Stories of decent score after feeling terrible after LSAT? Forum

[twintipping_bumps]

So I took the LSAT for a third time today. My first two scores were 159 and 166. I think I went in too confident after taking the December as a prep and getting a 170. I had to skip the third game of LG after getting the first question to go do the fourth, and I ended up bubbling four A's for the third game, since percentages suggested that was the letter I should choose.

I was pretty rattled following the Games. I don't think I did well on the second game too, and I left one blank in the section. The next section I was distracted for a bit but may have gone through the first 10 on auto pilot. Then I bared down, and I think I did pretty well on the rest of the test. Now if I am lucky, maybe one or two of my As were credited. But that is pretty wishful thinking. And who knows how out of it I was for the beginning of the following section.

My gut tells me I should cancel. But I don't understand how anyone can live with not knowing the score. Canceling is not something I will do. I figure even if I get a 164 or 165, that kind of legitimizes my 166. With anything lower, I may have done more harm than good. I don't think I got the 170 I wanted, which is sad b/c I thought I was capable. But even a 167 would help me at the schools with current 166 medians that are looking to boost to 167.

I really think I did terribly, unfortunately. A 160 wouldn't surprise me. But maybe I have progressed so much on the LSAT that I am being too hard on myself? I don't know. I've had perfect LRs before and -1 or -2 RCs. I think I may have pulled a good RC. And I feel I did well on LR, but as someone mentioned elsewhere, that makes sense since I chose the answers I thought were right. But I can't really gauge my LG section. It was pretty nightmarish.

So, anyone ever have to guess on a bunch and end up with a score higher than they thought they would get?

[Oberlion]

I got a 169, and thought I'd done terribly on the sections that I aced if that's any consolation. Don't psych yourself out unless canceling is a real possibility. It's over, man.

[twintipping_bumps]

Did you have any major blunders, like having to fill in a handful of questions with the same letter? It's hit or miss with that technique. I had to do it sometime on PTs. Sometimes one or two would come out fine, but other times there was no such luck.

Anyway, thanks for the good vibes.

[dk8]

pulled a 171 and i guessed on a whole game. i only got one of the questions i guessed on right. if you ran the rest of the test you could still have a good score.

[4910]

i took the september one and i felt like i bombed the LG section even though it was easy. (usually get -1 or 0 but thought i got -5 or -6). i decided keeping the score because i wanted to apply early. i ended up getting -6 but i ended up doing extremely well everywhere else and ot 170+. lol, i think most feel terrible, if you know for sure you bombed it like you guessed too much or something then i would consider canceling. but it you are just feeling nervous without concrete reasons, just have faith in yourself.

[twintipping_bumps]

pulled a 171 and i guessed on a whole game. i only got one of the questions i guessed on right. if you ran the rest of the test you could still have a good score.

That's a great result. You must have killed the rest. I figure if I get -8 on LG and -6 across the other three there is hope for me. But I can't really tell what else went on in the other three. At least on one in the following section I said 'who cares, this is experimental' to myself b/c I refused to believe the first section was because I did well on that and was hoping the LG I had just had was experimental. Minus 6 across on three would def be pushing the upper level of my performance history.

What a weird day.

[Grizz]

After PTing in the 170s, I choked on the last section (LG) of the Sept. LSAT. LG was normally my best section, but this time I choked and guessed on about half the questions. I was inconsolable the whole whole day. I was praying I would get a good enough score to go to UF. After thinking it through, I realized that I had probably done really good on the other four sections, so I didn't cancel. I ended up pulling a 167 out of it.

[twintipping_bumps]

After PTing in the 170s, I choked on the last section (LG) of the Sept. LSAT. LG was normally my best section, but this time I choked and guessed on about half the questions. I was inconsolable the whole whole day. I was praying I would get a good enough score to go to UF. After thinking it through, I realized that I had probably done really good on the other four sections, so I didn't cancel. I ended up pulling a 167 out of it.

That's pretty incredible. I am more, over the last couple months, a 167/168 avg PTer. So that's a touch below your 170ish average. But maybe there is hope.

[UTexas]

It might sound ridiculous, but I thought about canceling all the way up to the Friday deadline. I thought I did poorly relative to my PT range in the weeks prior to the test (177-180). After finishing every single game section from June 2003 to September 2009 in at most 32 minutes and at -1 or -0, the December 2009 LG tripped me up. I didn't finish the fourth game. I had slept very poorly on both Thursday and Friday night, so I figured fatigue was good for a few extra stupid mistakes in LR and RC. I walked out of the test hating life.

