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I was surprised by the score when I knew it. I thought it would be 165 at most. My PT scores are always around 158-162, 165 a few times. should I work hard for the rest of the 40 days and retake it in December? or just take the score and try ED GULC or Cornell? My GPA isn't helping, 3.45.
Thanks

Yes. Absolutely retake. A 3 point increase will make a world of difference for you.

yzhu72 wrote:I was surprised by the score when I knew it. I thought it would be 165 at most. My PT scores are always around 158-162, 165 a few times. should I work hard for the rest of the 40 days and retake it in December? or just take the score and try ED GULC or Cornell? My GPA isn't helping, 3.45.
Thanks

This is exactly the situation where one shouldn't retake. If you overperformed your PT results by that much, chances are your next score will be worse. You performed better than what? 19 out of 20 people who took the test? Focus on improving your GPA, I know it's late in the game but a killer semester could still get you to 3.5. I'd ED the school you have a better chance of getting into(especially if they offer a full scholarship for ED). I'm doing the same thing, except on a lower level then you are. You did incredible on your LSAT, good job:).

1) OP may have already graduated which would make increasing their GPA impossible.

2) schools that offer full scholarships for ED use those scholarships to attract students who are at the top of their numbers, not the bottom. Someone who is already reaching isn't going to get in ED with a scholarship.

3) if the OP overperformed their PTs all that shows is that they are capable of doing better than they did on their PTs, which suggests they can continue to improve and do better. We don't have any info at all about how the OP studied or what materials they have left etc. so to say that chances are their next score would be worse is absolutely groundless.

4) retaking won't hurt your application at all. Even if the score goes down, schools report the highest score, so that's the only one that matters. So doing worse won't hurt anything. And who knows, they might continue to improve! But they can't know that unless they retake.

What Nony said.
Defintiely study hard for December (late signup open a couple more days iirc).
Also, don't ED Georgetown or Cornell. If you improve at all, you have a good chance at getting in RD. You have an okay shot now. But you don't want to pay sticker and ED'ing at those schools ensures that.

It's your choice. But I wouldn't re-take.