Unprepared. Should I withdraw from my December retake? Forum

[cmd06]

Sorry if this has been asked before, I tried searching but came up with nothing.

I slightly underperformed on my Oct LSAT. My diagnostic was 150, and with three weeks of self-study with timed PTs, my last ten scores ranged from 155-161. I scored a 158 in October 2011.

The very day I received my Oct score, I registered for December. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had zero time to practice till now where I finally have 32 hours to 'cram'/take 4 PTs at least.

Since there is a very good chance I'll score the same or lower, should I withdraw my registration? I know I already lost the $140 waiting till now to ask this. My fear is a similar score or lower will hurt my chances.

My Oct score is within range for where I wish to apply. Scholarship is not necessary, and I absolutely want to attend law school by Fall 2012.

[FryBreadPower]

Sorry if this has been asked before, I tried searching but came up with nothing.

I slightly underperformed on my Oct LSAT. My diagnostic was 150, and with three weeks of self-study with timed PTs, my last ten scores ranged from 155-161. I scored a 158 in October 2011.

The very day I received my Oct score, I registered for December. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had zero time to practice till now where I finally have 32 hours to 'cram'/take 4 PTs at least.

Since there is a very good chance I'll score the same or lower, should I withdraw my registration? I know I already lost the $140 waiting till now to ask this. My fear is a similar score or lower will hurt my chances.

My Oct score is within range for where I wish to apply. Scholarship is not necessary, and I absolutely want to attend law school by Fall 2012.

I don't want to be that guy. But why are you taking the LSAT when you have only prepared for 2 or 3 weeks at a time?

Honestly if you are fine with your Oct. score you should probably withdraw.

[john1990]

If your preptests have not been any better than before then you should withdrawal. If you can't score above a 160 then you should take a year off to study. Some would say you should take a year off no matter what.

[cmd06]

I don't want to be that guy. But why are you taking the LSAT when you have only prepared for 2 or 3 weeks at a time?

Honestly if you are fine with your Oct. score you should probably withdraw.

No, that's totally understandable. To only study 2-3 weeks for something where most members on TLS prepare months for... I had very good reasons.

Thank you and john1990 for the helpful comments. I'll withdraw by the end of Thursday unless I somehow miraculously score much higher on these next 4 PTs.

[JamMasterJ]

regardless of the fact that you really want to attend next year, you need to maximize your long-term potential. Withdraw and retake in June and get in early apps for the 2012-2013 cycle

[fathergoose]

regardless of the fact that you really want to attend next year, you need to maximize your long-term potential. Withdraw and retake in June and get in early apps for the 2012-2013 cycle

This.

It's stupid not to spend the time to bring that score up. The LSAT is the one thing you actually can control in this process. Everything from here on out is a crapshoot (admissions process, softs, law school itself, OCI, monday night bar trivia) why would you not maximize the one thing you can actually control?

[d0rklord]

Politely butting in, but...

How poorly does a "bad" score reflect on your application, if you vastly improve it the second time around?

Thankies

[20130312]

Politely butting in, but...

How poorly does a "bad" score reflect on your application, if you vastly improve it the second time around?

Thankies

For some schools, not at all. Others average the scores. Others don't average, but still say they look at all scores. Halfway down this page are all the schools and their respective retake policies:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/retaking-the-lsat.html

[Mr. Pancakes]

The guy might have peaked already. You don't know that he hasn't. Not everyone scores in the 160's or 170's. Just because one has increased their score in the past doesn't necessarily mean they will each time they put in effort. This guy was probably subconsciously happy with his first score or he would have studied harder. Let the guy withdraw and go to law school. Not everyone will get a scholarship, and not everyone is going to be a HYS/Biglaw type. The vast majority of lawyers are not these types and believe it or not they do just fine. Yes, the job market is tough right now but it is for everyone, maybe more so for the legal market. Even though legal employment is looking rough, law school graduates are vastly more educated than the general public, and will still be in a better position than most when acquiring a job (maybe not always as practicing attorneys)...I know we could talk about debt too, but I do believe that someone should do what they are passionate about and what makes them happy. If becoming a lawyer isn’t something you are passionate about then it may be too risky for you. I'm getting off topic.
My point is that this guy might have hit his top score and another cycle might not possibly help any.


I think I drank too many diet mountain dews.

[Mr. Pancakes]

Politely butting in, but...

How poorly does a "bad" score reflect on your application, if you vastly improve it the second time around?

Thankies

For some schools, not at all. Others average the scores. Others don't average, but still say they look at all scores. Halfway down this page are all the schools and their respective retake policies:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/retaking-the-lsat.html

It looks for the most part that schools are taking the highest score. Makes sense. Good find brah.

[john1990]

This may not be the best place, but i just noticed that georgetown only averages if you have more than 2 scores.
This may be odd if someone scores 160,170 and gets in, but
technically 160,171,171 would not get in
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admissions/jdfaqs.htm

[T00L]

Why don't you just take it and cancel if you are sure you did poorly?

[Mr. Pancakes]

Why don't you just take it and cancel if you are sure you did poorly?

+1

[JuneLSATFail]

Why don't you just take it and cancel if you are sure you did poorly?

I am not sure someone who is scoring in the 150-range can adequately evaluate their performance..just saying..

[Mr. Pancakes]

My Oct score is within range for where I wish to apply. Scholarship is not necessary, and I absolutely want to attend law school by Fall 2012.

This answers your question. Apply. get it over with and go to school.

[john1990]

I guess i depends on the amount of return you are getting on the work you put into the LSAT. If you have been studying hard and not seeing improvement, then it makes sense to just apply with your current score.

[RCinDNA]

If you feel unprepared, you likely are under prepared. Either take the test and cancel it or withdraw while you still can.