Advice on December Retake

Hibiscus

After receiving my score for the October LSAT, I am both happy and sad at my result, which is likely to allow me to enter the law school of my choice through the wait list, but it is heavily dependent on the grades in my current term. I'm currently taking six courses, as well as juggling some extracurricular stuff and a job so I haven't studied for the LSAT at all throughout October and I'm unlikely to have any time until the second week of November (I'd probably get a couple weeks of infrequent drilling/PTs). As a result, I'm not sure if I should retake the LSAT in December.

The fact that my 180Watch broke 10 minutes before my LSAT really threw me off for the actual LSAT (I actually ended up writing the whole thing without being able to check time) but I'm worried that if I retake without practicing enough then I'll have wasted my second attempt. I ended up going -8 on both LR sections and -10 on RC which is well outside of my usual scores (generally around -1~-4 for LR, -10 is actually normal for my RC) so I feel the 160 is really not indicative of my actual LSAT ability.

I was PT'ing 163~170 (quite a wide range from what I can tell) prior to the October LSAT, so I'm not sure if waiting the extra year would be worth it. This is the final year of my degree and I'm not sure if I should find work for a year before law school.

Any ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

J.H. Song

@Hibiscus You have several options, and no one can definitely tell you which is the right way to go. However, I would suggest you retake. Whether you do that in December or take a year off will depend on a lot of things.

Whatever the case, if your pt scores were between 163-170, it is not a far stretch to expect a score in the mid 160's for December (Heck, even if you take it RIGHT NOW). A 170 is certainly not out of the picture either, now that you will likely not experience the same amount of anxiety you had with your first test. Worst case, you end up scoring in the upper 150's. The chance that it will have a negative effect on you is nearly zero, if not completely zero. So really, there is a potential of 10 points on the up side. That could end up being a full ride vs sticker price at the same school, or an acceptance at a T14 vs a lower Tier 1 regional. On the other hand, there is basically no down side, aside from the money, which at this point, I'm sure most of us, rich and poor, would be happy to spend for a 3~4, let alone a shot at a 10 - point increase.

Now, 163-170 is indeed a large gap, as you pointed out. So if you really do want to get more comfortable with the test by reassessing your fundamentals and aiming for, say the June 2016 test, I could see how that may be the more logical way to go. Also, law schools do favor applicants with full-time work experience (post undergraduate), though it is far less important than your LSAT score.

So yes, ideally, I would suggest you rest out the cycle and aim for June to get those apps in when they open. But if for whatever reason you absolutely want to apply this cycle, then by all means, retake in December. Based on the information you provided, the score will likely increase (which would benefit you greatly) and is highly unlikely to decrease (which will likely have no impact on your application).

Hibiscus

Thanks for the advice.

I guess I'll retake it in December, then once more next October if I don't get in.