For Those Who Have Bombed: NEXT STEPS? Forum

[smdewart]

I've been a long-time observer of this board but not a participant. Thanks to everyone as this is an immense "support group".

I thought I did everything right: took a prep course (Atlas -- they're amazing despite my score), studied nearly every day (even lost my job in late August which afforded me hours of daily studying time!), took ~20 PTs, etc.

Was scoring in mid- to high-160s the couple of wks before the exam. My gift tonight? A 157. I have no effing clue.

TO OTHERS IN THE SAME BOAT: What are your next steps? What are your thoughts, emotions aside (as hard as that is)?

Here's my take: it's easy to say "I'll just retake in December". But maybe that's too idealistic. I'm thinking about applying part-time to a decent (okay, T2) program here in Chicago -- I really like Chicago-Kent, for example -- but then I'm dealing with p/t vs. f/t. But if I pursue this route, and apply NOW versus retaking in Dec. (knowing that I may not do so well in Dec. and may have forfeited advantages anyway due to applying late in the game), am I "giving up"???

Would love to know others' thoughts.

[play2win]

First step is get the fucking PDF and see where I went wrong. What is the curve on this test? I'm freaking the fuck out right now.

[pppokerface]

Dec 09 I got a 157. I took a break for a few months (graduation...life in general etc) and made sure I was in a better state in life. Just relaxed and studied 4 months before this test. Bombs(not that your score is bad but to me a bomb is a score that is much lower than your pts) feel terrible, give yourself time to grieve.

[risktaker]

z

[northwood]

Wait until the pdf's come out and use them as a guide for studying. Take the rest of the weekend off from everything lsat related, and come back on monday ( or whenever you have a fresh mindset) and look at the questions you got wrong. Drill those question types, then get back into prep tests. If you did bad on sections 4 and 5, work on your endurance. Dedicate yourself to the december test, and if you dont have your lor's in yet, get them in asap. AFter the december test, finish your applications and addendum for the score.

Keep your head up high. You now have the experience of the actual test day, and not just a prep test. This will help you on your re take. You will be fine, good luck!

[James Bond]

As I posted in one of the other threads:

People who failed the LSAT,

Please take this time to consider the mind-numbing aspects of being a lawyer, the entirely unnecessary hours, the fact that there are more students in law school than there are lawyers, this video, the ridiculous debt, the complete lack of hiring, and the fact that you're probably good at something else that doesn't take a fortune to get a degree in, has reasonable hours, might even pay well, and won't have you dying of either suicide or a coke overdose.

So before you go rushing off to pay the LSAC for another round of meaningless testing, self reflect, and realize that 157 might be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Love,

Bond

[hscohen]

Wait until the pdf's come out and use them as a guide for studying. Take the rest of the weekend off from everything lsat related, and come back on monday ( or whenever you have a fresh mindset) and look at the questions you got wrong. Drill those question types, then get back into prep tests. If you did bad on sections 4 and 5, work on your endurance. Dedicate yourself to the december test, and if you dont have your lor's in yet, get them in asap. AFter the december test, finish your applications and addendum for the score.

Keep your head up high. You now have the experience of the actual test day, and not just a prep test. This will help you on your re take. You will be fine, good luck!

When do the PDFs come out?

[northwood]

i thought they came out when the scored did, but obviously they didnt this time, so i have no clue

if i were to guess, id say they'll be out by monday

[alexandra]

First step is get the fucking PDF and see where I went wrong. What is the curve on this test? I'm freaking the fuck out right now.

Ummmm, yeah me too.

I canceled June '10. Studied over the summer (although admittedly not as much as I should have), PT average 170. Test day: 163. Text day anxiety killed me. I've already started studying for December retake but now I'm soooooo stressed that Jan 1 will be too late for applications... Ahhh! Help!

[luckyme]

First step is get the fucking PDF and see where I went wrong. What is the curve on this test? I'm freaking the fuck out right now.

