Should I take the June 2018 LSAT or Reschedule?

carlos.raiz23

Hello Everyone,

I Just finished going through all the CC. I am also taking the June 2018 Test. I haven't taken a diagnostic yet and plan to do it this weekend and then from there work on the BR method in all areas for a month till May 11 (planning to purchase all the LSAT Bibles as well and incorporate them for my month long BR session) and then do timed PT's from May 11 till the test date on June 11. I have been working full time M-F 8-5 while doing the CC and plan to do so for the rest of my studies for the LSAT. I wanted to know peoples thoughts on my current game plan and that if I score below a 150 on my diagnostic test and given my current study plan while working full time, would the June 2018 test date be worth it or should I wait till the September 2018 LSAT?

Gracias.

olepueblo

I’d want much more than a month to focus on testing. Took a long time to even out my score and test taking strategy.

carlos.raiz23

@swamlepow Do you suggest postponing until September 2018 LSAT then?

olepueblo

4sure, unless you have good reasons to take the june one.

westcoastbestcoast

What are your LSAT goals and what is your score breakdown like

paulmv.benthem

I would agree with @westcoastbestcoast; best to know what score you're aiming for and what your diagnostic score is before making a decision. Were there particular sections that you found easier or more difficult than others when doing problem sets in the CC? Some types are easier to improve in a short amount of time than others.

carlos.raiz23

My only reason for wanting to take it in June is to get the real life experience of taking the test, maybe getting a decent score (155 or above) and see what I can improve upon for the September LSAT, but now I realize that may be a dumb move because I have not taken the diagnostic yet and with limited study time because of the full time job, I may be setting my self up for failure for the June Test when instead I can just switch my test date to September and focus on only taking it once which would be in September and giving it my all in regards to studying like I am doing right now but with more prep time.

Btw for the sections LG were tough and LR/RC seemed easier and quicker for me to grasp.

Thoughts?

Thank you again for your responses.

@swamlepow @westcoastbestcoast @"paulmv.benthem"

JPJ July2021

Unless you are scoring at a very high level, I would wait to take the test until September. I also would not suggest taking the test before you're ready to for the experience. You should be doing practice tests under realistic testing conditions (add in a fifth section for the experimental) so on test day you're so confident it's just like you're taking another practice test.

westcoastbestcoast

@"carlos.raiz23" said:
My only reason for wanting to take it in June is to get the real life experience of taking the test, maybe getting a decent score (155 or above) and see what I can improve upon for the September LSAT, but now I realize that may be a dumb move because I have not taken the diagnostic yet and with limited study time because of the full time job, I may be setting my self up for failure for the June Test when instead I can just switch my test date to September and focus on only taking it once which would be in September and giving it my all in regards to studying like I am doing right now but with more prep time.

Btw for the sections LG were tough and LR/RC seemed easier and quicker for me to grasp.

Thoughts?

Thank you again for your responses.

@swamlepow @westcoastbestcoast @"paulmv.benthem"

Don't rush your prep and even though there is limit on retakes, there is very little benefit you get from doing a real take when you haven't mastered the fundamentals yet. Adding a fifth section and taking a practice test in a public setting like a library will help you get a feel for test day. Even though schools take your highest score, you don't want to have a low score on file because with an increasingly competitive cycle, your low score may bring you down.

Adam Hawks

IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW MANY RETAKES YOU TAKE

Take the test unless you're not comfortable. That's it. All of this other stuff that the others are saying is merely speculation with regards to what happened this cycle will continue into next cycle.

LastLSAT

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Adam Hawks

@LastLSAT said:
@"Adam Hawks" What point is there in taking the test if you know that you have not reached anything close to your full scoring potential? OP will be applying next cycle anyway...waiting until September won't hurt them.

Regardless of the ABA's policy of only requiring the highest score nowadays, I'm sure that AdComs (especially at T6ish school) would question a 155 with a 175 retake far more than they would someone who just scores 170+ on their first attempt. And "I just wanted to see how I could do on the real thing without much prep" isn't a very convincing addendum.

Why would you need to write an addendum explaining a 155 to a 175? The score says it all. Other than that, I'm not going to speculate on who has this or who has that and what score gets me into what school, because it's time not spent studying on the fundamentals. If someone isn't comfortable, don't take the test. Mike Spivey, someone who has a lot more knowledge regarding the application process, says that the schools don't care.

