Should AngieJ Retake!? Forum

[angiej]

Wow, congrats on that awesome improvement. Was your Sept 09 sort of like a diagnostic for you or did you prep considerably before you took the test?

I read the powerscore LG bible and the LR bible, and took 10 timed practice tests and 4 untimed tests. I studied over 4 months, but hour-wise, it wasn't that much because while 4 months may seem like a long time, with my work and school schedule it was maybe about 5-9 hours a week. RC was my worst section on the june test, I was -12. I would love some recommendations on improving RC.

My 155 wasn't from nervousness or anything like that, I was very nervous and very calm, in fact my 155 was 2 points higher than my best practice test. So its not like I was PTing much higher and bombed the june test.

How many did you miss on LR and LG?

-7 and -8 respectively. I finished all sections except RC, but with LR and LG I was really rushing to finish.

You can definitely improve on LG. -8 is not bad for LR (less than I missed). -7 for games is quite a lot. I think you want to be missing 3 or less going into the test. I would recommend working on RC and LG for the first few weeks of study, then taking more PT's and see if that helps at all.

If you're still not scoring what you want, than you could always decide not to take the test (I think there's a deadline about 3 weeks out that allows you to do this). But I think, at least sign up and give it a try...particularly before all the test centers fill up...as what happened in Sept09.

Good suggestions. Do you know if I sign up and then decide not to take within the cancel deadline does this look like a regular "cancel" that will appear on my report sent to schools?

[angiej]

Has anyone studied the LSAC repeat taker data?

According to this:
http://www.lsac.org/pdfs/RepeaterData.pdf

I (with a score of 155) have a 64% chance of scoring within 150-159; a 30% chance of scoring within 160-169; and only a 2% chance of scoring 170-180.

Just say'in.

[queenlizzie13]

Good suggestions. Do you know if I sign up and then decide not to take within the cancel deadline does this look like a regular "cancel" that will appear on my report sent to schools?

Not sure...might want to check with LSAC policy on this. I would have to look it up on the website. I've heard you can also be "absent" on test day as well, and that will not hurt you much. In fact, I've heard an "absent" is better than a cancellation - because you didn't see any of the testing material.

[bp colin]

Good suggestions. Do you know if I sign up and then decide not to take within the cancel deadline does this look like a regular "cancel" that will appear on my report sent to schools?

Not sure...might want to check with LSAC policy on this. I would have to look it up on the website. I've heard you can also be "absent" on test day as well, and that will not hurt you much. In fact, I've heard an "absent" is better than a cancellation - because you didn't see any of the testing material.

If you cancel before the three weeks-ish deadline, then schools will never know that you had signed up. You even get a partial refund.

If you decide during those last three weeks that you don't want to take it, it'll be an absence, which schools will see.

[LSAT Blog]

Good suggestions. Do you know if I sign up and then decide not to take within the cancel deadline does this look like a regular "cancel" that will appear on my report sent to schools?

Not sure...might want to check with LSAC policy on this. I would have to look it up on the website. I've heard you can also be "absent" on test day as well, and that will not hurt you much. In fact, I've heard an "absent" is better than a cancellation - because you didn't see any of the testing material.

If you cancel before the three weeks-ish deadline, then schools will never know that you had signed up. You even get a partial refund.

If you decide during those last three weeks that you don't want to take it, it'll be an absence, which schools will see.

If you don't change your test date by the 3 weeks-ish deadline but decide you don't want to take it, you can be a no-show (an absence, as Sir Colin put it), but you can also go to the test center and cancel. Both a no-show and a cancellation show up on your record.

A no-show doesn't count as one of the "3 times you can take in a 2-year period", but a cancel does.

I've gone over the pros and cons of each option in depth.

(The 3 times you can take in a 2-year period rule can be circumvented with a special exception from a law school.)

[queenlizzie13]

^ Thanks for the link. Some valuable information to know.

[angiej]

Well I registered to retake in October. I hope I don't regret this. Though I did take a PT today and scored a 157, two points higher than my June 2010 test (and 5 points higher than my best timed PT) so this really encourages me and makes me feel like I still have untapped potential and improvability left in me!

[TommyK]

I think IU-B is a big reach. The median for IUB is 164 I think. If you answered this already, I apologize, but I skimmed a lot of the passages. If you've been working 6 yrs post-undergrad, why can't you wait another year? Perhaps a year of instructor-led classes will make a big difference and get you into the low 160's.

Good luck,
TK

[angiej]

I think IU-B is a big reach. The median for IUB is 164 I think. If you answered this already, I apologize, but I skimmed a lot of the passages. If you've been working 6 yrs post-undergrad, why can't you wait another year? Perhaps a year of instructor-led classes will make a big difference and get you into the low 160's.

Good luck,
TK

Thanks TK - I've worked 6 years, but I'm in undergrad right now, so the issue isn't that I can't learn this stuff without taking a prep class (I did take myself from 143 to 155 (and now 157) afterall) but the issue is timing and trying to schedule a class around my busy schedule.

[MentalGopher]

Despite your PT scores, I'm not fully convinced you've maxed out your LSAT because you GPA is so high, so I'd vote for a retake unless you truly believe you've given it all you have and maxed out.
You have a stellar GPA and could attend better programs & land more scholarships which will likely give you (1) less debt, (2) stronger employment prospects, and (3) more portability.

If you can't find the time to study, you could wait until you finish school. Then just study for the LSAT and work. This would also give the legal market more time to recover.

Also, you could consider a prep-class like Powerscore, it isn't necessary, but does provide structure which really helps some people. And I think you get a refund if you don't beat your 155.

This is exactly why I'm torn (the bolded). I was improving up until test day. My studying got off to a rough start (showed very little improvement) and then three weeks before the test day things started to really improve. While I certainly could graduate undergrad and focus on the lsat and work only, I would then have to start repaying school loans from undergrad and I don't think I can afford that right now. I need to defer until I'm truly done.

I would definitely retake. I had the same thing happen to me when I started prepping. I started out at a 156, actually went down 6 points, then had to work slowly up. I started showing improvement on my raw and scaled scores about a week before the actual test. Then I took the real thing and got a 160.

Some prep courses will also let you retake the class for free if you're not satisfied with the LSAT score you get, even if you show improvement. (Princeton Review does, at least.) It might be worth your while if you need the structure, but it's not necessary to improving if there's only one section you really, really tanked.