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I am currently a college Junior hoping to apply for the 2011-2012 Law school admissions cycle. Ideally I would like to apply for the t-14, realistically towards schools in the bottom of the t-14 or the t-30, but at this point I'm just focusing on making myself as attractive as an applicant as I can. To give you an overall picture I attend a well known public university, and have 3.4 GPA (I however believe that my LSAC GPA will be recalculated closer to 3.2). Also, I believe I will have good softs. Seeing that my GPA is close to set in stone at this point, I therefore am hoping to score as high on the LSAT as possible. I am enrolled in a Testmasters course for the June test and find it very helpful, the first month of this course however coincided with school, and finals and I haven't been entirely focused on LSAT prep until this week. Because of this I feel that I can still increase my scores substantially, 1st diagnostic was 145, second was 150. I am answering questions correctly but running out of time on LR and RC, and still have much improvement to do on the Logic Games.
I feel that in the next month with no distractions, I should be able to increase my score hopefully to near 160 or above. Some might think that this is a tall task, but I am confident in myself and my study habits with no other distractions. My concern is that due to my current situation, should I even take the June test or pass until October? No matter what I score I will probably be inclined to retake the October test to increase my score, and being that I am still early in the cycle I am concerned that a potentially lower LSAT score on my record might not be worth it. I've read that every LSAT point, especially for AA males can be the difference between admissions and $$$. What are your opinions on my situation? Any advice is welcome, Thanks in advance

Wait and take it when you're ready, and will achieve the maximum score. For you, sounds like October is ideal. Take it once, and get a good enough score so you don't have to retake.

Edit to say - your GPA is absolutely not close to set in stone at this point, you have (presumably) two semesters left. Get kickass grades next year and bring it up!

Yeah I also say wait. 10 points in a month is not unheard of but it's tough, and even if you make it you'll feel shaky on your increase. Wait til you're consistently scoring in the range you want on practice tests. I'm also a strong believer in the power of time -- i.e. the brain develops slowly.

As long as you have everything ready, taking the test in October will not be the end of the world. You will have you apps in by Nov 1, which is plenty early.

Thanks for the advice. I I will be waiting until the October test. I will complete the testmasters course and devote my time to it as if I was taking the test in June. On the day of the test I will give myself a diagnostic to see where I am. then I will continue to study throughout the summer and take diagnostics to keep my skills sharp and see what I need to improve upon. Hopefully I can have all my apps submitted before the October LSAT test.

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Unfortunately my GPA this semester will be right around my average so I won't be able to move it much. Is it worth taking a summer class or two to boost my GPA up? Also, will law schools see my Fall GPA if I apply in October? I've just been under the impression that at this point my GPA would be hard to bring up significantly.

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