If you are not fully fluent in English, both tests will be difficult, but the GRE may be a bit easier. Note that law school and American legal practice both require a strong command of spoken and written English.

My Advice: Take Either GRE or LSAT, But Not Both

All things being equal, I suggest taking the LSAT over the GRE if you’re serious about your law school application. The test will provide more flexibility in the schools you’re able to attend. And although most law schools claim that they treat the two tests equally, a strong LSAT score will likely make a better impression than an equally strong GRE score, since most admissions officers are accustomed to the LSAT and conscientious of its role in law school rankings.

Speaking of law school rankings, if you do take the LSAT, law schools will use your highest LSAT score but disregard any GRE or GMAT scores submitted. Since LSAT scores factor into law school rankings and GRE scores currently don’t, admissions officers feel bound to give LSAT scores priority.

With that said, most law school admissions officers review law school applications thoroughly. So, they will notice if you ace the GRE. And if only GRE scores are submitted, with no LSAT scores, then the law school will use the GRE scores for comparison with no disadvantage.

What LSAT or GRE Scores Will Get You Into Law School?

Since LSAT scores have been accepted throughout the United States for a long time, there is enough statistical data to extrapolate the chances of an applicant being accepted or rejected by a particular law school. For example, the Law School Admission Council even provides an online tool to assess your odds at every law school based on your GPA and LSAT score.

There is not enough data to determine the chances of an applicant being accepted using GRE scores, given that the GRE was only recently added to the list of acceptable standardized tests for law schools. However, ETS provides an online tool that allows you to compare GRE scores with LSAT scores based on percentile.

Since the GRE is a relatively new standardized test for law schools, and law schools vary in their admissions policies,  contact the admissions department of your target schools if you are unsure whether they accept the GRE and how they assess it. Policies are subject to change as the GRE becomes more widely accepted.

[Next Read: Managing Test Stress Before and During the LSAT]