should i take the LSAT for the 3rd time? Forum

[fatpeopleavenger]

Hey,

I took the LSAT twice so far and incredibly disappointing numbers. Scored 146 for the December 2010, and scored 149 for the June 2011. I admit I did not study too much which was completely irresponsible. I studied about 3 weeks for the 1st exam, and studied 4-5 weeks for the 2nd exam. I am thinking about taking an LSAT prep course (which I did not do, self-study through books). If I study longer along with taking a prep course, can I significantly improve my numbers? Or do you think I am peaked? I was really disappointed with my 2nd exam because I was scoring mid 150s on my practice exams.

Please give me your honest opinions (without flaming or being too critical)

Thank You

[fatpeopleavenger]

my lsac gpa is 3.27 and percentile for the two exams were 29% (dec 10) and 40 (june 11).

[ahnhub]

No one can give you a perfect answer--a lot depends on what you are expecting. I'm guessing most people on this forum would advise you to not take it and think about something besides law school, because a score in that range wouldn't get you in to a very reputable school. I would probably agree, if you are a normal case (i.e..--no special connections, job lined up, doing it to enhance present career or for intellectual reasons, etc.)

Beyond that, I would honestly assess why you scored lower than you wanted. If you're just not that great at reading and analyzing text, maybe a third time isn't wise. If there's some other hurdle you think you might overcome--maybe you just stink at games and have been getting 20 wrong or something, and you can concentrate on that, maybe you could improve a lot. I improved a bunch from where I started at.

[fatpeopleavenger]

No one can give you a perfect answer--a lot depends on what you are expecting. I'm guessing most people on this forum would advise you to not take it and think about something besides law school, because a score in that range wouldn't get you in to a very reputable school. I would probably agree, if you are a normal case (i.e..--no special connections, job lined up, doing it to enhance present career or for intellectual reasons, etc.)

Beyond that, I would honestly assess why you scored lower than you wanted. If you're just not that great at reading and analyzing text, maybe a third time isn't wise. If there's some other hurdle you think you might overcome--maybe you just stink at games and have been getting 20 wrong or something, and you can concentrate on that, maybe you could improve a lot. I improved a bunch from where I started at.

My goal is to get to 160. I guess the main issue I have is that when I get a logical reasoning answer wrong, I do not exactly know why that answer is particularly wrong. I guess that's why I want to take an LSAT prep course this time. The Logic Games is easily my strongest while reading comprehension is rather hit or miss. My friend told me it is not wise to take it for the 3rd time, but I strongly believe with more time studying and taking an LSAT prep course, I could get to 160. My question is whether an LSAT course can really help me or not.

[rinkrat19]

Either take it again or do not even think about law school.

[Angrygeopolitically]

Either take it again or do not even think about law school.

[fatpeopleavenger]

testmasters or powerscore...can they really help me with the LSATs?

[rinkrat19]

testmasters or powerscore...can they really help me with the LSATs?

They help some people. There are lots of threads on here debating which course is best.

And just FYI, it's the LSAT, singular. Not LSATs, plural. That drives TLSers batshit.

[Schang1]

I personally would advise taking a prep course if you have already studied on your own (regardless of whether it was 3 weeks or 5 weeks) and you still scored in the 140s. I'm one of those people (not saying that you are) who just cannot make myself study at home (e.g. figure out how much stuff I should do a day, procrastinate) so taking a prep course really helped me because they assign you a bunch of HW and you move on to the next lesson the next time class meets, so if you don't do your HW, you're behind the class -- so this really motivated me to do my HW and really stay on top of the lesson before moving on to a new lesson (since it'd be a total waste of money for taking a course worth like $1000 when you don't even do the HW needed to learn the lesson). And I'm taking the LSAT for the third time as well so I feel ya

[bp shinners]

My goal is to get to 160. I guess the main issue I have is that when I get a logical reasoning answer wrong, I do not exactly know why that answer is particularly wrong. I guess that's why I want to take an LSAT prep course this time. The Logic Games is easily my strongest while reading comprehension is rather hit or miss. My friend told me it is not wise to take it for the 3rd time, but I strongly believe with more time studying and taking an LSAT prep course, I could get to 160. My question is whether an LSAT course can really help me or not.

If this is your problem, and what you're looking to get out of a prep course, I would highly recommend sitting in on different courses in your area (preferably about halfway through the material) to see how the instructor there deals with incorrect answers. As much as this sounds weird, it's quite often harder to explain why the wrong answer's wrong in a way that comes across to students than why a right answer's right. It's also something that many instructors will gloss over, especially as the course gets into the later lessons. You should make sure that whoever is teaching your class spends time on wrong answers and does so in a productive manner.

And, as always, PM me with any questions about our (Blueprint's) courses.

[ahnhub]

My goal is to get to 160. I guess the main issue I have is that when I get a logical reasoning answer wrong, I do not exactly know why that answer is particularly wrong. I guess that's why I want to take an LSAT prep course this time. The Logic Games is easily my strongest while reading comprehension is rather hit or miss. My friend told me it is not wise to take it for the 3rd time, but I strongly believe with more time studying and taking an LSAT prep course, I could get to 160. My question is whether an LSAT course can really help me or not.

