Take Oct 2015 LSAT or take later?

hjs88888

I’m trying to calm my nerves before my first LSAT which is coming up in less than 10 days. I’m scoring in the low 160s but I really would like to improve and break the 170 mark. Is that possible (or rather what is the possibility) given I only have a week left or should I not take the LSAT now and take it when I am more fully prepared in 4 months (Feb 2016, can't do Dec)?
I've only done 20 PTs and have 10 of the most recent prep tests (after 50) left and most of old ones untouched. I studied slowly but steadily over the summer to get used to the LSAT and started increasing the frequency of PTs taken so that starting September I could do at least 3-4 per week full timed PTs, experimental and writing.
Should I use all the new tests now or save them and take the later LSAT? I also didn't find out about the BR method until now and I feel like I've wasted precious PTs. I also just bought copies of the Powerscore books which I plan to go through pretty much fully in the next 3-6 days. My plan is to do 1-2 solid days of games until I can perfect them (currently get 1-5 wrong), categorize my argument trouble areas and fix them, and figure out something for reading comprehension using the books and practice tests.
I also still have 1 year before I apply to law schools, my GPA is almost a 3.8 and likely will be 3.8 by the time I apply.
Any advice, recommendations, etc. would be very much appreciated!

Pacifico

I'd say given your timeline you're better off doing Feb/June 2016 with October as an emergency fall back. No need to rush your prep if you have another year to apply and aren't where you need to be yet.

hjs88888

Thank you! I'm not as hung up on it now and am more carefully planning for the Feb test. Do you have any advice on what I should do about running out of recent prep tests?

Pacifico

I'd save at least 5 of the more recent PTs for December/January and just start over with the PTs you have taken to extract even greater learning from the retakes. Just remember that BR is even more important that second time around.

hjs88888

Ok, I will do that. Do you recommend taking the Oct LSAT just for practice sake? I know some schools look at all your scores so I'm not sure if taking it for really good practice is good enough a reason to do it even though it's fairly likely that I can improve my score at least a bit from 160.

allergic

I do not recommend taking the LSAT this October. You won't hit your target score and you will have wasted one of your takes.

hjs88888

Thanks, I won't be taking it then, I'll just study hard for Feb!

LSATisland

One of the best things about the LSAT is that you can approximately predict your LSAT score via timed PTs. If you are not consistently hitting around your goal score, postpone -- unless there is an urgent reason not to delay applications.