Take a sure thing or take a chance? (LSAT Score) Forum

[zaw]

I applied to Lewis and Clark only. I have a 3.8 gpa in Linguistics from University of New Mexico (1 published paper), 3 years of work experience in the NM Governor's Office (with 2 promotions) and my first LSAT was 156.

156 is within L&Cs range- barely.

I took it again on Saturday, and my gut says I did about the same. I know I bombed the games section (guessing I got 8-12 right out of 23). I feel confident about the other sections (guessing I got 20-23 right in each section).

L&C says they'll take the higher score, unless there's a big discrepancy, in which case they suggest an explanation. My file has been complete since December (save for the Feb LSAT).

Should I keep my score, hope to gain a few points and wait another month or more for a decision?
OR
Should I cancel my score, and tell them to go ahead with my 156 while they might still have a few spots?

[TTH]

Did you do any prep for the LSAT?

[zaw]

Of course. What are you getting at? I'm not applying to Yale with a 156.

[TTH]

Of course. What are you getting at? I'm not applying to Yale with a 156.

Advice would differ depending on your answer.

If you took the LSAT cold and got a 156, you should definitely retake, study, and reapply.

If you did a little prep, but panicked on test day, same.

If you honestly feel like you maxed out on the LSAT, then I don't know what to tell you...follow Richardson to his next job. Or ride it out and hope to get a little bit of money from L&C for your GPA.

[jonas586]

I vote taking a chance by studying your ass off for another year and retaking. A 3.8 is too good to waste on Lewis and Clark.

[zaw]

Thanks. I wasn't sure why you asked.

I got the 156 in Feb 07, after studying a lot in the 2 months leading up to the test (in retrospect I think I crammed too much and felt burned out on test day). I didn't take the actual class, but a friend lent me all his Kaplan materials.

This time around I studied a lot less, but with different materials (a combo of practice questions and otherwise trying to excercise my brain- reading short articles, sudoku, and a logocal reaosning text book about arguments) On practice questions I was consistently scoring very well in all sections except games, although Iwa sdoing ok.

On Saturday, the games section had a class of questions I felt I'd never seen before. I went through and knocked out the easiest ones and then made educated guesses on the rest. The test had 3 LR sections, which is my strongest area and I feel I did great on those.

[zaw]

Jonas,

If I took that route, would you cancel this latest test?

[jonas586]

I personally would. Especially if I wasn't very certain that I did any better.

[TTH]

I'd recommend retaking using PowerScore materials. They're so much better. No need to cancel really unless you want to aim higher than L&C. I'm guessing that since you only applied there, you would be happy going there with a bunch of money.

[zaw]

Thank you both for your replies. I think I'm going to cancel for one reason: any gain I might see, probablility notwithstanding, would likely be offset by such late consideration (after March 1)- they're on rolling admissions. I'm afraid that by the time they get around to my app with the new score they'll have given away most of their spots and most of their money.

Thanks again.

[BenJ]

Thank you both for your replies. I think I'm going to cancel for one reason: any gain I might see, probablility notwithstanding, would likely be offset by such late consideration (after March 1)- they're on rolling admissions. I'm afraid that by the time they get around to my app with the new score they'll have given away most of their spots and most of their money.

Thanks again.

For what it's worth, Lewis and Clark has been out of scholarship money for at least a couple of weeks. You won't get any money there at this point even if you got a 180.

[whitman]

I vote cancel, retest, and apply next year. You're expecting 20-23 on the other sections and 8-12 on logic games. That shows great potential for a good score. If you were fucked on logical reason or reading comp, I'd say that's probably just what you've got. But weak logic games is much less of a constraint. You need to drill the shit out of those and you might even have a shot at a 170. Buy a copy of all the released logic games from cambridge lsat. They're grouped by type. Read LG Bible and do all of those and I bet you can get at least 18 or 20 right on the real deal. Couple that with 3 sections of 20-23 and you'd be looking good.

[lewis louis]

Can't you tell them to go ahead and review your app as is, not cancel the latest score, and see what happens then? If its higher (even if slightly) you could adjust your plans accordingly.