Quick Tip
Embrace Your Weaknesses!
When I started studying for the LSAT, I hated grouping games. I was pretty bad at them, and they really frustrated me. So, I avoided them. This was a horrible strategy!
I’ve found that a lot of other people make this same mistake—ignoring their weaknesses and hoping they go away. This attitude can only hurt you! If you know you’re weak in a certain area, you should be aggressively attacking it. If you find yourself thinking before a PT, “I hope x isn’t on this one,” take that as a sign you need to work on that area. With that in mind, drill your weak areas until they’re no longer weak.
Discussion
To Retake or Not?
Ah, score release week. If you took the January LSAT, chances are you saw your score this morning. If you reached your goal score, congrats! If you are disappointed with your score, you may be wondering whether you should consider retaking the LSAT.
There are a few things you should consider when deciding whether or not to retake the LSAT. I’ve put together a short list of questions to ask yourself:
1) How does your score compare to your PTs?
Typically, it’s reasonable to expect an official LSAT that’s a rough average of your last several PTs. If your score is below this average, it might be worth thinking about retaking.
2) How does your score compare to the medians at some of your prospective law schools?
Do some research on this one: each law school publishes a Standard 509 Information Report, where they report a variety of data related to admitted students’ LSAT scores—and much more. See where your scores fall among the admitted students at each law school and let those data points help you in your decision.
7Sage also has some great resources with LSAT and GPA medians, and much more here.
3) Being brutally honest, how much effort did you put into preparing?
Deep down, you know this answer! If your LSAT prep left something to be desired, a better, more consistent study strategy could make retaking worthwhile.
4) Were there any abnormalities about your testing day that you feel caused you to score lower than normal?
Did you have technical difficulties or an issue with your proctor? Was something else going on that made for a poor testing environment? Life happens, but if you feel like your testing day was substantially affected by some outside circumstance, retaking may be worth considering.
5) Do you have the time—and the desire—to go through the studying process again?
This one’s tough: if you’re applying for law school this cycle, the answer is likely no. But if you’re not burned out, and you’ve got the time and energy—retaking could be worth it.
Finally, don’t be too hard on yourself if things didn’t go as planned! The LSAT is seriously difficult (trust me, our tutoring services wouldn’t exist otherwise!).
If you’re feeling a little burned out these days (or if you just want some inspiration!), listen to this podcast episode featuring 7Sager Brandon, whose LSAT journey took him from a 144 diagnostic to a 170.