[This is a lesson excerpt from our online course, for which we invite you to enroll.]

The June 2016 LSAT administration is on the horizon. Student after student has been asking us: "Should I take the LSAT in June or delay it to the next (September 2016) administration?" Let’s help you evaluate your situation and make a decision, with a reality check.

Make sure you're not fooling yourself. Figure out now what you will likely get on the actual LSAT. How? Take a practice test under timed conditions. Use our free 4 Section LSAT Timer and Proctor to simulate real testing conditions.

The LSAT is an incredibly consistent test. What you get on, say, LSAT PrepTest 77 (from December 2015, the most recent one as of this post) or any of the recent ones is a very, very good indicator of what you will get on the actual June 2016 LSAT.

Do not take the test just to "see how it goes." If you take a practice test, you will know how it's going to go. Don't bank on a miracle on test day. It won't happen. You will be disappointed and sad. You might even cry. How embarrassing. So, avoid a breakdown by looking at your practice score now. If it's the score you want, great - knock it out of the park Monday! If not, hit the books hard for the next couple of days, take 2 or 3 recent practice tests before June 11 and see if you improve to where you want to be. If not, push it back to October.

If you are contemplating pushing it back, the question that naturally arises next is: if I do that, how much would I improve? Well, that depends on whether you've reached your LSAT potential.