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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

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

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."

Knock wrote:

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

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."

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).
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.

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 think the band isn't always +/- 3 -- if you have multiple scores, for instance.

bringbackfirefly wrote:

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 think the band isn't always +/- 3 -- if you have multiple scores, for instance.

Wouldn't you just have a different score band for each score ?

Knock wrote:

bringbackfirefly wrote:

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 think the band isn't always +/- 3 -- if you have multiple scores, for instance.

Wouldn't you just have a different score band for each score ?

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.

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.

Yeah, I was referencing the band that appears in the average row.

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.

bringbackfirefly wrote:

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.

Yeah, I was referencing the band that appears in the average row.

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.

Ah, I canceled my second score so I wouldn't know .