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I have taken the LSAT 3 times (October 2010, December 2010, and October 2011) and scored 159, 156, and 169 respectively. I know that I wasn't at the top of my game in October 2010 and December 2010. I studied harder for the October 2011 exam and got a much better score so I am now looking at top 30 schools. I know it doesn't look good that my score went down the second time, but would the 169 offset these previous scores? My GPA is a 3.55 from a top 20 university and I have strong soft factors, but I am just very worried about my first two LSAT scores and I am wondering if I should write an addendum. Thanks in advance for any input on this.

Quite a few schools ask for an LSAT addendum if you score has increased by more than 6 points or so. Since this is the situation with your scores, you may be asked to write an addendum anyway.

If you aren't required to write one, and you have a compelling reason for why your score increased so substantially, then I would write one. However, if your reason is simply that you took time off and studied more, it's not necessary as that will be the adcomm's assumption.

Do you have a good reason for the huge increase? I think that 10+ points is usually enough to justify an addendum (and some schools will require it), so just write something short and honest and run it by TLS.

Also, you have a decent chance at the lower T-14 with your 169 (probably without money, but still).