September or december?

nathanieljschwartz

So a little background information. I studied for 3 months prior to this past decembers LSAT, i used the bibles and i was grossly unprepared and didnt have a community or a mentor to confer with. I unwittingly took the december test and scored a 160 ,my diagnostic was a 148. I wasnt happy with this score bc i knew i could do much better. For the most part i procrastinated until around 1.5 months ago when i decided i was gonna start prepping again with the goal of taking the september test. Since then i have studied 25+ hr weeks along with my close to 55 hrs of work a week. I have seen much improvement and confidence in every aspect of the test and my methodology. I am through games 1-10 of foolproofing and plan on foolproofing for another 3.5 weeks . My question is, and i understand i am gonna get the generic " wait till you are ready" answer, but i am still asking what is your view on the benefits of taking the september test vs December. I am shooting for a t14 school and i know i can do it, i would say my average pt is around a 165-167. As far as i understand the admission process, the earlier i apply the less competetive i have to be in order to get a spot. So should i shoot for September? My methodology is sound as far as i can tell. My main issue was the games and RC and i am seeing major improvement in both areas. I am a little concerned because my current schedule will only allow for 20 PTs between finishing foolproofing and the test date. But on the other end i am worried to take december bc that will put me in the latter half of admissions. Any input?

NotMyName

PT average of 165-167 would put you at the low end of the median LSAT scores of incoming T14 students. If your GPA is super high, making you a splitter, maybe you've got a shot if you score the upper end of your average. Many people see a drop on test day, but not everyone. It doesn't appear that you would have any room for error, though. I don't think admissions would care much if you showed 2 scores 165+. But a single, stellar test score is ideal.

20 PTs seems to be the standard so i wouldn't be too concerned with that quantity. As your current PT avg is strong, most of your work will be in the nitty gritty details and reaching mastery in areas that you are weak. That may mean spending more time with a BR at the expense of a PT. I wouldn't let that concern you. PTs test our knowledge but BR is where the learning happens.

i understand i am gonna get the generic " wait till you are ready" answer

lol yup. That is definitely the common answer but I think it is a function of the situations which most people who ask this question are in. Seems pretty common for someone to look at their scores and their goals and realize "oh shit. maybe this won't work out according to plan". So they come to the thread to check. More often then not, they're right.

I can't really speak to the note on admission cycle timing. I am interesting in this topic too because I will need to consider that in my own applications. I am wondering if there is any truth to it and to what extent. My gut says that the edge one receives by applying early is real but no where near as advantageous or generous as we imagine. At the end of the day, your test score and gpa need to be solid. That is, both above the median or a competitive split.

Alex

No one can give you an answer to that. The answer you don't want to hear is the the correct one. Trust me, I've postponed going on now for like a year. If you think you can reach your potential by September, take it. You have December for a back up and honestly most schools really do only look at highest scores. Or, well, consider them the most.

The problem I see is that you try to quantify everything with timelines. Often they don't always work the way we plan. It might take 3 weeks to fool proof, it might take 6. 20PTs sounds like a good amount of PTs to take, but you just don't know it's enough.

In my opinion, I think people take too many PTs and don't spend enough time reviewing them. Literally, I think 15-20 PTS would be more than enough for most if they reviewed properly. So make sure you plan in plenty of time for review.

So to quit rambling and just answer your question: I think you need to re-visit where you're at and what score you want when the time comes closer.

Either way, congrats on your 148-160 improvement. Clearly you have it in you to score a 170 and kill it. But you have to give yourself whatever time you need.

Good luck!