The rest of it is just putting your head into knots and giving yourself undue stress. You won't know until you take the test, and if you don't do as well, take it again. Sages have had multiple retakes and ended up at T6 schools.

LastLSAT

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westcoastbestcoast

@"Adam Hawks" said:

@LastLSAT said:
@"Adam Hawks" What point is there in taking the test if you know that you have not reached anything close to your full scoring potential? OP will be applying next cycle anyway...waiting until September won't hurt them.

Regardless of the ABA's policy of only requiring the highest score nowadays, I'm sure that AdComs (especially at T6ish school) would question a 155 with a 175 retake far more than they would someone who just scores 170+ on their first attempt. And "I just wanted to see how I could do on the real thing without much prep" isn't a very convincing addendum.

Why would you need to write an addendum explaining a 155 to a 175? The score says it all. Other than that, I'm not going to speculate on who has this or who has that and what score gets me into what school, because it's time not spent studying on the fundamentals. If someone isn't comfortable, don't take the test. Mike Spivey, someone who has a lot more knowledge regarding the application process, says that the schools don't care.

The rest of it is just putting your head into knots and giving yourself undue stress. You won't know until you take the test, and if you don't do as well, take it again. Sages have had multiple retakes and ended up at T6 schools.

Sages indeed have had multiple retakes and we aren't saying that it is impossible to get into T14 schools with retakes. Its just that the cycles have been getting more competitive. If you look at the data that Spivey released, more people are scoring 170 plus than ever before. Admissions officers like Spivey certainly don't discount a 170 plus score but they have said that beyond a certain point, retaking too much raises red flags. If you think about it logically, say you are a top 6 law school like Chicago and you have more 170 scorers than you have space for. At that point, you would start looking into the finer details, like the applicants' softs and if the 175 he or she got was the only score on file versus a student who got a 175 after retaking 6 times. There is very little utility in taking the exam before you are ready and if anything a low score on your official record may demoralize you.

Schools like USC specifically ask for an addendum if you have a score increase of more than 9 points.

testfromaway

Instead of counting your chickens before they hatch (or pondering what you're capable of before you experience simulated test conditions), do your first PT and see what happens. Take three hours to sit down and do it, and maybe your score will blow you away and you'll feel great going into studying, or maybe you'll be below where you want to be and you'll see that you need to hold off on your exam date.

Maybe you'll be below where you want, but LG is your weakness and that's learnable in a month. Maybe you're right where you'd like but your RC is what's low and you don't know if you can learn those skills in time. Who knows!

But instead of driving yourself wild with guessing what your score is, give it a go and then report back.

(I'm also working full time while studying. It's hard! You got this!)

Adam Hawks

@westcoastbestcoast said:

@"Adam Hawks" said:

@LastLSAT said:
@"Adam Hawks" What point is there in taking the test if you know that you have not reached anything close to your full scoring potential? OP will be applying next cycle anyway...waiting until September won't hurt them.

Regardless of the ABA's policy of only requiring the highest score nowadays, I'm sure that AdComs (especially at T6ish school) would question a 155 with a 175 retake far more than they would someone who just scores 170+ on their first attempt. And "I just wanted to see how I could do on the real thing without much prep" isn't a very convincing addendum.

Why would you need to write an addendum explaining a 155 to a 175? The score says it all. Other than that, I'm not going to speculate on who has this or who has that and what score gets me into what school, because it's time not spent studying on the fundamentals. If someone isn't comfortable, don't take the test. Mike Spivey, someone who has a lot more knowledge regarding the application process, says that the schools don't care.

The rest of it is just putting your head into knots and giving yourself undue stress. You won't know until you take the test, and if you don't do as well, take it again. Sages have had multiple retakes and ended up at T6 schools.

Sages indeed have had multiple retakes and we aren't saying that it is impossible to get into T14 schools with retakes. Its just that the cycles have been getting more competitive. If you look at the data that Spivey released, more people are scoring 170 plus than ever before. Admissions officers like Spivey certainly don't discount a 170 plus score but they have said that beyond a certain point, retaking too much raises red flags. If you think about it logically, say you are a top 6 law school like Chicago and you have more 170 scorers than you have space for. At that point, you would start looking into the finer details, like the applicants' softs and if the 175 he or she got was the only score on file versus a student who got a 175 after retaking 6 times. There is very little utility in taking the exam before you are ready and if anything a low score on your official record may demoralize you.