Ummmm, yeah me too.

I canceled June '10. Studied over the summer (although admittedly not as much as I should have), PT average 170. Test day: 163. Text day anxiety killed me. I've already started studying for December retake but now I'm soooooo stressed that Jan 1 will be too late for applications... Ahhh! Help!

December score email date: 1/10/11

[alexandra]

First step is get the fucking PDF and see where I went wrong. What is the curve on this test? I'm freaking the fuck out right now.

Ummmm, yeah me too.

I canceled June '10. Studied over the summer (although admittedly not as much as I should have), PT average 170. Test day: 163. Text day anxiety killed me. I've already started studying for December retake but now I'm soooooo stressed that Jan 1 will be too late for applications... Ahhh! Help!

December score email date: 1/10/11

SHIT! Even worse!!!

[williemayshayes]

Hey OP...totally identical situation brother. Lucky for me, however, I am in my last year of undergrad and my studying encompassed a summer where I just went home and lived with my folks.

My PT experience was about as hit or miss as humanly possible. Here's a brief breakdown...11 tests total. Broke 167 six times (of those six, broke 170 twice), and failed to crack 164 five times (on those five, failed to crack 162 three times). I scored a 157 just like you did :-/.

My eyes are on a June retake. I am planning on graduating in the spring (and dropping one of my two minors so I can have an easy as cake final quarter, study the PS bibles, and take me some PT's). I've done the heavy lifting as far as knowing what to expect on the test, and am ready to get it right. I have two very huge factors in my favor.

1) I am taking the year following my graduation off, and going to apply to schools in the Fall of 2011, for admission to enter school in Fall '12...this also opens up the possibility for an October exam should it come to that. This has drastically reduced my stress levels from where they otherwise would be.

2) I am looking primarily at Southern schools ranked 30-60...Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, SMU, Tennessee in the order of preference...my goal is to get a scholarship to one of these schools, so a mid-to-high-160's score will be beyond clutch for me. Hence, all my prep form this point forward will be "ironing out the kinks".

In retrospect, I did myself a huge disservice by not taking the tests in regular intervals...and in between, focusing on individual sections too much. Sometimes, due to time constraints, I completed tests in separate sit-downs. And in doing so failed to adequately prepare for the physiological adjustments necessary to stay on top of all of it in a 4 hour test.

If anyone has any ideas on how to break this debilitating hit-or-miss complex...help will be much appreciated.

[arvcondor]

As I posted in one of the other threads:

People who failed the LSAT,

Please take this time to consider the mind-numbing aspects of being a lawyer, the entirely unnecessary hours, the fact that there are more students in law school than there are lawyers, this video, the ridiculous debt, the complete lack of hiring, and the fact that you're probably good at something else that doesn't take a fortune to get a degree in, has reasonable hours, might even pay well, and won't have you dying of either suicide or a coke overdose.

So before you go rushing off to pay the LSAC for another round of meaningless testing, self reflect, and realize that 157 might be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Love,

Bond

I like this.

[freon]

As I posted in one of the other threads:

People who failed the LSAT,

Please take this time to consider the mind-numbing aspects of being a lawyer, the entirely unnecessary hours, the fact that there are more students in law school than there are lawyers, this video, the ridiculous debt, the complete lack of hiring, and the fact that you're probably good at something else that doesn't take a fortune to get a degree in, has reasonable hours, might even pay well, and won't have you dying of either suicide or a coke overdose.

So before you go rushing off to pay the LSAC for another round of meaningless testing, self reflect, and realize that 157 might be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Love,

Bond

I like this.

Cop out. If you thought you were good enough for law school before, work hard and take it again. There are numerous stories of folks who increased significantly after retaking. Rededicate(word?) yourself. Damn.

[jaydizzle]

........

