I took the LSAT this past January (third-year college student) and scored a 167. My average 5 practice tests leading up to my official attempt averaged to just about that, with a highest recorded score of 170. My initial diagnostic was a 153, and I studied from March onward, though I could only dedicate about 5-10 hours per week to it during the school year and occasionally 10-15 in the summer. I am interested in BU, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, UCLA, & UC Berkeley, and I did not hit the median for those (which is around 170) but did exceed the 25th percentile. I am confident that the other components of my application will be strong. That said, I plan to take two gap years to teach before attending law school, and I am on the fence about my test timeline. I could study this summer and retake in September, but I will have an intense full-time internship for June and July that will take up a significant portion of my time. I do not want to study for or take the test again during senior year, as I will be writing a senior honors thesis. The other option for a retake would be to study full-time the summer after I graduate and retake it that fall, but then I would have taken about a year and a half off from studying before revisiting. I could also study while working full-time in a post-grad teaching role, but I think that would be challenging to manage. I think it makes sense to retake the test, but does anyone have advice on when I should? I also should mention that I took the test under particularly bad conditions (personal life crisis) that severely impacted my emotional state and sleep leading up to it.
ddubs2027
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- Jun 2025
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Admissions profile
LSAT
167
CAS GPA
Not provided
1L START YEAR
2027
@clubclassics Thank you so much! I really appreciate your opinion! I was getting so much conflicting advice that I got a little indecisive but this is really helpful. I think I will do just what you said, either reduce my study load to 3-5 hrs a week so I am studying lightly or just take some time away from the lsat during my internship and thesis. I also appreciate hearing about your experience, it always helps to be reminded that I have a lot of time to get my goal score! Best of luck to you in your law school endeavors!