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Hi TLS,

I have some problems that I became aware of only recently, and would appreciate some advice on my situation. I have been through the forums to look for already posted answers that might pertain to my situation, but couldn't find any analogues that fit me quite right, so here I am. First post, so if I have somehow transgressed, mods please spare the hammer.

I am presently registered for this upcoming October 3rd LSAT, my goal score would be 171 or higher.

At the beginning of this past July, I took the freely available LSAT practice test from LSAC, and then with a little bit of research, purchased the highly-reviewed Powerscore LGB and Workbook, and did a little bit of studying several times a week, maybe a few hours at a time. No fully timed simulations. I then purchased PTs 52-61 and PT 62-72, as well as the individual 73, 74, and 75, as well as the Superprep Book.

I've never been the kind of person who drew up studying strategies, and all my life my study method was sort of to just put my head down and push through the front end of a book and come out the back. In my foolish optimism, I figured that if kept moving through the books, eventually I would start to score higher. In this mindset, I booked myself for the October 3rd administration, to give myself a deadline, and figured that was that.

For the last two and some weeks, I have been doing a Preptest a day, figuring it would be second nature by the day of the test. I found that my scores fluctuated between 155-165. I performed what I called an autopsy after each test, picking out and trying to reason questions I got wrong, but never in the Blind Review method that I only learned about today. (Nor was I even aware of 7sage until just this afternoon.) Deeply belatedly, I found my way onto TLS, and had a look at suggested preparation methods by Pithypike, McGruff, TLS1776, and others, and realized that:

1. I had been doing my practice tests in ways that were wasteful, and not close to maximizing the study time that I had been using.

and 2. of course, was that I am in deep shit.

So, I have a litany of questions:

Obviously, I have already paid for the test, and am past the refund date. As far as I can tell, the recommendations on TLS fall into the following camps:
A. "Don't take the test, and just cancel pre-LSAT. It's a waste of time if you're not ready." aka "Even a 'Cancelled' will fuck up your application."(This option consumes none of my 3 chances, correct?)
B. "Take the test, and maybe you'll do OK, and at least you'll get a feel for the test centre. If you feel really badly about it, you can cancel post-LSAT." aka "People don't look that hard at 'Cancelleds'." (This option leaves me with 2 chances?)

Q1:Having already paid for the test, should I just eat the cost and cancel pre-Test, even if I am not applying to a place that will average them, or look at all my scores? I am of the impression that if I can pull of a killer score the first time in, it looks much better than several retakes. Is this is the case?

Q2:Everybody seems to shy away from taking the February administration. Is this because it's undisclosed? Is it because it's so late in the admissions cycle that you probably won't get in anyway? Is it a combination?

Q3:I would like to replicate methods seen here for a higher score. Has anyone here ever tried, or had success with cutting the spines off of books to more easily photocopy them? With how dog-eared they are now, I imagine I will be their last owner (especially as I was into the habit of marking my answers directly onto the page--like I said above, wasteful. I imagine I have a great deal of erasing to do in the coming days.), so it seems like a good way to speed up the photocopying process, and then I could just punch them all and stick them into binders.

Q4:As I myself am leaning towards taking the December administration, should I put a full halt on my use of fresh Preptests? I'm worried I'll run way out before December, leaving me rusty before the real deal. On the other hand, I'm excited to try a few tips that I've learned here this evening, so I'd still like to bang out a few more PTs before October 3rd--if you think I should take it at all. (Even now, my foolish optimism feels like I could bring up my score a few points if I put these new tips to use. I am also now aware of the 0.00432% or so chance of doing better on Test Day. Like I said, it's a foolish optimism. Old habit.)

I know I did it wrong, I would appreciate any and all help in these matters from you enlightened folk. Let me know if you need more information about my particular situation.

Thank you very much for reading this long-winded letter.

