October or November LSAT for first time taker

tattoinesuns

Hi everyone, I need some advice.

I am currently registered to take the October and November LSAT. My issue is that with the October LSAT being a few weeks away, I feel like I am nowhere near where I wanna be in PT's. The October would be my first time taking it. My thought process was to just take the October test to practice run a real exam and have November as my more relaxed test. However, I now feel like I am not prepared for October at all and am debating just taking the November exam. I'm worried that I will freeze up during the November one and not be able to take the test again until January (I wanted to have all my apps in by end of November). Any advice on what I should do? Feeling discouraged

LSATstudier22

Hello! Ultimately, you know yourself best and have to decide which option makes you feel more comfortable between the options.

1) Take October feeling unprepared and take advantage of the score preview (which now can be used for every writing of the LSAT for a fee), then write November already having had your "first exam" experience behind you and feeling more confident

2) Wait until November and feel more confident with your abilities and PT scores going in, and ideally nail it, otherwise having to wait until January to write again.

Other considerations:
-If you write October will you feel motivated or burnt out to keep studying for November, while not knowing your October score yet
-Will writing in October give you a push to study harder before and give you a head start for preparing for the November exam
-Will Christmas and New Years impact your study time before the January LSAT
-Do the schools you plan to apply to look at the average or the highest LSAT score on file
-If the October LSAT does not go well, are you comfortable with schools seeing that you canceled a score

Good luck! The standard advice of 7Sage is to write when you are ready, but the choice is yours:) I was you last year and chose a version of option 1. I'm not sure if it really made too much of a difference, Law Hub PTs are identical! As well, many people say it's common to freeze writing it the first time, but for me, I actually scored a few points higher than I had ever done in a PT, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

MinasianLaw

I am in the same boat right now, I currently am registered for November but I am worried I may not be ready in time and have to retake it January. I am hoping January is not too late to apply for school in Fall 2023, but also hopefully I like my score enough to not have to retake it again. Goodluck to you on your studies!