[am588]

so I'm torn with my low LSAT score, but it's not too horribly low to get into the part time programs I'm looking at. with my career, taking the dec LSAT will nearly be impossible (I'm working 70-80 hours a week Nov-Dec). I have fee waivers to all the schools I want to apply to, so I'm thinking of just applying as is, and if I don't get in, just retake in June.

[two_wheels_good]

As I posted in one of the other threads:

People who failed the LSAT,

Please take this time to consider the mind-numbing aspects of being a lawyer, the entirely unnecessary hours, the fact that there are more students in law school than there are lawyers, this video, the ridiculous debt, the complete lack of hiring, and the fact that you're probably good at something else that doesn't take a fortune to get a degree in, has reasonable hours, might even pay well, and won't have you dying of either suicide or a coke overdose.

So before you go rushing off to pay the LSAC for another round of meaningless testing, self reflect, and realize that 157 might be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Love,

Bond

I know you're probably going to get flamed for this, but it's still pretty good advice.
I studied for this thing for months, and ended up scoring a good ten points lower than any practice test I took. I could have just gone into it cold and scored the same.
There's no way I can re-take in December with my job situation right now (60 hour weeks, and mentally I just will not be able to keep my mind on the LSAT like I should), so I'll consider re-taking in February and waiting a year to apply.
Or I'll do a little self-reflection on my decent job already in the legal profession, whether I really want to take on $100k worth of debt, and whether I want to become unemployed for three years so I can (maybe) get a job that pays slightly better than what I make now. Or maybe I'll just apply to my one safety school with my shitty score and see what happens.
But when I was feeling all morose over my score last night, and definitely planning a retake, I still couldn't help the thought that kept popping into my head that "man, maybe LSAC just did me a big favor."

[mrvinyl007]

Hey OP...totally identical situation brother. Lucky for me, however, I am in my last year of undergrad and my studying encompassed a summer where I just went home and lived with my folks.

My PT experience was about as hit or miss as humanly possible. Here's a brief breakdown...11 tests total. Broke 167 six times (of those six, broke 170 twice), and failed to crack 164 five times (on those five, failed to crack 162 three times). I scored a 157 just like you did :-/.

My eyes are on a June retake. I am planning on graduating in the spring (and dropping one of my two minors so I can have an easy as cake final quarter, study the PS bibles, and take me some PT's). I've done the heavy lifting as far as knowing what to expect on the test, and am ready to get it right. I have two very huge factors in my favor.

1) I am taking the year following my graduation off, and going to apply to schools in the Fall of 2011, for admission to enter school in Fall '12...this also opens up the possibility for an October exam should it come to that. This has drastically reduced my stress levels from where they otherwise would be.

2) I am looking primarily at Southern schools ranked 30-60...Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, SMU, Tennessee in the order of preference...my goal is to get a scholarship to one of these schools, so a mid-to-high-160's score will be beyond clutch for me. Hence, all my prep form this point forward will be "ironing out the kinks".

In retrospect, I did myself a huge disservice by not taking the tests in regular intervals...and in between, focusing on individual sections too much. Sometimes, due to time constraints, I completed tests in separate sit-downs. And in doing so failed to adequately prepare for the physiological adjustments necessary to stay on top of all of it in a 4 hour test.

If anyone has any ideas on how to break this debilitating hit-or-miss complex...help will be much appreciated.

I think I'm going to go your route. I was practice testing in the low to mid 160's and then boom, a 149 on the Oct LSAT. I probably should of cancelled the score since two days prior I had put my dog of 16 years down which didn't put me in the best state of mind. I'm also still in my undergrad and only need 7 credits to graduate next semester. So I could easily study for six or so months and take the June LSAT. I have a job, so that would keep me busy and gain some work experience and to be honest, I wouldn't mind taking a year off of school.

[AreJay711]

I did well but I'm retaking in Feb. I left out most of the Top6 from my applications so if I do significantly better on the feb test I won't except admission unless it's in the Top10. PT average 172 october 168 -- not exactly bombed but still closes off HY and makes the rest of the top 6 a reach