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I was wondering if it is a terrible idea to take my first LSAT in October if you are planning to apply for that cycle. I am currently scheduled to take the LSAT in June, but my father recently passed away and I feel that this will hurt my performance on the LSAT, so I'm thinking of moving it to October. Regardless of my personal situation, is it a bad idea to take the your first LSAT in October because of issues of retesting and having to wait for scores?

julius305 wrote:I was wondering if it is a terrible idea to take my first LSAT in October if you are planning to apply for that cycle. I am currently scheduled to take the LSAT in June, but my father recently passed away and I feel that this will hurt my performance on the LSAT, so I'm thinking of moving it to October. Regardless of my personal situation, is it a bad idea to take the your first LSAT in October because of issues of retesting and having to wait for scores?

Very sorry for your loss. You won't find unanimous agreement on TLS regarding whether a later application completion date will hurt your chances, but the consensus seems to be that the effect would be minimal, and certainly worth even a few extra points on the LSAT. Furthermore, even the proponents of applying early in this debate generally do not consider October as a "late" administration, so you'll be fine.

Even early admission/decision deadlines are mid-November, and you'll get October scores around the end of October. So if you already have the rest of your application packet prepared, then you are fine.

FWIW, I retook in October (from Feb score), applied in November, and my acceptances exceeded my expectations.

After you take LSAT, while you're waiting for your score, get your PS done and be ready to submit.

julius305 wrote:I was wondering if it is a terrible idea to take my first LSAT in October if you are planning to apply for that cycle. I am currently scheduled to take the LSAT in June, but my father recently passed away and I feel that this will hurt my performance on the LSAT, so I'm thinking of moving it to October. Regardless of my personal situation, is it a bad idea to take the your first LSAT in October because of issues of retesting and having to wait for scores?

First, and most importantly, sorry for your loss.

Second, I think it's a good idea to take it in October (assuming you're ready). It's not too late at all. I took the October '12 LSAT, and submitted all of my materials as soon as my score was in. The results exceeded my expectations.