@sarahislam162 said:

On full PTs, I scored a 178 and 179 in my PTs and then was scoring slightly lower at 173-176, but now I’ve scored 172 twice in a row. I can see I’m capable of that near perfect score, but now I am worried about the recent decline especially as I get close to the April test date.

For the entire time, I’ve been taking a full PT and blind reviewing on weekends and taking 1-2 sections on weekdays to take 2-3 tests a week.

Has anyone else experienced similar score declines and how did you combat them?

I agree with both of the above answers. Mental fatigue is huge as deterrent on the lsat. My scores have varied as much as 8 points based on sleep/water/nutrition. Also in the 171+ range it just takes getting one or two more questions right/wrong for a huge score difference so you really want to hone in on what types of questions you are gettjng wrong and practice those.

They usually know, and in such a case the application is listed as 'incomplete'. Most schools won't look at your application until all of the required components have arrived, so you could send in your app now and have your LOR's come in later. The only problem is whether the LOR's come in after the law school's application deadline. Some schools want the entire application to be complete with transcripts and LORs before the deadline, while others state that you just need to have the formal application in, but other components can come in after the deadline. You need to look at each application in LSAC to figure out this part.

Most law schools have a way to for you to send updated materials through a portal or via email. You can just contact them saying you've had a change on your resume and you'd like to send in the new document. This is very normal. I'd do it asap though.

As I have understood it, an addendum is usually to explain something affecting the actual substance of your application, such as why you did not perform well for a semester in undergrad, ex. undiagnosed learning disorder impacted your grades in fall of second year. The point of an addendum is for them to perhaps change their perspective about some part of your application due to information they would not have otherwise known in a realm that they can control (they can accept someone with a lower GPA if they know you otherwise perform better).

I don't think you should write an addendum about why you are submitting your app in February, since you are submitting within the deadline, and it won't change anything about how they approach your application in terms of being a February submission versus a November one. Whether due to a funeral or other issue, submitting in February means there are fewer spots available in law schools that do rolling admissions and there is nothing that admissions committees can really control about that. Given how much the law admissions podcasts have emphasized they don't want to read extra material, I'd avoid addenda unless absolutely necessary.

I think the question for you might be: are you okay with applying in Feb this year, with the knowledge that you may be waitlisted at some schools that would have otherwise admitted you, and in such a case are you okay re-applying next year? I had to make the same decision too--I got sick with COVID in November and hence could not submit my apps till January. I decided to take the plunge because I have savings to re-apply next year and I am not terribly picking about going to a specific school. I'm fine with going anywhere in the T-14, and I figured I'd probably get admitted somewhere, though not to as many places as if I had applied in November. And for me that was good enough.

and if you aren't applying to T-14, you're probably okay more generally since most other schools are still taking applications well into march and even april.

On principal I don't think it is a problem. I had a friend who graduated two years early as well and went to a T-16 at 19 years old. Since there was nothing in her academic record indicating maturity problems, she had no issue getting admitted. The question for you might more be: would you perhaps benefit from spending more time doing some outside work and would that bring more to your application too?

The one big con my friend who graduated two years early told me about her law school experience is that she felt alot less experienced than her colleagues at navigating workplace politics and faculty relationships. This is the sort of thing you develop experience with if you have worked for a couple of years or gotten a graduate degree and worked directly with faculty (soft skills, workplace diplomacy, etc). It's all the stuff no one actually teaches you in a classroom. In a nutshell, none of this is necessary to apply but might be beneficial to you once you are in law school.

Take a break. Its harder to detect mental fatigue than ohysical fatigue. If I studied too much I always started performing worse on my PTs. If you have been studying nonstop for awhile, take a 3 or 4 day break.

I am really sorry to hear this, that sounds terrible. I think it probably depends on your situation and specific accommodations? I personally had a much worse experience online /at home test than I did at a test center, but the test center in our city is very quiet, empty, and run by some very kind elderly women :-). My online exam disconnected more than once and several proctors would log on at once and talk out loud to eachother,creating a huge distraction. The online proctor gave me only two options: 1) stay in the exam with the significantly reduced time (I lost 15 min of test time due to proctor error) or 2) cancel my entire test with the implication that it would count against my LSAT count. I never took the online /at home testing option after that.

I started doing a more thorough BR process where I made a chart of questions I got wrong, why I chose wrong answer, and why the right answer was right. I did this over a couple of weeks and reviewed the chart regularly started seeing conceptual patterns in what types of concepts I was struggling with and focused mainly on improving those.

after finishing all of my 7sage course material, I did take Powescore's Advanced LR course and that helped me raise my score after a long plateau. The course is just a series of recorded videos so not very expensive but def the info you need to know (that is hard to deduce just on your own just from practice) to get a 170+ score.

I did the same thing too and everyone who looked over it said it was fine. I see alot of this when people quote conversations in their personal statements and are looking to capture the vernacular style of what was said in the convo. As long as it appears as a conscious narrative choice and not an actual grammar mistake in your writing then it probably is fine.

@alexhgantt28 said:

@madisonbritten98967 said:

Due to the Supreme Court's decision this summer, this is no longer accurate at all. Colleges no longer have access to race demographics before admitting a student, and we will not know how that will play out differently for URMs until this upcoming cycle is completed.

