+165 Scorers on the LSAT Forum

[ltowns1]

For those that have scored 165+ on the LSAT I have a few questions. Before I ask them let me say that I know ALL The THREADS dealing with questions for top scorers, but my questions are sort of unique.

1. Did you know how you did on your first actual scored test? In others words, did you know that you would at least get a 165+? I know some top scorers say that they didn't think they did as well, or they felt as if they did bad just based on instinct, and wind up scoring better than they thought. But I suspect that for top scorers what is perceived as "bad" for them is good for most others (mid 160s)

2.Did you use your first attempt as an essential trial run? I'm preparing so that I can do as well as possible the first time. But I also know that admission offices from t-14 schools don't necessarily mind one canceled score. So in the case that I thought I did well below my practice performance, I could just cancel.

[kcdc1]

A person that has practiced a reasonable amount should know where they will score within a 2/3 point margin in either direction, assuming they don't let nerves get in their way. If nothing short of 165 is acceptable to you and your PT median is 160, I wouldn't bother taking the exam yet.

[ManoftheHour]

1. No. On my best LSAT, I left the test center pretty confident that I secured a 170. It was not meant to be. It took me a few tries to get a 165+.

2. Not sure how to answer this one. This was pre-TLS and I just took the exam pretty unprepared. With that said, I DO NOT recommend that you ever take the LSAT unless you think you can do well. Why? Because despite that you say, things can change down the line. Don't waste one of your takes. You may be using all of them (and it could be in your best interest to use all of them if at first you don't reach your goal). LSAT medians are still dropping, so I doubt schools really care about how many times you took the exam as long as your best score is really good. I really wish I could take back my first two exams so that I could have taken another year to retake.

[ltowns1]

1. No. On my best LSAT, I left the test center pretty confident that I secured a 170. It was not meant to be. It took me a few tries to get a 165+.

2. Not sure how to answer this one. This was pre-TLS and I just took the exam pretty unprepared. With that said, I DO NOT recommend that you ever take the LSAT unless you think you can do well. Why? Because despite that you say, things can change down the line. Don't waste one of your takes. You may be using all of them (and it could be in your best interest to use all of them if at first you don't reach your goal). LSAT medians are still dropping, so I doubt schools really care about how many times you took the exam as long as your best score is really good. I really wish I could take back my first two exams so that I could have taken another year to retake.

2. Yeah thats essentially what I'm saying. I don't want to just waste my first attempt. I wanna be as prepared as possible.

[ltowns1]

A person that has practiced a reasonable amount should know where they will score within a 2/3 point margin in either direction, assuming they don't let nerves get in their way. If nothing short of 165 is acceptable to you and your PT median is 160, I wouldn't bother taking the exam yet.

Yeah that's the only thing I'm concerned about. I have severe anxiety that's caused me to go to the hospital. Having said that, I've also been a person that has risen to the occasion on tests when I felt they were critical to my future. Ironically, I would probably say that the anxiety probably contributed to those performances as well lol.

[Yeezus]

For those that have scored 165+ on the LSAT I have a few questions. Before I ask them let me say that I know ALL The THREADS dealing with questions for top scorers, but my questions are sort of unique.

1. Did you know how you did on your first actual scored test? In others words, did you know that you would at least get a 165+? I know some top scorers say that they didn't think they did as well, or they felt as if they did bad just based on instinct, and wind up scoring better than they thought. But I suspect that for top scorers what is perceived as "bad" for them is good for most others (mid 160s)

2.Did you use your first attempt as an essential trial run? I'm preparing so that I can do as well as possible the first time. But I also know that admission offices from t-14 schools don't necessarily mind one canceled score. So in the case that I thought I did well below my practice performance, I could just cancel.

1. Yeah, I tried convincing myself otherwise, but I knew I choked. Was averaging 172-173 on PTs, and ended up with a 166. It depends on the person. I'm usually a good predictor of how I did on tests.

2. And no, my first attempt wasn't a trial run. I would advise against using a first attempt as such. You don't want to waste any takes, since a cancel still counts as a take.

[KMart]

2.Did you use your first attempt as an essential trial run?

I thought about this but decided to withdrawal and delay my test 4 months until I felt I was ready to do my best. I still ended up retaking, but my first take was much better. I don't recommend wasting an attempt for a 'trial run'.

[Adelei]

For those that have scored 165+ on the LSAT I have a few questions. Before I ask them let me say that I know ALL The THREADS dealing with questions for top scorers, but my questions are sort of unique.

1. Did you know how you did on your first actual scored test? In others words, did you know that you would at least get a 165+? I know some top scorers say that they didn't think they did as well, or they felt as if they did bad just based on instinct, and wind up scoring better than they thought. But I suspect that for top scorers what is perceived as "bad" for them is good for most others (mid 160s)

2.Did you use your first attempt as an essential trial run? I'm preparing so that I can do as well as possible the first time. But I also know that admission offices from t-14 schools don't necessarily mind one canceled score. So in the case that I thought I did well below my practice performance, I could just cancel.

It seems like these questions are assuming that we took the test more than once.

1. I knew I'd get a 165+ because I'd never gotten lower than a 167 in practice. However, I will say I thought I bombed the LG section but I actually got everything correct on that section. I usually score 100% on LG in practice though, so scoring 100% on that section during the real thing was nothing special for me. But with it being the big day, it just felt harder and different, took me longer and I was questioning myself more.

2. I only took it once. I scored a 173. That was the lowest score I would have been happy with, but I wasn't ecstatic or anything. I would have been a lot happier with a 176+ but I was at least satisfied with what I got.

