The unthinkable has happened: you have to retake the LSAT. Maybe you’re one of the many people impacted by this August’s testing fiasco, where LSAC’s online proctoring service, Prometric, had major glitches that affected thousands of test takers. Or maybe something else happened—maybe your proctor canceled your score because you took a sip of water at the wrong time, or because your head briefly slipped out of the camera’s view during Logic Games. Maybe your insomnia kept you up all night before the test and, in your exhaustion, you bombed the Reading Comprehension section.
No matter the reason, you’re in a frustrating situation: you didn’t plan to take the LSAT again, and now you have to. Here’s a survival guide.
1. Let yourself feel upset. Before you can get back on the horse that bucked you off, sometimes you have to lie on the ground lamenting your injuries. There’s no getting around it—this situation is super frustrating! You spent months or years studying for the LSAT, gave up hours of your life to take the exam, and now your plans have been thrown off. It’s reasonable to feel upset by the unfairness of it all.
2. Remember what you haven’t lost. You may have to sit the test again, but you don’t have to relearn all the material you so diligently studied. After all, you showed up prepared once already. You are the same person you were that day, and you will take all that preparedness with you to your next test, even if it’s a couple weeks later than originally planned.
3. Cancel your score. If you did not purchase Score Preview through LSAC, you have six days after the exam to cancel your score. If you did purchase Score Preview, you’ll have six days after receiving your score to cancel it. Don’t miss this window! Cancellation instructions can be found on LSAC’s website.
4. Time your retake right. Which is to say, schedule your retake as soon as possible. After you cancel your score, it might be tempting to wait a few weeks before rescheduling, especially if your testing experience was harrowing. But chances are you’ll already be scheduling a couple of months out. You want your prep as fresh in your mind as possible—and admissions are rolling, so waiting too long might mean you’ll miss the opportunity to apply that cycle. Remember, you can always cancel if you’re not prepared on test day—but you can’t register later.
5. Maintain, maintain, maintain. Don’t restart your LSAT prep materials over again from the beginning. After all, you’re miles from where you started. And don’t torture yourself with too much studying. At a certain point, endlessly cramming becomes counterproductive. Remember, the LSAT is a marathon, not a sprint.
6. Use this as an opportunity. Whatever happened, you’ve now had the experience of showing up for an LSAT exam. What’s more, you have the rare gift of extra time—maybe unwanted time, but extra time all the same—for additional study. Make sure you troubleshoot problems you experienced during the test. If you’re taking the LSAT from home and your internet wasn’t great the first time around, get a network extender. If you couldn’t sleep the night before the exam, work on improving your sleep schedule. If your proctor threw you off your game by showing up late or interrupting you during the test, have a friend play the role of “interrupting proctor” over video chat while you do prep questions (we also offer proctored prep tests that simulate this experience). Practicing your reactions to all the things that could go wrong, while it may sound pessimistic, will help you come prepared to tackle any obstacle.
7. Work on your applications. If you’re feeling stuck in waiting mode, use some of that nervous energy to start drafting your personal statement, résumé, and other application materials. This will save you time after you take your next LSAT.
8. Put this in perspective. You’re not alone in this situation. In the age of remote and hybrid testing, tons of students have to retake the LSAT for one reason or another. From the point of view of law school admissions offices, retakes are usually not a huge deal. Under certain circumstances, you may have to address why you took the LSAT multiple times in a brief addendum (we’re talking a short paragraph). But rest assured, this almost certainly won’t ruin your admissions odds.
We know a retake was not part of your plan when you signed up for the LSAT. But don’t let this demoralize you! You are still just as prepared and savvy as you were before this happened. We have every confidence that you will meet this challenge and come out stronger for it.