When to Retake the LSAT: Deadlines, Score Release, and Prep Time

LSAT testing years run from July through June, and LSAC offers several administrations across each year. Every administration on LSAC's dates page carries its own set of dates: the primary test days, the day LSAT Argumentative Writing opens, a registration deadline, the day scheduling opens, and a score release date. All dates are listed in Eastern Time.

Look at the current table and a pattern emerges. For the 2026-2027 administrations, registration closes roughly six weeks before the first test day, and scores are released roughly three weeks after it. Those intervals are an observation from the published table rather than a stated rule, so always read the exact dates for the administration you want.

Scores post to the LSAT Status page of your LSAC account at 9 a.m. Eastern on the release date, provided a writing sample is on file and there are no holds on your account.

Put those intervals together and you get the timing trap most retakers discover too late. By the time your score arrives, the registration deadline for the very next administration has usually already passed. The earliest test you can sign up for after seeing your number is often two administrations away.

You do not have to wait passively. LSAC allows you to be registered for more than one administration at a time; its Score Preview FAQ describes that exact situation. And for most administrations, the registration deadline is also the last day for a free test date change or a full refund. That combination lets you hold a later seat as a backup and release it if your current score turns out to be enough, as long as you act by that deadline.

Start with the date you intend to submit applications, then subtract. Your score needs to be released and attached to your report before a school will see it. LSAC releases your score to schools you have already applied to at the same moment it releases it to you, unless you bought Score Preview, in which case release to schools waits for your decision or the end of the six-day window.

Retakers have one timing advantage over first-time takers. A first-timer's score is held until an Argumentative Writing sample is processed, which LSAC says can take up to three weeks. If you already have a writing sample on file from the current reportable period, you do not need to write another, so that delay does not apply to you.

If your application deadlines are firm and a retake would land after them, ask each school whether it will consider a score that arrives after submission. Many applicants simply apply once the retake score is in hand.

There is no official minimum, and the right answer depends on how far you are from your target and why the first test fell short. A retaker who ran out of time in one section faces a different problem from one who guessed through half the Reading Comprehension passages.

A workable rule: choose a date that gives you at least six focused weeks after you begin changing how you study, and push it back if your practice scores are not moving. LSAC's official practice page recommends practicing under time constraints to learn how much time you can afford per question and to identify the question types that need work, so plan for full practice tests at regular intervals rather than only at the end.

Be honest about the rest of your calendar, too. A test date that looks fine on paper can collapse under a demanding job, a move, or final exams. Count the weeks in which you can actually study at least an hour most days, and pick the administration that gives you six of those, not six weeks of calendar time.

Base the decision on evidence from practice, not on how much time has passed.

For the 2026-2027 testing cycle, LSAC says the large majority of test takers will book a session at a Prometric test center. Scheduling windows are assigned by registration order, which LSAC describes as first register, first in line, and sessions within a window are filled first come, first served. Registering earlier therefore improves your choice of day and time.

Remote testing is limited to people with an approved accommodation-based or distance exception. They are also assigned a window, but can schedule only on the Friday test day of the administration.

Flexibility is cheap early and expensive late. LSAC's fee page lists no charge for a test date change through the registration deadline, $153 for up to seven days after it, and $253 from the eighth day after the deadline until the day before testing begins. Registration for a repeat test costs the same as a first test.

Decide early, then, and use practice results to confirm or move the date while the change is still free. If you want a daily practice routine alongside the official tests, RetakePrep's $89 one-time plan includes daily 20-question drills from your three weakest question families and a 100-question practice exam with a readiness score.