The power-law dependence of photoconductivity on light intensity is generally taken as evidence for the density of states in the gap to be given by an exponential distribution. We have computed the photoconductivity for some nonexponential distributions of gap states. We show that neither the intensity dependence of photoconductivity nor the temperature dependence of the exponent can be used as evidence for an exponential gap-state distribution. An examination of the results of photoconductivity and space-charge-limited current on a-Si:H suggests that the distribution of gap states is not exponential as is commonly assumed. © 1983 The American Physical Society.