Schools like USC specifically ask for an addendum if you have a score increase of more than 9 points.

Thanks for clarifying this in more detail and by that metric, my reasoning isn't as strong.

Brian_LSAT

Something that I rarely seen discussed when the question of when to sit the exam for the first time is brought up is the possibility that the experience of sitting the exam could have a positive influence on future takes.

Carlos is wondering whether he should take the exam in June or wait until September. I faced a similar choice, and I felt (this is totally subjective) that the process of going through the real test experience helped boost my eventual score. That was partly due to taking my studies more seriously because of the limited time frame, and also partly due to being more comfortable with test day logistics.

In my case, I think the experience I gained from taking the exam before I was fully prepared was worth at least one point on my last take. While there may be a slight advantage to having fewer takes rather than more, I think that only applies to comparing candidates with the exact same LSAT score (170 in 3 takes vs 170 in one take) and would never make up for even a 1 point difference (170 in 3 takes vs 169 in one take).

keets993

I would say decide depending on your PT and BR score and what your weakenesses are and where that result is in regards to your goal score. I took the test once, before I was ready, and since I haven't retaken it I can't say for sure whether the experience was helpful at all. The only 'new' thing I learned was that there's a long wait involved. Once you get to the centre (depending on when you get there) and you warm-up, there's still probably half an hour to an hour wait when you get in the room as you wait for the proctor's to check each applicant, hand out the papers, explain the process (as if we haven't been studying months) and explain all the rules available on the LSAC site. And in the 15 minute break, you're not really allowed to talk about the test, not that anyone would and most people go to the bathroom. So if you really want to replicate test day conditions; when you warm up before doing a PT, I would suggest warming up, waiting an hour, and doing the PT timed. And then don't do anything fun on your break like checking your phone that you can't do during test day. Other than that, you'll know whether you're ready or not; most people don't generally get lucky and score more than 1 or 2 points above their practice tests.

eLSATurdayGigante

@"carlos.raiz23"

I'm in a similar situation, I signed up for the June 2018 test because if I didn't I wouldn't focus hard on studying. There is an option to extend your registration to September for $100. But you have to do it by mid-May. (Please check the LSAT website for the correct date.

I plan on giving it my all and take a PT right before the deadline to extend to know when I'm at. If I don't feel confident I will pay to extend it. I understand that it can be a lot of money (it is for me) so I'm using it as motivation to study.

studyingandrestudying

Some of the test prep companies offer live practice takes, which would allow you to sit for a mock exam. Maybe look into that.

Seeking Perfection

@Brian_LSAT said:
Something that I rarely seen discussed when the question of when to sit the exam for the first time is brought up is the possibility that the experience of sitting the exam could have a positive influence on future takes.

Carlos is wondering whether he should take the exam in June or wait until September. I faced a similar choice, and I felt (this is totally subjective) that the process of going through the real test experience helped boost my eventual score. That was partly due to taking my studies more seriously because of the limited time frame, and also partly due to being more comfortable with test day logistics.

In my case, I think the experience I gained from taking the exam before I was fully prepared was worth at least one point on my last take. While there may be a slight advantage to having fewer takes rather than more, I think that only applies to comparing candidates with the exact same LSAT score (170 in 3 takes vs 170 in one take) and would never make up for even a 1 point difference (170 in 3 takes vs 169 in one take).

Generally the highest score has been all that matters. Having a low score on record isn't a great reason for why @"carlos.raiz23" shouldn't take before he is ready.

Sitting for the exam could have either a positive or a negative effect on future performances. If you score well enough to have a shot at getting into some of your target schools it can take some of the stress off of your future takes. (Scoring reasonably well before prepared may be a risk in its own way because you could grow tempted to apply to law school rather than studying for long enough to do your best.) However, in my opinion scoring well below your goals is a likely risk because it probably has a demoralizing effect and may make it harder to do well on a subsequent take.

I don't know how much money any of you have, but in the final analysis I would think the cost of taking the LSAT might also dissuade one from taking it before ready.

I think for nearly everyone, foolproofing logic games until they are missing less than 2 questions per section on average before taking a test is the best response. Even if you could use some more study on the other sections, the process of foolproofing will demonstrate that the test can be learned and prevent one from settling and applying with too low a score. Additionally, since the logic games section can be very variable in how many questions you miss until you get it foolproofed, this elliminates some of the risk of a confidence deflating low score.