Are There Difficulty Levels on LSAT Questions?

Are There Difficulty Levels on LSAT Questions?

Many students ask are there levels of difficulty on LSAT questions?

Yes, there are. Official LSAT questions are broken down into five difficulty levels, with Level 1 being the easiest and Level 5 being the hardest. But before you start building a study plan based on difficulty levels, take a breath.

At the end of the day, you're given a question. You need to figure it out and answer it. That’s it.

We often see people score extremely well who still get tripped up by “easy” questions, and beginners who breeze through level five questions. Difficulty depends more on your understanding of the passage than how the test writers categorize it.

Do I Need to Skip the “Hard” Question Types?

No. One common piece of advice from other LSAT prep companies is that there are question types that you must learn to recognize so you can skip them. This is gimmicky advice.

Just because a question is a certain type—like a parallel reasoning question—doesn’t mean it’s impossible or even particularly tricky. It may just have more words. And more words don’t always equal more difficulty.

The real issue? People too often go into the test thinking, “Oh no, this is a hard type of question,” and psych themselves out. That’s the real problem—not the question itself.

Does the LSAT Get Harder as a Section Progresses?

Yes. The test is generally structured so that easier questions come earlier in each section. You’ll likely find more Level 1–3 questions at the beginning, while Levels 4 and 5 show up more often near the end.

But it’s not a perfect science. Don’t start thinking question 13 is some magical tipping point. Sometimes you’ll see a harder question early on or a really easy one near the end. The key here is to treat each question like its own thing.

Some of the very hardest questions are really short. Some of the easiest questions are really long, and the best way to make sure that you're doing, on average, easier questions than your competitors is to start at the beginning of the section and do the questions in order. 

Understanding how the LSAT difficulty levels progress throughout the section lets you focus on efficient point-gathering. Do fewer questions, but invest more time in those earlier, easier questions. Get paid for that work, and if you run out of time, randomly guess on the questions at the end of the section. That should be your strategy until you're well into the 170s.

What About “170 Breaker” Questions?

Here’s where things get really interesting: There is this myth of the “170 breaker”—a supposedly ultra-difficult question that determines whether you hit that elite score. But the truth is, you can break 170 without ever even attempting the hardest questions in the section.

How do you get a 170? By getting all the Level 1–4 questions right. That’s it. Those tough (Level 5) questions you see at the end of a section? They’re more about separating 178s from 179s. If you’re scoring 150, 160, or even 170, you shouldn’t be worrying about those.

Focus your LSAT practice on harvesting the low-hanging fruit. You don’t need a 40-foot ladder to pick oranges from the top of the tree when there are ripe ones already waiting in baskets on the ground. Prioritize efficiency. Work only on questions you have time to really dig into. It’s better to solve 15 questions accurately than to rush through 25 and get half of them wrong.

Want to see for yourself how LSAT question difficulty levels vary? Give LSAT Demon’s free sample questions a go to find out.

What Really Makes a Hard Question Hard?

Contrary to what most think, it’s not the logic. The toughest questions often hinge on not being able to understand what you have read. 

For example, a student glosses over the first sentence of a question, assumes they got it, and moves on. They get to the answer choices and are completely lost. But if they’d slowed down and really tried to comprehend that one sentence, they’d get the question right with little effort.

And that’s how a level five question, supposedly designed to challenge the best LSAT minds, becomes a level one question for a student who reads carefully.

Stop overthinking it and let the LSAT be easy. Read precisely. Understand each sentence. And remember: even at high levels of performance, at least half of your mistakes will come from simply not reading carefully enough. Whether it’s your first LSAT practice test or your 50th, obsessing over how hard a question is will do more harm than good. You've got this.

The Real Issue Isn’t Whether LSAT Questions Have Different Difficulty Levels

Every LSAT practice test you take should be a chance to reinforce one thing: quality over quantity. Just read it, think critically, and answer with confidence. Focus on the question, not the level of difficulty.

Forget gimmicks. Don’t strategize your way into burnout. Whether you’re working through your first LSAT practice test or dialing in your score by drilling individual questions, mastering the basics is what raises your score.

That’s why any effective LSAT prep focuses on the fundamentals—like active reading and critical thinking—rather than worrying about difficulty levels.

Looking for effective tools to prep? Solving real LSAT questions, targeted review, and treating every test like an official one will build the skills you need to succeed. You can access all of these on LSAT Demon. Create a free account and start practicing.