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I am seeking admission to law school for the fall of 2014. My original plan was to take the June administration of the LSAT, but given that I am nowhere near where I want to be four days from test day, I think it is better to withdraw and sit in October.

I have a 3.9 GPA from a top university with significant work experience, and I wouldn't want top tier law schools to see that I scored a 155 on my first shot. I'm all for re-takes, but there is this weird feeling in me that indicates that many top schools average scores if they're faced with a candidate who's on the fence. I don't want to sound speculative, but that's that.

I also don't want to run the risk of settling for a law school that will accept me with a 155, and fear wondering what could have been if I had just studied those four extra months (from now until October). It sounds like I'm answering my own question, but I want a new perspective.

I took Testmasters from late March until now, and saw a score increase of 10 points between my first and third diagnostics. I have studied religiously for the past 24 days, often pulling 12 to 14 hour study sessions. Today, when I took a June 2010 practice test, my score dipped five points from my highest score (157). Clearly I'm not in the range I desire to be in. I won't settle for anything less than a 170 and I don't care how long it takes to get there.

Please give me your take on my situation, and let me know if you were ever in this situation too! I would like to hear some good arguments as to why this is (or isn't) a wise move.

Do not take. Take the Oct one instead. It's quite easy to get your score up to the 165s.

What are your biggest problems with the test?

Don't take. You can't cheat the system and get a 99 percentile score with 24 days of studying. You'll be in the room with people who have been consistently hitting 180s since the beginning of 2013.

Prep for October and do it right. Lots of good info on these forums.

If you refuse to score below 170, don't take until you are consistently hitting 173+. I think it's true that most people score at the low end of their range on the actual test, myself included.

Thanks for the response. I truly appreciate it.

My weakest section is logical reasoning. For some reason, I can't break out of the -6 to -10 plateau (per section!). I've done hundreds (probably even thousands) of LR problems throughout the last three months, and while I definitely improved from my first diagnostic, for some reason when I take an actual timed test, it seems like I don't understand what the arguments are saying. Specifically, it seems like I'm struggling with strengthen/weaken questions, which are the bulk of the arguments.

I am weak in the LG section, too, but I know that I can be in the -1 to -4 range if I drill consistently.

It's hard to teach LR skills, though. I have heard great things about the Powerscore LR books (the bible, the workbook, and the classifying the types book), so I think I will start fresh in a couple of weeks with those. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks again!

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People here like the Powerscore books, and they were long considered to be the gold standard. While their reputation hasn't diminished, the new standard seems to be the Manhattan LSAT books (3rd edition). Blueprint, LSAT Trainer, Velocity have also been highly reviewed.

Skim through those (or use Amazon preview). I don't think there is a wrong choice among that list.

Do yourself a favor and get the Manhattan LSAT LR book and memorize the thing inside and out. I really mean memorize. Pay special attention to the assumption family chapters, as they make up the bulk of the test and somehow fully understanding the assumption family helps you with just about everything else.

PS LG Bible is great, but their LR only works for people who already have a fairly good grasp of logical reasoning skills and just need to learn how the LSAT works. The Manhattan LSAT LR goes much more in depth and actually strives to teach you said logical reasoning skills.

magickware wrote:Do yourself a favor and get the Manhattan LSAT LR book and memorize the thing inside and out. I really mean memorize. Pay special attention to the assumption family chapters, as they make up the bulk of the test and somehow fully understanding the assumption family helps you with just about everything else.

PS LG Bible is great, but their LR only works for people who already have a fairly good grasp of logical reasoning skills and just need to learn how the LSAT works. The Manhattan LSAT LR goes much more in depth and actually strives to teach you said logical reasoning skills.

This. The Manhattan LR book is amazing and teaches you the higher level aspects of LR (the forest) then do the Powerscore LRB it will help you with detailed strategies for the trees.

I took the test in October last year after a month of just drilling sections and PT's. The main problem was I was just grinding out questions and not improving. I got a 157 with -14 combined for LR. If you are getting -6 to -10 per section there is something fundamentally wrong with the way you are thinking about these questions.

TL;DR Postpone till October, MLSAT LR and Powerscore LRB, Drill, PT, Profit.

objection_your_honor wrote: You'll be in the room with people who have been consistently hitting 180s since the beginning of 2013.

Pure exaggeration.

Dr. Dre wrote:

objection_your_honor wrote: You'll be in the room with people who have been consistently hitting 180s since the beginning of 2013.

Pure exaggeration.

Lol I was going to say the same thing.

Your situation sounds similar to mine a few months ago. I was registered for Feb with a goal of scoring mid/high 160's, but was only scoring around 159/160 10ish days prior to the test. I canceled.

I'm now registered for June and have averaged around 165/166 for my last four PT's. Obviously the extra time paid off for me....well, so far.

I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but postpone until October.

Withdraw!

Clyde Frog wrote:

Dr. Dre wrote:

objection_your_honor wrote: You'll be in the room with people who have been consistently hitting 180s since the beginning of 2013.

Pure exaggeration.

Lol I was going to say the same thing.

Exactly. If there were one or two that could do this in the entire population at my testing center I'd be surprised. In the room I was in, with about 20 other people, there were a couple individuals that could barely fill out the personal info during the pre-test instruction period. There were a number of test day packs from the various courses, but I also think a fair chunk of the group was taking it ice cold.

Max out your score and feel free to wait until Oct., but there is no sense in over estimating the competition.