Thank you all for your comments. I really appreciate the time and effort just to hear my case haha!

@ Thank you for the congratulations. UW definitely isn't anything to sneeze at, especially considering that my goal is environmental law and this is a great area for that. I'll let you know if I do decide to continue to study for the LSAT.

@ To answer you're questions

My target schools were, UW for one, Cornell, and possibly U of Michigan.

My last 10 PT average (going back to November) is 169

BR PT average 173

I feel like I prepared well after my first take. While PT-ing now I'm getting 178's, so I think I comprehend the material fairly well, its more a mentality factor for me now.

Carrer plans afterwards are to move towards becoming an environmental attorney

Yes I can financially afford another year, as i've got at least one part time job now.

I will and have been taking a break from the LSAT for sure. Thank you for your well thought out response and sharing your experiences with me, it helps to know others have gone through this too.

@ Allison was also the one who directed me towards 7Sage in the beginning of my study funny enough, small world!

Thanks for your well wishes. I think I'm going to wait and see what the financial situation is going to be in terms of aid and loans, and then go on some soul search-y long runs and just kind of ruminate on everything.

@ First and most importantly, I think you should withdraw from the February exam. Take when you are ready in my opinion. Takes on this exam are a precious thing.

I would agree with this, but of course it's ultimately your call. If you can afford to take the test when your feeling thoroughly confident in being able to achieve your goal score, then go for that, whether that be February or June or whenever.

I always look at my BR scores as a representation of both potential and understanding of the content of the test. So, the fact that your up in the170's is awesome! What helped me to improve my timing was progressive, timed drilling. I'd do a timed drill of a single game, or a single RC passage with Q's, or say 10 LR questions. Once I got the timing there down solidly, I moved on to drilling sections. This way I became familiar with both my flow and proper speed for individual questions, and the more comprehensive timing strategies for sections as a whole.

How many tests have you already gone through? Going for content you haven't seen before is of course valuable, but i've also seen benefit in terms of RC timing by re-doing passages I did awhile ago (but, i've also gone through a lot of tests already). I don't actually remember the Q's but the little psychological edge that i've seen that passage before helped build my confidence and a proper speed habit.

Best of luck whenever you do decide to take, and also more power to you for taking on this test while still accomplishing all that you are, I think that's really impressive!

1. My name is Dakota Rash, I'm a June 2016 grad from Western Washington University with a BA in Environmental Policy. LSAT is my life right now, although I'm making sure to take time for myself by keeping up a fitness regimen of running and dog walking. I hope to go into Environmental law in the long run.

2. My biggest worry about my application in terms of what occupies my brain the most is my LSAT score (sitting in December).

3. Idea 1: Center around an experience I had while working as a Park Ranger at the Grand Canyon. I was having a rough emotional time but sort of re-discovered why the job was important to me with a sunset run along the rim.

Idea 2: talk about potting plants for an internship during my last quarter of college. It was pretty crazy with 21 credits, two internships, and a term paper, all while working as a Resident Advisor for two challenging floors of residents.

4. This will be my first time attending a session.

Thanks

I have a question similar to Fin_de_Siecle, (basically, if a school says it'll technically accept feb scores, but their online deadline is on the first of that month, what are the options), so i'll be tuning in to listen to that discussion. Thanks in advance for this opportunity!

@ Repeats were an essential part of my RC process. When I do a repeat, there is no anxiety for me. It's just a repeat. I've seen this before. I can relax.

This is what I'm doing right now in prep for February and its really helping my confidence out a lot. Im still no expert on RC, but I found one of the major changes that has brought me to about -5 on the section is really thinking about why the author has written what I'm reading. In my head i'll be saying "okay, this is background info to set up the subject", or "oh okay this feels like its going to be countered later on", etc.

As for anxiety, I feel you there, my nerves affect my testing ability a lot. One thing i've started doing that helps me is a quick body scan. I plant my feet flat on the ground, close my eyes, and get in a relaxed but well-postured position. Then, I just do a scan of how my body is feeling from the top of my head down to my feet, taking note of any tense muscles, etc. This can take anywhere from 10-30 seconds or a few minutes. It just kind of helps me focus on something for a little bit thats not how I'm feeling about testing.

Thanks for the comments and support all. @ for sure going to develop a routine for any future LSAT, and couple that with some positive visualizations, I think the opposite of that definitely got in my way this time.

Also yeah, @, @ and @ considering that even longer term financial situation is a really good point, thanks for brining it up. I wasn't really thinking about that in this immediate post-test phase. There is much to consider.

Sorry @ , I don't really keep track of my bubble patterns, I get psyched out by that kind of thing occasionally, so I've learned to just fill-in and go. I also had to guess for a few on the last logic game, so i don't really think my feedback there would be particularly valuable.

Sounds good, i'll take the advice into consideration, thanks for the responses all. Good luck to you all as well!

Im seeing a curve of -10 on my sheet...

I definitely feel you on the RC struggles. Personally, I don't think its too late for you to at least tweak your approach if you feel you need to, but I also agree with what others are saying in that an essential way to get good at RC is to just do RC, a lot of it, on repeat. I was getting an average of around -4 by December, so I'm still far from a master hahah, but I made some changes in the section in early November that really helped me:

First, finding the notation style that worked for ME was essential. For a while I tried a pretty structured style, that really works for some, but eventually I found that it had me thinking about the physical words too much and not the whole structure of the paragraph/passage. I ended up adopting a style that kept some rules for notation (like circling dates), but also letting my pencil just flow and do what it wanted, which helped my personal processing.

Next, I learned to think about the authors purpose the whole way through the reading. This was a big one. As I read through the passage, I think about why this sentence is here, what is this sentence doing in relation to what i've already read and where is it leading the passage. This really helped me stay active in the reading (so much so that I forgot how nervous I was during the Dec LSAT). At the end of each paragraph I would do like a split second sum up in my head of the major details and purpose of that paragraph in relation to the passage.

That's all just what worked for me. As I said Im still a long way from mastering RC, but doing these two things helped me see the section with greater clarity and confidence. Maybe visiting these with your own style will help if you haven't done so already. Also hey, when you get tired of RC and need a break, throw in that work on logic games, I find switching between the two conveniently refreshes my brain.

Best of luck for February! (to us all hahah)