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This may seem a little premature because I have basically heard nothing back from any schools that I've applied to so far but I'm considering a February retake of the LSAT to (potentially) boost my stats a little and maybe increase my chances of getting into a school that I was deferred ED from.

Right now, I'm sitting at a 169 and I've heard that the difference between sub-170 and 170+ is like night and day for law school admissions. Before my October test, I was PTing at around 172-175 but I am definitely one of those people who will lose a few points on the actual test day guaranteed. So my questions are:

1) If I don't invest too many hours into it, I can maybe manage a 171 or 172 at best. Is it worth it to retake for this 2-3 point gain, given that it might put me into the 170+ group?

2) If I do worse in February, will law schools see it if I don't tell them I retook?

3) If I applied in late-November, should I expect to see some decisions soon so that I can get a better idea of where I stand before the test registration deadline or should I just register now and cancel if need be later on (and of course, lose the $150 reg fee)?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

1. Yes, if you are looking at T14 schools (which you probably are)
2. If you've already applied, I don't think schools can see your new scores. However, I'm not positive.
3. I applied and got accepted into 3 schools that I applied to earlier this month, so you should probably hear back. I'm not sure when the deadlines are for Feb, but check all of the deadlines. You can get a refund of your fee before a certain date.

The only problem with the Feb test is that many schools will have already given out scholarship info before your scores come in. If you really want to score in the 170s, it wouldn't hurt.

cactuarX3 wrote:This may seem a little premature because I have basically heard nothing back from any schools that I've applied to so far but I'm considering a February retake of the LSAT to (potentially) boost my stats a little and maybe increase my chances of getting into a school that I was deferred ED from.

Right now, I'm sitting at a 169 and I've heard that the difference between sub-170 and 170+ is like night and day for law school admissions. Before my October test, I was PTing at around 172-175 but I am definitely one of those people who will lose a few points on the actual test day guaranteed. So my questions are:

1) If I don't invest too many hours into it, I can maybe manage a 171 or 172 at best. Is it worth it to retake for this 2-3 point gain, given that it might put me into the 170+ group?

2) If I do worse in February, will law schools see it if I don't tell them I retook?

3) If I applied in late-November, should I expect to see some decisions soon so that I can get a better idea of where I stand before the test registration deadline or should I just register now and cancel if need be later on (and of course, lose the $150 reg fee)?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

I would put your all into it and retake. With your GPA and with higher than a 170, you could get into most of the T14. If you get rejected from some of the better schools before your retake, I would even hold out and reapply next year. Good luck

instantwonton wrote:I would put your all into it and retake. With your GPA and with higher than a 170, you could get into most of the T14. If you get rejected from some of the better schools before your retake, I would even hold out and reapply next year. Good luck

Good advice, but I was really trying to get your opinion on whether or not a 2-3 point increase is even worth it? I mean, going from a 160-170 is a major game changer, but is going from a 169-171 a game changer?

Bump. This is a question I have as well.