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1 Like
... is this a bad idea?
I am postponing. I have been consistently scoring about 3-5 points under my target score and I know that I can get there by December. BUT... since I am not getting my money back... I am considering showing up for the test on sept. 24th and taking it under real conditions. I would then cancel the score, because I am not ready. I feel like it will give me a confidence boost in December to have already gone through the process once. The only con I can think of is that a cancelled score will show up on my report, will anyone in admissions care? Is this a bad idea?
Comments
And @"Cant Get Right" makes a really great point that with a cancelled score you would get nothing out of it. There is actually an argument to be made that it would hurt your confidence and shake you up more. And all at the cost of losing a take.
Postpone and don't sign up for another testing date until you are ready. I think doing so only contributes to anxiety and a host of other negative things.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
Just to reiterate: Don't waste a take, at least not intentionally.
Here is a picture of my scores on the last 9 practice tests that I have taken http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1zxidj&s=9#.V9ira5MrJE4 , which have all been under strict conditions at the actual testing center where I'll be taking my test at. As you'll see, my average is approximately a 177; and that is the reason why I believe that I am qualified to comment on this topic. I believe that I am going to score a 180, and I will post evidence when I do.
This brings me to another topic that I have wanted to address for the last few weeks: @"Alex Divine", I have seen you comment on almost every single discussion that has been posted in the last few months — what makes you qualified to offer advice as you do? You post on almost every single discussion. If you are not qualified to offer advice, you should not be offering misleading advice.
Admin note: The amount of likes on this user's comment(s) are irrelevant because the user made 12 additional accounts to like his own posts. Take them with a grain of salt.
However, I think you've misunderstood the nature of this community. I'm not sure what makes some one "qualified" to give advice, and you are the first person I've ever seen claim any kind of qualification. Mentor status does mean that @"Alex Divine" has the approval of JY along with the rest of the 7Sage administrators, and for whatever it's worth, all of the Mentors and Sages as far as I know; so I suppose if you're so concerned with qualifications that's pretty legit.
I also think you've misunderstood the nature of this community in a much more significant way. If you want to give people advice, please by all means, thank you for offering up your knowledge and experience. If your advice differs from that of the majority, all the better. We all benefit much more from a diversity of opinion than we do from a unified orthodoxy. But if you cannot participate in that conversation with civility and respect towards others, you need to just abstain from participating all together.
Admin note: The amount of likes on this user's comment(s) are irrelevant because the user made 12 additional accounts to like his own posts. Take them with a grain of salt.
People are giving advice based on experience, Alex included. Someone posed a question asking the community, so he replied, much like yourself. You posted with your own advice, which is great. Now we have different pieces that the OP can read over and decide what to do for themselves, like @"Cant Get Right" said.
Not sure why this is getting so heated.
My question still has not been addressed. And the responses to my question seem to be a great example of flawed reasoning.
@"Dillon A. Wright", you edited your comment after my post. So, I would like to ask a new question in order to make my own determination as to whether @"alex divine" is qualified to offer advice. @"Alex Divine", what is your average score on practice tests under "strict" conditions?
Admin note: The amount of likes on this user's comment(s) are irrelevant because the user made 12 additional accounts to like his own posts. Take them with a grain of salt. (Also I didn't edit my comment, not sure what he's on about.)
If you're not aware how your comment may have come across then I apologize if my response seemed blunt. That said, your comment came across a lot like telling someone he shouldn't be engaging in conversation because you personally disagree with him.
I also just want to restate that having a diversity of opinions is a benefit, not detriment to this forum. I disagree with @chvdanthony.m on the original issue (and everything that followed obviously, lol), but I fully acknowledge the legitimacy and value of his opinion and I sincerely hope that it will allow OP to come to a better and more thoroughly reasoned decision. That's kind of how this whole thing works. I think every one of us on here has the intelligence to decide for ourselves what advice we choose to follow or disregard. I think it is incredibly disrespectful both to the individual in question and to the intelligence of every 7Sage member to suggest to someone that "If you are not qualified to offer advice, you should not be offering misleading advice."
