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January 2019 Lsat

mjmonte17mjmonte17 Alum Member
in General 757 karma

Hi everyone,

I am registered to take my first official LSAT in January of 2019 (assuming I am PTing in my target range). Is there any advice regarding why a person should not take a non-disclosed LSAT? I understand that non-disclosed means I will only receive my score and percentile. Is it worth it to take the LSAT for the first time without having access to what problems you missed? I feel like I will have a decent understanding of my weak areas before I test (Analytics), but if I do not hit my target score I will not have a clear way forward to see what I need to review. I plan on applying in September of 2019 so I am motivated to take the test as many times as I need to before then. Any thoughts?

Comments

  • samantha.ashley92samantha.ashley92 Alum Member
    edited September 2018 1777 karma

    I think that having access to so many PTs with Ultimate+, you should be pretty aware of your strengths and weaknesses before test day. It's always good to see where you struggled under pressure, but I don't think it's a strong enough reason to not take a non-disclosed test.

  • mjmonte17mjmonte17 Alum Member
    757 karma

    @"samantha.ashley92" said:
    I think that having access to so many PTs with Ultimate+, you should be pretty aware of your strengths and weaknesses before test day. It's always good to see where you struggled under pressure, but I don't think it's a strong enough reason to not take a non-disclosed test.

    That’s what I was leaning toward, the “Test Day Penalty” will most likely be there either way, good insight.

  • samantha.ashley92samantha.ashley92 Alum Member
    1777 karma

    Thanks! I have thought about this before lol.

  • keets993keets993 Alum Member 🍌
    6045 karma

    @BinghamtonDave might have some insight to share as I believe his first official take was an undisclosed test.

  • CantStopWontStopCantStopWontStop Alum Member
    1270 karma

    I think it's fine. You probably shouldn't take the test until you know how you are consistently scoring. And if you know this, then what your breakdown during the actual test is shouldn't be so informative. You will also kind of know as well. So although it is better to have it than not, I would not hold up taking a test. Especially since the March is undisclosed too.

  • mjmonte17mjmonte17 Alum Member
    757 karma

    @Nov2018Taker said:
    I think it's fine. You probably shouldn't take the test until you know how you are consistently scoring. And if you know this, then what your breakdown during the actual test is shouldn't be so informative. You will also kind of know as well. So although it is better to have it than not, I would not hold up taking a test. Especially since the March is undisclosed too.

    Right, I think I will just do it (if my PT score follows) Thanks

  • BinghamtonDaveBinghamtonDave Alum Member 🍌🍌
    8689 karma

    I took the July exam. It was undisclosed. The only real potential drawback to taking an undisclosed exam in my opinion, as you correctly identified is the lack of a solid blind review from that exam. As other have mentioned above, this drawback is mitigated by the fact that there are so many exams to draw upon and blind review.

    David

  • mjmonte17mjmonte17 Alum Member
    757 karma

    @BinghamtonDave said:
    I took the July exam. It was undisclosed. The only real potential drawback to taking an undisclosed exam in my opinion, as you correctly identified is the lack of a solid blind review from that exam. As other have mentioned above, this drawback is mitigated by the fact that there are so many exams to draw upon and blind review.

    David

    It's good to hear that, thanks for your input! I will consider this as January approaches.

  • Rigid DesignatorRigid Designator Alum Member
    1091 karma

    Having taken only non-disclosed tests, I must admit it feels really bad not knowing what went wrong. If it were possible, I'd take disclosed ones.

    That being said, I wouldn't let the fact a test is non-disclosed stop me taking it if I believed I was ready.

  • mjmonte17mjmonte17 Alum Member
    757 karma

    @"Rigid Designator" said:
    Having taken only non-disclosed tests, I must admit it feels really bad not knowing what went wrong. If it were possible, I'd take disclosed ones.

    That being said, I wouldn't let the fact a test is non-disclosed stop me taking it if I believed I was ready.

    I agree it would probably feel bad. I wonder why non-disclosed tests exist. I hope there is a good reason.

  • Rigid DesignatorRigid Designator Alum Member
    1091 karma

    @mjmonte17 said:

    @"Rigid Designator" said:
    Having taken only non-disclosed tests, I must admit it feels really bad not knowing what went wrong. If it were possible, I'd take disclosed ones.

    That being said, I wouldn't let the fact a test is non-disclosed stop me taking it if I believed I was ready.

    I agree it would probably feel bad. I wonder why non-disclosed tests exist. I hope there is a good reason.

    There are only so many tests and new questions the LSAC can produce each year. Logistically speaking they can't offer each new test at exactly the same time everywhere in the world, so that means some tests must be kept secret so they can be used again and again.

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    I took Feb 2018, and it's no big deal. I didn't know it would be undisclosed, so when I went to try to BR it, I was sad for about 10 minutes, but beyond that, it completely has no difference. PTing other tests will be just as effective as PTing the actual test.

  • mjmonte17mjmonte17 Alum Member
    757 karma

    @Bamboosprout said:
    I took Feb 2018, and it's no big deal. I didn't know it would be undisclosed, so when I went to try to BR it, I was sad for about 10 minutes, but beyond that, it completely has no difference. PTing other tests will be just as effective as PTing the actual test.

    Glad to hear it didn't affect you. After hearing everyone'e opinion, I think all the PTs I will do before hand will suffice for understanding weaknesses.

  • Leah M BLeah M B Alum Member
    8392 karma

    Personally, I haven't even gone back to BR my tests. I did appreciate seeing how many I missed in each section and there were a few questions that bugged me that I was dying to know what the answer was. But otherwise, I feel like for me it's best to leave the past in the past. I'll just start kicking myself for the stupid mistakes I made. I'd rather just leave it and move on to other tests. So, I imagine a nondisclosed test wouldn't be a big deal to me.

  • mjmonte17mjmonte17 Alum Member
    757 karma

    @"Leah M B" said:
    Personally, I haven't even gone back to BR my tests. I did appreciate seeing how many I missed in each section and there were a few questions that bugged me that I was dying to know what the answer was. But otherwise, I feel like for me it's best to leave the past in the past. I'll just start kicking myself for the stupid mistakes I made. I'd rather just leave it and move on to other tests. So, I imagine a nondisclosed test wouldn't be a big deal to me.

    Nice, that's a good attitude to have. Dwelling on the past is likely to distort your performance in the future. Non-disclosed tests don't seem like that big of a deal. If you're prepared you might as well give it a go.

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