Hey OP, I was in the same boat as you. When I got my gpa back from lsac, the CAS gpa, it averaged it out to a lower gpa than my current gpa. If you're planning on applying before the end of the semester coming up, all I can say is write a addendum in your applications if you have a good reason for why your transfer gpa was low. Otherwise just buckle down this semester and try to improve you gpa as best as you can with the understanding it might be averaged to something lower than what you currently have. I would also focus heavily on your lsat as a high lsat score depending on the school you are applying to (usually most schools outside the t14 to t20 in my opinion) can cancel out a low gpa. Also keep in mind if you've been out of school for a while your gpa will still matter but it may not be the worst thing in the world if you've used that time to gain good work experience. So yes, I would highly recommend focusing super hard on the lsat and getting the highest score you can. Then, I would say try to make sure you have solid LORs, and work hard on your personal statement to make sure its very good! Lastly, I would say strap yourself in because depending on how your CAS gpa turns out you could be looking at an unpredictable cycle as a splitter or reverse splitter depending on what your final stats look like.

I'm not 100% sure but, I believe they did something like this last July but it wasn't exclusive to first time takers. It does make me believe that lsat registration for first time takers are low and this might be a way to get more people to take the test.