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I'll try to make my case simple:

I'm applying for the 2013 cycle. My June LSAT is around the median of my target schools (bottom T14). I think I may get a higher score for a retake because I underperformed by about 4 points from my post 60s PT average and most of my misses are LG, which according to conventional wisdom, is improvable (but why it hasn't happened to me??). I've decided to retake because I do not want to regret someday.

Now the question is when. I know the advantages of an October retake, but I'm really not confident for significant improvement between now and Oct since I've got a full time job and a few other commitments.

So I plan to take December. I know it will not help most of my applications. But in case I'm waitlisted, I hope I can use a higher score (if I can get one) to get off the waitlist.

Does this plan make sense? Should I take the Oct test no matter what? I read that LS took more from their waitlists for the 2012 cycle. But is it still too risky to count on getting off the WL by a higher score?

You guys always have great insights. Thank you in advance for your comments.

(Edited for clarity)

Your post is unclear. Have you applied this cycle to start law school in fall of 2012 or are you planning to apply next cycle to start law school in fall of 2013?

If you have applied for admission in this cycle, 1L first semester finals of people that are accepted and that matriculate will be occurring in mid to late December after first semester classes have finished.

If you are talking about applying next cycle in order to start law school in the fall of 2013, you have plenty of time to decide when to take and/or retake the LSAT.

The only exception to the timelines of the cycles I can think of is if you are considering applying to a part time law school program at a crappy school.

If you have already applied and want to get off a wait list for this term with a December score, don't bother since you will be way too late for that class year since you'll be taking the LSAT while accepted students are taking their first round of finals.

Jeffort wrote:Your post is unclear. Have you applied this cycle to start law school in fall of 2012 or are you planning to apply next cycle to start law school in fall of 2013?

I'm applying for the 2013 cycle. I've edited the original post.
I know I've got plenty of time to decide when to retake. But I want to have a plan set. If I decide for sure to take in December, I will focus on application materials for now. If it's better to take in October, I'll postpone some app prep till October.

omegaomega wrote:

Jeffort wrote:Your post is unclear. Have you applied this cycle to start law school in fall of 2012 or are you planning to apply next cycle to start law school in fall of 2013?

I'm applying for the 2013 cycle. I've edited the original post.
I know I've got plenty of time to decide when to retake. But I want to have a plan set. If I decide for sure to take in December, I will focus on application materials for now. If it's better to take in October, I'll postpone some app prep till October.

December is fine for purposes of helping get off a wait list if you get put on one. Take your pick between October and December. Take it again when you are ready to perform really well and beat your previous score, so it is your choice of whether to work on apps or do LSAT prep first.

You could also do a mix of both with your spare time when not at work, they are not mutually exclusive tasks. The free time of one day on app stuff, the free time of most others on LSAT prep to rotate it around. Doing it that way can help prevent burnout and brain freeze/writers block on either one. Apps do take time to complete but certainly not as much time as good LSAT prep to achieve a top score. Also, make sure to take at least one or two days a week off and work on neither during your spare time and instead do something fun and relaxing.

If you retake in October the score will be reported in time so that it will be considered when your application is complete and reviewed before any admission decision is made.

Other than for EA/ED applications, most application decisions are not made and don't start rolling out until early to mid January or later depending on the school. You can apply EA/ED to any of the schools that offer it with an October LSAT score since it is released within the time frame deadlines for early decision consideration.

If you are going to continue to be busy even after october and up until december, there really isnt much point in taking the december because it wont be that much of a difference, if any at all. Take the October and apply early to get a better chance of getting early admittance.