It sounds like there may be a fundamental issue with understanding what they're asking. In general, Logical Reasoning wants you to very strictly put yourself "in the box" of what is explained in the passage, i.e. for the purposes of that question, everything in that paragraph is absolutely true and complete, and your thought process should be restricted to that "box."

[z0rk]

I admit I did not study too much which was completely irresponsible.

I think this admission is a pretty good step. While there is no guarantee of how three scores will be viewed by an admissions committee, I would still advise taking it again. It sounds to me like you didn't really try - which you cannot afford to do again. Law school is hard work, and so is practicing law. Achieving a higher score will require a degree of dedication, self belief, and investment.

I would like to caution a few things:

1.) Are you out of school/working? Perhaps waiting a little while, working hard at your job, furthering yourself and putting a little time and development between your scores and your retake is wise. This will benefit you in the long run and it can be a point of discussion in your apps when you explain the lower scores (i.e. I took it twice, I wasn't prepared, I realized I needed to give serious consideration to law school and so I took time to invest in myself and my studies before taking the exam 1 or 2 years later).

2.)If you are working full time, like me, you're going to have to accept that you must make sacrifices. Studying in college requires sacrifices too, but working 40+ hours a week (I work a minimum of 60 hours) and finding time to study will drain much of your free time. Be strict with yourself. Try out different study times and figure out when works best. I would study very early in the morning at my desk in the office. This was great for me, because it put me into a routine. I'd go to bed at 9-10pm the latest, study in the AM, and try and get some studying done after work (I was also training for a half marathon that I am running next saturday, so I didn't study every night). I took a week of vacation off before the exam to study as well

3.) I have had a number of friends who "Studied" and didn't do well. The reason is because they spent more time talking about studying for the LSAT and what law schools they were applying to than they spent actually studying. A friend of mine two courses for the LSAT and honestly they helped him do one thing: procrastinate. He would say to our friends "Ah, I don't need to work on LSAT homework. I'll go into class and get the information there. Let's have a beer/watch tv/etc". He later admitted that he was dead wrong. Don't treat the LSAT like it's some cakewalk UG class that you can BS through to get an A. There won't be any classes like this in law school either. The determination has to reside in you, and you have to prove to yourself through actions not words that you want to get a higher score. That being said, do not rule out a class on this reason -- just make the class more worth your while and take it very seriously.

Seriously, I wish you a lot of luck. Be strong!

[SarahKerrigan]

As others have said, you really need to retake. You shouldn't take the exam till you actually feel like your ready. At least PT around your goal before you take it. if you score low 150s on your practice tests obviously you aren't ready. just find a plan and stick with it, i'm sure you will do fine!

[tepper]

Are you seriously about law school? It's a brutal but honest question. Think about this before you take it for the third time.

[vulpixie]

If you cannot score in the 160s, law school is not right for you. 3 years at a mediocre LS (you won't be able to crack the T50 with your currents scores) will leave you 100k+ in debt with no viable career prospects.

[josh43299]

I admit I did not study too much which was completely irresponsible.

I think this admission is a pretty good step. While there is no guarantee of how three scores will be viewed by an admissions committee, I would still advise taking it again. It sounds to me like you didn't really try - which you cannot afford to do again. Law school is hard work, and so is practicing law. Achieving a higher score will require a degree of dedication, self belief, and investment.

I would like to caution a few things:

1.) Are you out of school/working? Perhaps waiting a little while, working hard at your job, furthering yourself and putting a little time and development between your scores and your retake is wise. This will benefit you in the long run and it can be a point of discussion in your apps when you explain the lower scores (i.e. I took it twice, I wasn't prepared, I realized I needed to give serious consideration to law school and so I took time to invest in myself and my studies before taking the exam 1 or 2 years later).

2.)If you are working full time, like me, you're going to have to accept that you must make sacrifices. Studying in college requires sacrifices too, but working 40+ hours a week (I work a minimum of 60 hours) and finding time to study will drain much of your free time. Be strict with yourself. Try out different study times and figure out when works best. I would study very early in the morning at my desk in the office. This was great for me, because it put me into a routine. I'd go to bed at 9-10pm the latest, study in the AM, and try and get some studying done after work (I was also training for a half marathon that I am running next saturday, so I didn't study every night). I took a week of vacation off before the exam to study as well

3.) I have had a number of friends who "Studied" and didn't do well. The reason is because they spent more time talking about studying for the LSAT and what law schools they were applying to than they spent actually studying. A friend of mine two courses for the LSAT and honestly they helped him do one thing: procrastinate. He would say to our friends "Ah, I don't need to work on LSAT homework. I'll go into class and get the information there. Let's have a beer/watch tv/etc". He later admitted that he was dead wrong. Don't treat the LSAT like it's some cakewalk UG class that you can BS through to get an A. There won't be any classes like this in law school either. The determination has to reside in you, and you have to prove to yourself through actions not words that you want to get a higher score. That being said, do not rule out a class on this reason -- just make the class more worth your while and take it very seriously.

Seriously, I wish you a lot of luck. Be strong!

This is the best advice that I have seen in these forums.

[LawSchoolGuru]

Here's your answer including a practice conditional statement:

If you apply to law school, then you took the LSAT again and you got 160+.

"LS -> Retake + (160+)"

"~Retake or (~160+) -> ~LS"