I don't think it's a bad idea to take it just for the experience and then cancel your score. It might help your anxiety the second time around. Even people without anxiety problems get anxious during the LSAT! I think ideally it's best if you don't feel like you HAVE to go to law school immediately and can take your time to really practice and learn until you feel prepared. If that includes a cancelled score for the experience, so be it. They don't have to know why you cancelled it. It could be you had the flu, maybe your uncle died, maybe you were in a car wreck on the way, they don't know! I don't think it looks bad to have one cancelled score.

Some people are really good at predicting how they did on tests, others not so much. You just have to know yourself. If you feel like you're usually pretty good at predicting, then take it and if you feel like you did well, don't cancel!

[ltowns1]

For those that have scored 165+ on the LSAT I have a few questions. Before I ask them let me say that I know ALL The THREADS dealing with questions for top scorers, but my questions are sort of unique.

1. Did you know how you did on your first actual scored test? In others words, did you know that you would at least get a 165+? I know some top scorers say that they didn't think they did as well, or they felt as if they did bad just based on instinct, and wind up scoring better than they thought. But I suspect that for top scorers what is perceived as "bad" for them is good for most others (mid 160s)

2.Did you use your first attempt as an essential trial run? I'm preparing so that I can do as well as possible the first time. But I also know that admission offices from t-14 schools don't necessarily mind one canceled score. So in the case that I thought I did well below my practice performance, I could just cancel.

It seems like these questions are assuming that we took the test more than once.

1. I knew I'd get a 165+ because I'd never gotten lower than a 167 in practice. However, I will say I thought I bombed the LG section but I actually got everything correct on that section. I usually score 100% on LG in practice though, so scoring 100% on that section during the real thing was nothing special for me. But with it being the big day, it just felt harder and different, took me longer and I was questioning myself more.

2. I only took it once. I scored a 173. That was the lowest score I would have been happy with, but I wasn't ecstatic or anything. I would have been a lot happier with a 176+ but I was at least satisfied with what I got.

I don't think it's a bad idea to take it just for the experience and then cancel your score. It might help your anxiety the second time around. Even people without anxiety problems get anxious during the LSAT! I think ideally it's best if you don't feel like you HAVE to go to law school immediately and can take your time to really practice and learn until you feel prepared. If that includes a cancelled score for the experience, so be it. They don't have to know why you cancelled it. It could be you had the flu, maybe your uncle died, maybe you were in a car wreck on the way, they don't know! I don't think it looks bad to have one cancelled score.

Some people are really good at predicting how they did on tests, others not so much. You just have to know yourself. If you feel like you're usually pretty good at predicting, then take it and if you feel like you did well, don't cancel!

That's my thinking as well. I should wait until I'm fully prepared. That way if my anxiety gets the best of me I will have the cancellation in my pocket just as insurance. Besides, if I do study and practice as much as possible, I should have a good indication of how I perform.

[RunnerRunner]

1. Nope! I actually thought I did worse than the score I wound up with. I had done a lot of PTs prior to testing, and coming out of the test I felt like I had hit like a 170, 171. I briefly considered canceling, but decided against it, and wound up with a 175.

2. Also no. For me, I really did not want to have to go through the stress that comes with taking the LSAT more than once!

[chrhammock]

1. I scored a 172 and was fairly certain I was above 170, although I had lingering nightmares of seeing a 169. My cold diagnostic was a 165, and I only PTd below 165 once. I was PTing between 171-173 in the weeks leading up to the test, and I'm generally a good test taker. I wouldn't count on doing better on the LSAT than your PTs indicate.

2. I would not take it and cancel unless something catastrophic happened on test day. If you know you're probably going to have to cancel and retake, why waste the time and money? It's better to go in feeling like you're as prepared as possible.

Note: You can't know for sure how you did before you cancel. You might be canceling a 165+; you might think you did really well and get a 162.

[LoganCouture]

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[ltowns1]

1. I scored a 172 and was fairly certain I was above 170, although I had lingering nightmares of seeing a 169. My cold diagnostic was a 165, and I only PTd below 165 once. I was PTing between 171-173 in the weeks leading up to the test, and I'm generally a good test taker. I wouldn't count on doing better on the LSAT than your PTs indicate.

2. I would not take it and cancel unless something catastrophic happened on test day. If you know you're probably going to have to cancel and retake, why waste the time and money? It's better to go in feeling like you're as prepared as possible.

Note: You can't know for sure how you did before you cancel. You might be canceling a 165+; you might think you did really well and get a 162.

Yes I' have thought of all the scenarios you have thought of, but I do think because of my anxiety, I have extra things to consider. I do not believe that exposure to the actual test will hurt really. Especially considering my circumstances.

[AReasonableMan]

Except for those below a threshold IQ or still learning English, most people can score a 165 plus. It becomes largely about studying. If you study you'll have a good idea of where you stand within 2 to 3 points. Most people aren't able to follow through with something to the extent that they'll care that much, and see the LSAT as a stupid obstacle preventing them from following their dreams. That's why people attend so many law schools with poor prospects.

[ltowns1]

Except for those below a threshold IQ or still learning English, most people can score a 165 plus. It becomes largely about studying. If you study you'll have a good idea of where you stand within 2 to 3 points. Most people aren't able to follow through with something to the extent that they'll care that much, and see the LSAT as a stupid obstacle preventing them from following their dreams. That's why people attend so many law schools with poor prospects.

Yeah I don't have that determination problem lol.