What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe) Forum
- lawfreak
- Posts: 365
- Joined: Sat Jan 08, 2011 10:42 pm
What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
I got a 158 and was just wondering if my score band (157-163) affects my chances for admissions in any way.
In other words- does the school just look at my score alone, or do they take the score band into consideration as well?
Thanks
In other words- does the school just look at my score alone, or do they take the score band into consideration as well?
Thanks
- Knock
- Posts: 5151
- Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:09 pm
Re: What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
The school just looks at the score alone. The score band is just where your score +/- 3. I don't really know why they have it; I think it might be something like, "this is the range this person might have scored on a good or bad day."lawfreak wrote:I got a 158 and was just wondering if my score band (157-163) affects my chances for admissions in any way.
In other words- does the school just look at my score alone, or do they take the score band into consideration as well?
Thanks
- T6Hopeful
- Posts: 693
- Joined: Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:30 pm
Re: What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
I think it's an attempt by LSAC to emphasize (albeit not well emphasized) that one's score on the LSAT can statistically fluctuate, as you said on a good or bad day, by +/- 3. The reason I say it's not well emphasized is that it should ideally (meaning ideally according to LSAC) indicate that an applicant that scored a 159, for example, could very well be considered up to a 162, and should be considered similar to that 159. However, schools aren't going to take statistical margins into account, and will judge a 162 as leagues different from a 159, just as they will a 170 from a 167 (with GPA being equal).Knock wrote:The school just looks at the score alone. The score band is just where your score +/- 3. I don't really know why they have it; I think it might be something like, "this is the range this person might have scored on a good or bad day."lawfreak wrote:I got a 158 and was just wondering if my score band (157-163) affects my chances for admissions in any way.
In other words- does the school just look at my score alone, or do they take the score band into consideration as well?
Thanks
I think it also helps schools decide whether they should average an applicant's scores - if a person gets two scores whose score bands do not overlap, they can take that into account as one being aberrant.
- bringbackfirefly
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:14 am
Re: What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
I think the band isn't always +/- 3 -- if you have multiple scores, for instance.Knock wrote:The score band is just where your score +/- 3. I don't really know why they have it; I think it might be something like, "this is the range this person might have scored on a good or bad day."
- Knock
- Posts: 5151
- Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:09 pm
Re: What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
Wouldn't you just have a different score band for each score ?bringbackfirefly wrote:I think the band isn't always +/- 3 -- if you have multiple scores, for instance.Knock wrote:The score band is just where your score +/- 3. I don't really know why they have it; I think it might be something like, "this is the range this person might have scored on a good or bad day."
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- T6Hopeful
- Posts: 693
- Joined: Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:30 pm
Re: What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
I think he might be talking about the average score band?Knock wrote:Wouldn't you just have a different score band for each score ?bringbackfirefly wrote:I think the band isn't always +/- 3 -- if you have multiple scores, for instance.Knock wrote:The score band is just where your score +/- 3. I don't really know why they have it; I think it might be something like, "this is the range this person might have scored on a good or bad day."
I have two scores on file with +/- 3 points, but I believe my average score is +/-2 points. It's odd, I'm not sure how they calculated that score band, especially because the +/- 2 points is still nowhere near either of my scores.
- bringbackfirefly
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:14 am
Re: What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
Yeah, I was referencing the band that appears in the average row.T6Hopeful wrote: I think he might be talking about the average score band?
I have two scores on file with +/- 3 points, but I believe my average score is +/-2 points. It's odd, I'm not sure how they calculated that score band, especially because the +/- 2 points is still nowhere near either of my scores.
I think they're probably saying that your score is statistically insignificant from other scores in that range with some confidence. I also think that it's probably not +/- 3 for all scores, since that would suggest a uniform distribution of scores? All of this is highly speculative and not to be trusted for anything serious.
- Knock
- Posts: 5151
- Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:09 pm
Re: What exactly is a "score band" (mine is 157-163 I believe)
Ah, I canceled my second score so I wouldn't know .bringbackfirefly wrote:Yeah, I was referencing the band that appears in the average row.T6Hopeful wrote: I think he might be talking about the average score band?
I have two scores on file with +/- 3 points, but I believe my average score is +/-2 points. It's odd, I'm not sure how they calculated that score band, especially because the +/- 2 points is still nowhere near either of my scores.
I think they're probably saying that your score is statistically insignificant from other scores in that range with some confidence. I also think that it's probably not +/- 3 for all scores, since that would suggest a uniform distribution of scores? All of this is highly speculative and not to be trusted for anything serious.