To every 7Sage member, you are qualified both to give advice and to choose for yourselves what advice you want to follow. Sufficient failed, problem solved. I've seen some advice on here before that I personally considered awful advice, but it never crossed my mind to question whether or not an individual should offer that advice, however misleading I may think it is. I find this notion deeply offensive. In situations where someone sees advice they disagree with, I encourage everyone to make the best counter argument you can and let OP arrive at their own conclusion. That is the best and only way that this works. There are no qualifications necessary to participate in discussions, there are no right and wrong answers (except on issues related to logic and LSAT questions, of course!), and that's really all there is to it.
I would postpone without wasting a take and having it on record. For replicating the actual test experience, you could take an administered test that is offered by schools and other organizations. Much of the anxiety of the actual test is from it being the actual test, which won't obtain if you plan on cancelling. Good luck!
Personal opinion on the subject: I took the Oct 2015 test before I was ready and cancelled the score. The whole experience sucked from start to finish and I regret it. That's not to say it didn't help me gain perspective on how to move forward and rebound for June 2016. @HasaDigaLSAT , if you're 3-5 points under your target and want to take the test, do it. I'd just recommend not going into the exam with the "I'm going to cancel" mindset. Who knows, the test may play to your strengths and you may get a score that you're at least somewhat happy with. Having a "security blanket" score may even boost your confidence heading into take 2, seeing as schools only take your top score anyway. IMO cancelling just gives you nothing to show for it besides "experience", which varies from person to person.
To address @chvdanthony.m's comments though, while I understand/agree with your concern for the advice given out, I think it's pretty disrespectful to publicly demand that anyone release their PT sores in some sort of pissing contest. Alex has earned mentor status by going out of his way to be helpful to others on the forums. That is what that title means. I'd recommend you take a look at the thread that lists out 7Sage titles.
By asking for advice on a forum, you're asking for opinions, and that's what Alex is offering. If you don't like his advice, don't take it.
1. I appreciate everyone's willingness to share their POV. The whole reason I posted was to expose flaws in this plan, hence the thread title.
2. I expect people to advocate hard for their positions on these threads, i'd be concerned with their life choices if they didn't. I think we are all capable of sifting through advice and weighting it as we see fit - I literally just noticed that people have these "mentor" titles.. so i guess thanks for showing me a part of 7sage I didn't know existed.
3. That being said, my internal BS detector goes off whenever anyone uses absolute language like "anyone who takes their score seriously will do X". There are pros and cons to this plan regardless of whether or not you think the distribution is 99% to 1% in either direction. This idea was actually pitched to me by my spouse and his friends who are 3Ls at a t10 currently. I am operating under the assumption that they took these scores very seriously. My only concern was that they are too far removed from the LSAT to care about "wasting" a take. Point being - there are valid and conflicting opinions from all angles and that's fine.
4. If I wanted to see people tear each other down, whip out their PT scores and measure them, and predict the future based on their "qualifications" I'd go to TLS
5. At some point in this crazy thread I think that someone mentioned practice proctored exams given at universities? Anyone have more info on this?
http://www.princetonreview.com/law/free-lsat-practice-test#!practice
https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/classes/free/
https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2373/free-proctored-lsats
https://www.kaptest.com/lsat/enroll?tab=events
Just found one by me actually at Marist College, cool.
Lots of us have been studying for this test for months, even years, and we've been around the LSAT block.
But I'd like to take an opportunity for a logic lesson, if I may:
Someone's great LSAT score (on a PT or on the big day) is not a sufficient condition for their being competent to give out advice on the LSAT (maybe they're a unicorn; maybe they're a good guesser; maybe they got a test that was perfect for their strengths).
Similarly, someone NOT having yet earned a great LSAT score is not a sufficient condition for their NOT giving great advice.
Good talk! *goes back to LG drills*
@chvdanthony.m
Edit: Why did you create 12 more accounts last night?
1.
2. 3. Mhm. > This is the best (and cheapest) approach to take your LSAT under very similar conditions as you would on game day. I recommend wearing clothing, eating snack, and taking breaks the same way you would as if it was the actual LSAT. This way you will have a sense of feeling comfortable on game day because the environment won't be foreign to you.The only con of this is that you will most likely be the only one in the room so the noise aspect will fluctuate. Thankfully there's a background noise option on the 7sage proctor app so feel free to use that. Anyway this approach has been psychologically approved and it has worked for many people