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I would say do not take the test. If you have a goal score of a 171 because it's what you need to hit your target schools' medians or 75ths then scoring at least 5 points lower is going to really provide you with nothing besides confirmation that you need to work harder and be more strategic. However if a 160-165 would actually be acceptable to you(and the acceptances it would bring you:T1 schools) then maybe consider taking. Otherwise, taking the test now is a waste of time and energy and retakes. If it's your first take and you were averaging say 168-172 then I would say go ahead and take because you could hit it, even if you were slightly below like 167-170 then you never know what could come out. Here it's pretty unlikely that you are going to jump up even close to 170 so there's not much point.

Hey folks,

Thanks for taking the time to write me. I have some additional thoughts.

McJimJam wrote:Unless you are certain you are going to do well below target, completely and utterly failing it maybe don't. But aside from that it's your first take you have two more chances. Worst case scenario you don't get the score you want (but maybe still in decent range of it), but you now have the experience and a score on your record in case something happens preventing future takes or maybe said score will fit your possibly changing goals in the future you never know.

Well, thing is that I don't have a competitive GPA to back up my application, so I have to split pretty hard to get into any school at all. I'm worried that any more blemishes on my record might really close all my options forever. I think in my case, if I don't get the 171+, there's realistically no way that it can happen for me.

That being said, since I am a splitter, do you think I should bother trying to do any prep for this cycle? I'd be applying to both American and Canadian schools, but as it's not anticipated that I'm going to rock the October administration, perhaps my efforts and money and personal statement should be saved up to apply in the 2017 cycle.

Thanks for your advice regarding the Cambridge bundles. I'll look into it. It would be nice to have material sorted by game type/difficulty. Although, if I were to go out and purchase all the available Preptests and then cut them up, I would, theoretically, have everything, right? I would just have to sort/photocopy them myself?

togoornottogo wrote:I would say do not take the test. If you have a goal score of a 171 because it's what you need to hit your target schools' medians or 75ths then scoring at least 5 points lower is going to really provide you with nothing besides confirmation that you need to work harder and be more strategic. However if a 160-165 would actually be acceptable to you(and the acceptances it would bring you:T1 schools) then maybe consider taking. Otherwise, taking the test now is a waste of time and energy and retakes.

I am just worried I won't get in on this cycle. I have a job, and I'll be coming up on 5 continuous years of pretty strong WE this year, but I hate my job, and I had been hoping to finally make a break from where I am now.

I just don't know. You guys are wonderful, but I wish I had found you sooner.

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Well, thing is that I don't have a competitive GPA to back up my application, so I have to split pretty hard to get into any school at all. I'm worried that any more blemishes on my record might really close all my options forever. I think in my case, if I don't get the 171+, there's realistically no way that it can happen for me.

I think you may be underestimating your chances to get into a good school. Almost any GPA can be forgiven if you have a high LSAT and 5 years of WE.

My advice would be to not sit for the October LSAT, and get serious about the December test. It sounds like you're nowhere near your potential, and a few points can make a huge difference in your employment outcome and cost of attendance. Don't settle for a 165.

For what it's worth, I applied with a GPA well below 3.0 and a December LSAT and got into multiple T14 schools with a substantial tuition discount. This is an achievable goal.

McJimJam wrote:Also wanted to ask, the 5 years of WE is that all post UG?

Yeah, it's all post UG. Steady work, supervisory position. It's one of the things I'm hoping will help me pull through the big application machine. Northwestern is definitely a school that I'm taking a very close look at, as I keep hearing about it's splitter/WE-friendliness.

McJimJam wrote:If you want to keep your options open for this cycle though maybe keep prepping and see how you feel as December approaches.

kcdc1 wrote:My advice would be to not sit for the October LSAT, and get serious about the December test.

I think this sounds like a solid plan. I would really like to get out of this job and I'm really ready to move on with my life, and I'm sure not getting any younger, so if I can rock this cycle with an awesome LSAT score, then I would really rather go that route.

Also,

kcdc1 wrote:For what it's worth, I applied with a GPA well below 3.0 and a December LSAT and got into multiple T14 schools with a substantial tuition discount. This is an achievable goal.

this is exactly my present situation and desired outcome. If you don't mind my asking, what was your score, and did you bring crazy, CRAZY WE/softs? I would be so happy if I could repeat your success.

Thanks again so much guys for all your help so far.