Personally I never got that good at games. I ended up getting a 173 with only doing 3 games and guessing on the final game. Mentally the section didn't jive with me -- but it took about 50 sections for me to get there. In the beginning I was really bad

Between 7sage and the PTs themselves, I probably spent 1000 dollars. As a result of this and my effort, I was getting close to full rides from top 10 schools, and half rides from Columbia/Chi/NYU. I eventually also got into Harvard but chose not to go. So yeah, it's worth it if you do the work.

30 PTs, 173

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since you got expelled, this is also a Character & Fitness issue. at a bare minimum, you'll be required to address this incident in a short addendum

This is inaccurate. You do not need to disclose academic disciplinary action before university, they only care about anything that happens post secondary school. The apps I submitted only asked if you were placed on academic probation (which occurs when you fail too many classes in college/university) and if you've gotten in trouble through your college (i.e. if you were formally disciplined for plagiarism)

Most apps say something along the lines of:

Have you ever been the subject of any disciplinary action taken by any college or university?

Have you ever been placed on academic probation?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=217757 if you want to see all the t14 C&Fs.

If you read the thread that you linked to, you'll see that getting expelled from high school triggers a "Yes" on a couple of T14 C&F sections.

Harvard refers to "any educational institution"

NYU makes reference to "any school" and "any academic institution."

OP should read every application carefully and make sure he discloses when required.

since you got expelled, this is also a Character & Fitness issue. at a bare minimum, you'll be required to address this incident in a short addendum

What are your numbers? Columbia was 171/3.7 last year but now there are more applicants, so medians might be 3.7/172 or 3.8/171 this cyle

It's possible that your GPA is below what they're targeting for their 25th %ile. Regardless of LSAT score, that's a fair reason for a ding.

Let's say you take again and get a 173... Harvard/Yale/Stanford might ding you for the 7 takes, but everyone else will probably still take you, assuming the rest of your application is good.

Changing your school list? Makes sense. You can try the T14 as a splitter.

Changing personal statement? I'm not sure how much your personality, goals, and experiences have changed as a result of the score.

If I were you, I'd be looking to get the new applications out the door, not rewriting a PS that I was already happy with.

Bump! For those who applied before their December LSAT

You need to ask the registrar's office (at your undergrad) to release your transcript to LSAC. You also need to fill out the LSAC transcript request form (fortunately this is simple to do).

After LSAC receives the transcript, they need 2 weeks to review it and compute your standardized GPA.

The whole process might take 3 weeks or longer. Adcoms won't review your application until then.

Bump!

Congrats. I think it's really cool that despite lower PT results than you wanted, you still found a way to earn your target score.

173 is also the score I'm applying with, although it took me longer than 6 months to get there :sweat_smile:

I would skip the addendum. Adcom will look at the score the same as if you tested once.

By the end of my studying, it took me about 4 hours for the whole test. In the beginning, it took 10.

For each LR section, it started as 2-3 hours and eventually took less than 30 minutes.

It depends how many questions you circle and on your familiarity with the material

Scoring below your PT average is a common problem and doesn't necessarily qualify you for accommodations. Please apply if you feel you need them, but they are difficult to get when you've already sat the LSAT and scored above the average (around 153).

Please don't take this the wrong way... but your post suggests that you feel entitled to a 170. Worrying about Harvard or Stanford right now isn't helpful. Focus on the LSAT, get the best score you can.

My advice is to take proctored PTs at a test prep center. This will feel more realistic than a home PT. Then you can practice dealing with the feelings of panic and anxiety.

To answer your question, no it won't doom you to have a 155 and a 170+ on your record. But it would warrant an addendum explaining why you feel the 155 doesn't accurately reflect your abilities.

I wouldn't start out of order... but if for example you are finding passage 3 confusing, you see it has 5 Q's, then you flip forward and passage 4 has 8 Q's... then potentially do 4 before 3

Personally I do passages in order. For managing time, I skip hard questions

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Thank you very much for your advice! Congratulations on the amazing score!!

Thanks!

I actually have one more thing to add: I stopped thinking negatively about my performance. Instead of saying "Damn, I went -5 on RC" I started thinking "Wow, I went +22 on RC!"

Why does this help me? By making me less nervous. If you take the "minus" approach, then every new question is a chance for a mistake. With the "plus" approach, I think: "Ok, this question can't possibly reduce my score. It's an opportunity for another point"

If the grades appear on your undergraduate transcript, then I believe LSAC will include them in its calculation of your cumulative GPA

I don't think it's reasonable to expect adcoms to account for the relative rigor different study-abroad destinations

There's no reason to be afraid of the clock. Sure, you could just work the section until the proctor calls 5 minute warning, but that's a bad idea. The clock is your friend -- it's giving you useful information that you can use to improve your pacing :smile:

first time I took the LSAT, i thought i did horribly but it ended up being 169. That type of score may be below your target but is in the mid-range for most of the T14. glad I didn't cancel since it's still a useful score

I flew to a different country -- and I'm not stressing. I'm gonna have beer & BBQ afterward regardless of how it goes :blush:

You'd be better off drinking 2 black coffees IMHO. Red bull doesn't have that much caffeine and I'm not sure how helpful its other stimulant ingredients are. and unless you're drinking sugar-free then there could be a sugar crash