Reading this website didn't help me any. I thought Dec. 2009 was, overall, harder than any test since at least 2002, and maybe earlier, but about 15 minutes of skimming this site led me (mistakenly) to believe that most thought it had been a normal or easy test. Accordingly, I settled into expecting a merciless curve.

I narrowly decided against canceling and resigned myself to having to retake it in June. My score ended up being a 178 (-4 on LG, -1 on LR, and -0 on RC). I'm usually a tad pessimistic, but I was much further off than usual in my self-assessment.

[twintipping_bumps]

After finishing every single game section from June 2003 to September 2009 in at most 32 minutes and at -1 or -0, the December 2009 LG tripped me up. I didn't finish the fourth game.

I was slow on the Dec LGs when I PT'd them. And I found today's to be even more time consuming. Someone elsewhere was suggesting this is the new trend, more "plug and chug" type questions.

[dk8]

pulled a 171 and i guessed on a whole game. i only got one of the questions i guessed on right. if you ran the rest of the test you could still have a good score.

That's a great result. You must have killed the rest. I figure if I get -8 on LG and -6 across the other three there is hope for me. But I can't really tell what else went on in the other three. At least on one in the following section I said 'who cares, this is experimental' to myself b/c I refused to believe the first section was because I did well on that and was hoping the LG I had just had was experimental. Minus 6 across on three would def be pushing the upper level of my performance history.

What a weird day.

Yeah, I already had a seat deposit in at another school, so I stayed relaxed even though the games section that I blew it on was my first. I just thought, screw it, I'm already goin to school I'll just do my best on the rest and it doesn't matter.

You never know. Since schools take the highest score, I think you should not cancel unless you're absolutely certain you didn't run the rest of the test.

[Chromakey]

I took the LSAT in June and must have thought about canceling at least a dozen times. The games rattled me and I was sure that I blew them completely (both the third and fourth games for me were nightmares)...turns out I only missed 3 and I pulled a 171. The real question you might want to ask yourself, if you are considering a cancel, is whether or not you are pretty accurate at gauging how well you do on standardized tests. For me, I'm usually horribly pessimistic and 9 times out of 10 do much better than I thought I did.

[Grizz]

After PTing in the 170s, I choked on the last section (LG) of the Sept. LSAT. LG was normally my best section, but this time I choked and guessed on about half the questions. I was inconsolable the whole whole day. I was praying I would get a good enough score to go to UF. After thinking it through, I realized that I had probably done really good on the other four sections, so I didn't cancel. I ended up pulling a 167 out of it.

That's pretty incredible. I am more, over the last couple months, a 167/168 avg PTer. So that's a touch below your 170ish average. But maybe there is hope.

There is definitely hope. Don't worry so much; I'm sure you did fine. I never did get the 170+ I wanted (retook in December, 168, still worth it), but I bet you didn't do worse than your 166.

[b.j.]

After PTing in the 170s, I choked on the last section (LG) of the Sept. LSAT. LG was normally my best section, but this time I choked and guessed on about half the questions. I was inconsolable the whole whole day. I was praying I would get a good enough score to go to UF. After thinking it through, I realized that I had probably done really good on the other four sections, so I didn't cancel. I ended up pulling a 167 out of it.

This, among other responses, is what is giving me hope.

For the Feb. LSAT, I had LG-LR-LG-LR-RC. My biggest issue is with the timing, so when I got LG first, I was worried. I took forever to do just some of the--the amount of plugging in was a bit much, I think--and I had to guess on a bunch of them. For whatever reason, I can barely remember what the games were about, so I have no idea which one was the experimental. Unless something really bizarre happened, I didn't do as well as I would have hoped. But on the other hand, I thought I did pretty well on December's LG, and I did only a two points better than I usually do. Perhaps there's just some level I don't fall below. If that's the case, if I don't get, say, only 6 right (an extreme, to be sure), then I should be okay, as long as the other sections went well.

The LR sections weren't bad. I feel better about them then I did about the ones in December, although that may be based purely on the fact that I ended up doing better on practice LR sections before this test than I did before December's test and because I didn't have a big issue with the timing. The RC could go either way. With the Berkel jury passage in particular, I felt a lot of the questions were verging on subjective with the language they used. I had to rush through the Edith Wharton passage, but I think I did okay. As with LG in December, I didn't do as well as I thought/hoped for, but I didn't get -20, either.

