Take a fourth time??

Comments

• gparmar92 Alum Member

  December 2017 153 karma

  The above situation you described is almost exactly the same situation I'm in. I really feel like I bombed the LG on the Dec test even though leading up to it, I was doing as well as I needed on LG to get the scores I needed.

  As for how badly they look at it, it totally depends on the school. As a Canadian I'm lucky that the vast majority of schools look at the highest score so it doesn't really matter for me. Figure out if the number of times you write is important for the school(s) that you want to attend in terms of their admissions.

  And regardless don't give up on anything. It's easy to start letting the negativity creep in (it comes with the nature of standardized tests, and being unsure of scores etc.), but remember if this is the career that you're striving for then go for it. At least that's what I'm telling myself post-Dec 2017.
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  Alex Alum Member ⭐

  December 2017 23929 karma

  @sjames123 said:
  After months of studying, I finally took the December LSAT today. I completely bombed the LG section. I have no idea why I struggled with it, it didn't feel hard. I kept messing up my rules and missed bubbled twice in the section which I had to go back and erase and fix, which I still feel like I didn't properly do. I didn't end up making it to the last game which I just bubbled a random letter for the whole game. I felt I did well on the other sections but that won't make up for how badly I did on LG. LG is typically my best section for the most recent LSATs I've been missing no more than 4 and thats when there is a really hard game in the section. This was the third time I took the test. I took it June 2015 and canceled then again December 2016 and scored a 154. I've been studying on and off for more than a year and a half and really worked hard for this December test. I know I can score over a 160 easily but it is highly dependent how well I do on LG. I am really considering taking the test again February one last time and just focusing on LG with a bit of LR and RC until I take the test.

  How badly will law schools look at fourth take? I really feel like this test was not indicative of what I can do especially since this time I came prepared. I just don't want to give up on going to good law school because my nerves got the best of me.

  For what it's worth, a lot (read: most) people who ultimately do very well feel like they bombed the test afterwards. It definitely seems to be the norm to feel like we've bombed, when it reality, most of the time we've scored right in our average PT range.

  That said, you know what you're capable of and should do everything in your power to achieve that. So if you don't hit that 160 you know you can get, definitely retake. There's now probably, with the rule change that allows unlimited takes, and pressure from the GRE, more reason than ever to not worry about retakes. Most schools only care about your highest score anyway. More importantly, they're always going to look at a higher LSAT as more favorable than anything. So if you need to take 4x to get a 160, that's ALWAYS going to trump 1,2,3, or whatever amount of takes with a sub 160. And knowing that is really all that you should consider going forward.

  Good luck!