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I am interested in going to law school but haven't taken the LSAT yet.
I started prep a while ago with the Barron's review book. I took a practice test and got a 170.
I took a little break from studying (work was getting crazily busy) but I'm ready to start again.
I feel that I'll do better if I take the LSAT in October but want to apply early decision (most likely Penn or NYU).
Would it be a bad idea to wait till October or is that alright?
Thanks.

October. I've never heard anyone on this forum ever mention Barron's, so I'm going to assume it's not a quality guide. Also, if you take the extra time and score very well, I don't think you would want to do early decision as they are binding and you may end up screwing yourself out of money from other top schools.

DukeofRutgers wrote:I am interested in going to law school but haven't taken the LSAT yet.
I started prep a while ago with the Barron's review book. I took a practice test and got a 170.
I took a little break from studying (work was getting crazily busy) but I'm ready to start again.
I feel that I'll do better if I take the LSAT in October but want to apply early decision (most likely Penn or NYU).
Would it be a bad idea to wait till October or is that alright?
Thanks.

I would say, if you feel comfortable with where you are at by June, take it in June. if you do not do as well as you had hoped, you still have October to take it again.

I'm kind of in the same boat right now. I want to take the June test but my semester's been a lot more hectic than I thought it would be, so I've had trouble following my prep guide (I'm using Pithypike's guide). I figure I'll see where I'm at once it gets closer to June, and then if I want to push it off until October I'll probably get the MLSAT books to supplement the Bibles I've been using.

DukeofRutgers wrote:I am interested in going to law school but haven't taken the LSAT yet.
I started prep a while ago with the Barron's review book. I took a practice test and got a 170.
I took a little break from studying (work was getting crazily busy) but I'm ready to start again.
I feel that I'll do better if I take the LSAT in October but want to apply early decision (most likely Penn or NYU).
Would it be a bad idea to wait till October or is that alright?
Thanks.

If you currently can score around 170 consistently on strictly timed practice tests (taken honestly, no breaks, no extra time, fresh test, etc.) and keep yourself in gear you should also be able to score 170+ two months from now in June.

The key question is, did you achieve 170 on a relatively recently administered PrepTest (an LSAT from no earlier than 2007) under simulated test day conditions? and can you do it again and again consistently with other PrepTests? I ask this because many people are not completely honest with themselves when taking practice tests and supposedly simulating the strict test day conditions as much as possible, but instead cheat a little to make things more comfortable (comfortable location/environment, taking extra breaks, going a few seconds or more over time, not using a bubble sheet, etc.), which leads to overconfidence due to artificially inflated practice test scores.

If it's an honest 170 you got on a practice test after only preparing with the Barron's book, I'm impressed because that prep book is pretty sucky for the LSAT.

If you can consistently break 170 now, keep yourself in LSAT mode for the next two months and take it in June.

The Barron's book does not use real LSAT questions. They make them up themselves.

uieLouAy wrote:I'm kind of in the same boat right now. I want to take the June test but my semester's been a lot more hectic than I thought it would be, so I've had trouble following my prep guide (I'm using Pithypike's guide). I figure I'll see where I'm at once it gets closer to June, and then if I want to push it off until October I'll probably get the MLSAT books to supplement the Bibles I've been using.

pm me if u decide to study for October. We'll work together

Jeffort wrote:

DukeofRutgers wrote:I am interested in going to law school but haven't taken the LSAT yet.
I started prep a while ago with the Barron's review book. I took a practice test and got a 170.
I took a little break from studying (work was getting crazily busy) but I'm ready to start again.
I feel that I'll do better if I take the LSAT in October but want to apply early decision (most likely Penn or NYU).
Would it be a bad idea to wait till October or is that alright?
Thanks.

If you currently can score around 170 consistently on strictly timed practice tests (taken honestly, no breaks, no extra time, fresh test, etc.) and keep yourself in gear you should also be able to score 170+ two months from now in June.

The key question is, did you achieve 170 on a relatively recently administered PrepTest (an LSAT from no earlier than 2007) under simulated test day conditions? and can you do it again and again consistently with other PrepTests? I ask this because many people are not completely honest with themselves when taking practice tests and supposedly simulating the strict test day conditions as much as possible, but instead cheat a little to make things more comfortable (comfortable location/environment, taking extra breaks, going a few seconds or more over time, not using a bubble sheet, etc.), which leads to overconfidence due to artificially inflated practice test scores.

If it's an honest 170 you got on a practice test after only preparing with the Barron's book, I'm impressed because that prep book is pretty sucky for the LSAT.

If you can consistently break 170 now, keep yourself in LSAT mode for the next two months and take it in June.

This is the credited response. I'm in the same boat as you OP, and will be working hard to get to top speed by June, but I know October is a fall back option.

I didn't realize Barron's was so bad..what do you guys recommend for prep besides the Prep tests?