Basically, I needed just a few points higher to get into a school I'd be happy with this cycle--or so I think. Unless it went a lot worse than I think, which is a possibility, but not a certainty, I might [knock on wood] have gotten it.

Here's to hoping...

[lawman335]

hey took the september LSAT and i felt like i bombed the LG section even though it was easy. i decided keeping the score because i wanted to apply early. i ended up getting -6 but i ended up doing extremely well everywhere else and ot 170+. lol, i think most feel terrible, if you know for sure you bombed it like you guessed too much or something then i would consider canceling. but it you are just feeling nervous without concrete reasons, just have faith in yourself.

[b.j.]

hey took the september LSAT and i felt like i bombed the LG section even though it was easy. i decided keeping the score because i wanted to apply early. i ended up getting -6 but i ended up doing extremely well everywhere else and ot 170+. lol, i think most feel terrible, if you know for sure you bombed it like you guessed too much or something then i would consider canceling. but it you are just feeling nervous without concrete reasons, just have faith in yourself.

I don't think there's any point in canceling now, at least for me. If I need to take it again, I'd have to wait until September/October or December of this year. (I took it in December of 2009 and had one cancellation in June of 2009.) If I don't get in anywhere I'd be happy with now, then I simply need to start the process over again in the fall.

[JasonR]

I felt like crap after the December 2009 LSAT. I thought it was much harder than usual, but I figured that was just the effect of nerves and no sleep. I had to guess the final few questions in LG and RC, and I thought I was looking at 163 at worst and 166 at best. Ended up with a 170.

[twintipping_bumps]

I had to guess in LG. I feel terrible. I have a 166. I feel like I did worse. Even a 167 would be great. Were you a person that averaged over 170 on PTs?

[EzraStiles]

hey took the september LSAT and i felt like i bombed the LG section even though it was easy. i decided keeping the score because i wanted to apply early. i ended up getting -6 but i ended up doing extremely well everywhere else and ot 170+. lol, i think most feel terrible, if you know for sure you bombed it like you guessed too much or something then i would consider canceling. but it you are just feeling nervous without concrete reasons, just have faith in yourself.

It's odd, then, that on previous posts you say your LSAT is a 151 and a 167...

The fact that you are a troll sucks enough, what's worse is that you are giving rather maliciously uninformed advice to people looking for help and taking posters at their word. As such, your disingenuous posts are doubly frustrating for other members of TLS.

[monkeyboy]

hey took the september LSAT and i felt like i bombed the LG section even though it was easy. i decided keeping the score because i wanted to apply early. i ended up getting -6 but i ended up doing extremely well everywhere else and ot 170+. lol, i think most feel terrible, if you know for sure you bombed it like you guessed too much or something then i would consider canceling. but it you are just feeling nervous without concrete reasons, just have faith in yourself.

It's odd, then, that on previous posts you say your LSAT is a 151 and a 167...

The fact that you are a troll sucks enough, what's worse is that you are giving rather maliciously uninformed advice to people looking for help and taking posters at their word. As such, your disingenuous posts are doubly frustrating for other members of TLS.

LOL.

[Laina]

I left my test feeling okay, feeling more relieved than anything else. I went and saw a movie by myself afterward, and ended up bawling in the theatre. I knew I had bombed a game (classes, the 4th game in Sept) and didn't feel great about the third game at all. I felt law school was now out of my reach. I never considered canceling (it was my first time, and I didn't want to go through all that for nothing), and I ended up with a 171. -5 games, but ended up with a -4 on the rest of the test. Sometimes you can surprise yourself; one section isn't the entire test.

[twintipping_bumps]

Did you typically score above a 170 on PTs?

[Laina]

Did you typically score above a 170 on PTs?

Is this to me? I had focused on timed sections as opposed to PTs, so I only took four full timed PTs: 159, 165, 171, 166.

[JasonR]

I had to guess in LG. I feel terrible. I have a 166. I feel like I did worse. Even a 167 would be great. Were you a person that averaged over 170 on PTs?

Yeah, I was. So I was both disappointed and relieved with the 170, if that makes any sense, since I usually scored higher on strictly-timed practice tests. I'm not applying until this fall, so I'm going to make myself retake in June. I didn't rest well enough during the last week, and then I slept not one minute the night before, so I'm not surprised I stumbled. I'm just glad I did so much better than I expected coming out of the test.

[itsfine]

i got 9 out of a span of 11 questions wrong in one section, and that made me a little upset bc i knew i wasnt doing well that section.... ended up with a 167 which for me at least was a score i was content with