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I know that this topic has been breached upon a few times, but I think my situation is a bit different, especially being so close to test time. I am currently registered for the October exam (which is about 9 days away), but I am a good 5 points away from my goal. Should I skip the Oct and wait until the december exam, or should I take the October exam and then take it again in December?

If I wait until the December exam, I am pretty sure I can get my score up... I took a semester off from grad school to study for this exam/do apps, so I could do 4-5 practice exams a week for the next 2 months. I am just worried that raising my score 3-5 points might be outweighed by the fact that I am applying late, in December. Although I know that nearly every school accepts the Dec LSAT, I know that this would not make my application complete til late in the cycle.

So I guess it comes down to 2 questions:

1) Should I take the October exam anyway, and take it again in Dec? Or does the fact that some schools average the two tell me that I should just wait til Dec.

2) Will the advantage of gaining 3-5 points over the next 2 months be outweighed by the disadvantage of applying late in the cycle?

I really appreciate any responses... Really lost right now as to what to do. I'm only doing 1 PT every other day right now (about 2-3 sections of it a day) but I know I should increase it to a full PT a day.

It all depends on what your target score is. If your target score is a 160 and you end up scoring a 156 in Oct and raise it to a 160 in Dec, it may help a little. However, if your target is a 170 and youre currently scoring 166 or 167, that 3 points will help.

deakon10 wrote:Or does the fact that some schools average the two tell me that I should just wait til Dec.

What schools still average? I've heard that very few (if any) do because they only have to report the highest score. I feel like, unless its stated explicitly, assuming that a school averages scores is a actually just an excuse for them weeding out poor applicants.

I'm pretty sure only the top schools average. I know Harvard says they take both into account.

Take the October test & register for the December test if unhappy with your score.

Really? I thought a lot of schools take the average... so there is no downside to me taking the October exam? And then re-taking it in Dec?

take it.. if you're not happy then take it again in december. get all of your applications finished before december, so that you can hit the submit button as soon as you get the score

Good advice... I plan on choosing schools and starting the application process now (getting recommendation letters etc submitted)... That way once my exam is over, I can work for the next 4 weeks to complete the application, and have it done by the time the score comes 4 weeks later.