There are still many ways for admissions to see URM status for applicants without their race demographics. Supplemental materials such as a personal statement, addendums, or school specific essays (Harvard Statement of Perspective, amongst others) can reflect this. As for law school decisions, not sure how the Supreme Court decision will actually change the cycle, but my guess is not by much.

That is the general buzz I have been hearing too-that the Supreme Court ruling won't actually change outcomes all that much in the sense that law schools still very much want to admit URMs and will do so even if their gpa/lsat are lower. It would just be harder to determine who a URM is since this now must be articulated through essays. I guess we will have to see what happens.

I don't think its too personal as long as you connect it to the "so what" question. What is the implication, how has it affected you and what did you get out of it that was positive/constructive? You seem to do that quite well in your response above already.

@dianaalsaleh428 said:

If you had gone undiagnosed in undergrad and only received a diagnosis more recently, does that impact your chances of receiving an accommodation?

No DSaleh21 it does not. You just need to take care to choose a qualified health professional (like a psychologist with PhD who may specialize in learning disorders )who will write your letter with precision and very carefully. in your narrative youshould also explain that for reasons you explain you did not have accommodations in college. Alot of URM's like myself grew up in families where the idea of accommodations was unknown and hence not sought until a doctor or school later in adult life id'ed the learning disorder or other issue. I say to choose your letter writer carefully because it is often an uphill battle to obtain accommodations without demonstrating a past history. So it's useful to be very precise and careful with the evidence that is provided.

@juliettelee99297 said:

@laurengraves2001105 @joraudins736 did you guys have 25 or 26 questions on LR do you remember

I think mine had 25 and I only had 1 LR section.

@joraudins736 said:

I had two RC with the first being more difficult than the second. I had the same issue with time on LG, partially because I read a rule wrong and had to fix a previous game. Thought the LR was reasonable despite a few hard ones. LG caused me a slight panic cause that is normally my strongest so I don't have a good gauge on how I did overall either - fingers crossed!

I also had 2 RC and the first one was so wierd and hard. Usually RC isnot my weakness in terms of question difficulty ( I do struggle with timing usually ) but I felt like this RC was the hardest one I have had in terms of how wierd/tricky the questions and answers were??

The other thing that is a huge mystery to me, based on reading the posts above, if you take the LSAT at home and get several unrequested interruptions from the proctor or proctor software, isn't that a violation of disability accommodations? My colleagues who have ADHD receive extended time on the LSAT, and if they get distracted even once it takes a long time to mentally get back on track. One of my friends had to cancel her test because various proctors interrupted three times (and took up 15 minutes of the clock running). All LSAC did was give her the option to continue the exam (and accept the lost time) or cancel her test (and lose one of her five testing opportunities plus the money she spent). She did the latter which put her behind by three months. It just seems like they are not taking disability accommodations very seriously then unfortunately, if the only option (in order to continue taking the exam) is to accept the time lost, which was the fault of the proctor?

@lorenzca261 said:

I quite literally had this same problem. I have never had an issue with LR timing, but I somehow lost track of time and missed the last 3 questions. I was in disbelief that I actually had run out of time lol

I am getting increasingly nervous because I took the LSAT in September and then in October. When I took it in Sept I was like, okay I got my anxiety out I know what I need to do to improve, I will do better in October. But then the October test felt so different--the LR kicked my butt! And its never felt that way before. What are you planning to do? I registered for November but I'm not sure if there is any point in retaking now or if I should wait till next year and retake after studying more...

Hi Ravinder,

I would love to learn more about this process too. I am currently stuck in the mid 160s on my lsat, a good 8 points below my PTs.

Thanks!

Sarah

Hi Ravinder,

Could I take a look at your checklist? Hearing you talk about your journey reminds me so much if mine (still struggling thru it!) Thanks so much!

I have never had a problem atleast finishing LR so I was shocked that on the Oct lsat I basically ran out of time towards the end and quickly guessed on the last 4-5. I am super dissappointed because I have spent 80 pct of my time this month studying for LR, only to be tripped up by timing! It's my own fault I guess. Did anyone else have this issue?

Congrats!! Can I ask what you guys mean by low GPA? 172 seems like a great score. I too have a lower gpa (splitter) and I'm getting scared now....

My city ran out of on-site testing spots so I had to sign up for one in a small town two hours away. It turned out to be the best thing ever. I tried taking the online LSAT in April and had to cancel my test halfway through because three proctors logged into my test and kept trying to talk to me while the clock was running--I lost ten minutes and all the proctor had to say for it was, "well ma'am you can choose to cancel your test or take the exam with the reduced time".

This exam I did not take any chances and took it in person. It was comparatively speaking a dream. The staff were friendly and let me leave all of my stuff in the waiting room. The testing room itself was basically cubicles with a computer in each one of them. Each computer has a keyboard and ample deskspace for writing on scratch paper. The monitor is also much bigger than my laptop's. They also had noise cancelling headphones which are so much better than those earplugs you have to stuff into your ears. I was able to take a bathroom break (my online proctor in April told me I was not allowed?) and they also gave me new sharpened pencils when I needed them. They also give you more scratch paper (three booklets which contain 4 sides of blank paper each) than what you're allowed to use at home. Compared to my at home online testing experience in April, my in person test was so much better! I don't know if that's also because it was in a small town where people are friendlier but either way I have no plans of ever taking LSAT online from home ever again.