Shitty Lsat Score.. Any Advice is Appreciated Forum

[rocker1487]

Hey TLSers,

Here's the deal.. I completely choked on the Dec 09 LSAT because I was nervous and extremely anxious the day before the test. Didn't get much sleep the night before, and I bombed it the next day. I scored an embarassing 144, and am retaking in Feb. I was bummed out because I studied like crazy for 4 months prior to the test and I took the testmasters course. I still have all the materials from the course which I plan on studying. Would anyone happen to have an effective study technique or perhaps a suggestion as how to best prepare? Unfortuantely, I work full time and can only dedicate 4 hours on weekdays but have weekends free. Only have a month until the next test and I was advised by a friend only to take PT's until the test and go over them. Also, I know most, if not all schools take the higher score but even with a better score, I'll be applying super late. Do you guys suggest to retake in June and not Feb? Sucks to have a 144 on my record, but oh well. I'm applying to nyc/nj schools and I know that competition is fierce. Just to put things in perspective my LSAC gpa is 3.17, degree gpa is 3.61, and i'm URM. I'd appreciate any suggestions, Thanks

[Mr. Pablo]

What were you PT'ing at?

Edit: I work full time. I studied for 2 hours on each weekday and for 4 hours on each Saturday and Sunday for 6 weeks. I used the Powerscore books. I though the LR and the LG books were useful. I nailed the RC from the get-go, so I didn't find the RC book to be all that useful.
After the I went through the books I just did timed sections of the tests every day, and whole timed tests on Sat and Sun. I included an 'experimental' section on the weekends to get a good feel for the actual test, and I only took a 15min break after the 3rd section.
The most important thing is to go back and figure out why an answer was credited or not. Review, Review, Review!

[rocker1487]

What were you PT'ing at?

My scores were anywhere between 151-155. Still not stellar, but better than I performed on test day.

[JazzOne]

If you have a job, I'd say wait a year to apply and retake in June. Make sure you prep well.

[Mr. Pablo]

OP, see my above edit for what I did to prep.

[rocker1487]

If you have a job, I'd say wait a year to apply and retake in June. Make sure you prep well.

Hey, thanks for the response. Hypothetically, if I did want to start Fall '10 what score should I be looking at to be competitive so late in the cycle? Although I know I prolly won't get any scholly money but I'm not to concerned with rankings as I have something lined up after school.

[rocker1487]

What were you PT'ing at?

Edit: I work full time. I studied for 2 hours on each weekday and for 4 hours on each Saturday and Sunday for 6 weeks. I used the Powerscore books. I though the LR and the LG books were useful. I nailed the RC from the get-go, so I didn't find the RC book to be all that useful.
After the I went through the books I just did timed sections of the tests every day, and whole timed tests on Sat and Sun. I included an 'experimental' section on the weekends to get a good feel for the actual test, and I only took a 15min break after the 3rd section.
The most important thing is to go back and figure out why an answer was credited or not. Review, Review, Review!

Awesome, thanks for the advice! I'm thinking of purchasing the powerscore books, everyone says they are great. I don't know if that would be overkill though since I already have all of the testmasters lesson books that I plan on going over.

[JazzOne]

If you have a job, I'd say wait a year to apply and retake in June. Make sure you prep well.

Hey, thanks for the response. Hypothetically, if I did want to start Fall '10 what score should I be looking at to be competitive so late in the cycle? Although I know I prolly won't get any scholly money but I'm not to concerned with rankings as I have something lined up after school.

I'll have to defer to someone else because I am not at all familiar with the schools in the northeast. You might want to try one of the admissions databases (http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com, http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com, http://www.hourumd.com).

[JazzOne]

If you have a job, I'd say wait a year to apply and retake in June. Make sure you prep well.

Hey, thanks for the response. Hypothetically, if I did want to start Fall '10 what score should I be looking at to be competitive so late in the cycle? Although I know I prolly won't get any scholly money but I'm not to concerned with rankings as I have something lined up after school.

What kind of gig do you have lined up? Just curious. I'm a 1L.

[rocker1487]

If you have a job, I'd say wait a year to apply and retake in June. Make sure you prep well.

Hey, thanks for the response. Hypothetically, if I did want to start Fall '10 what score should I be looking at to be competitive so late in the cycle? Although I know I prolly won't get any scholly money but I'm not to concerned with rankings as I have something lined up after school.

What kind of gig do you have lined up? Just curious. I'm a 1L.

I'm getting into real estate law since I have a background in the field. My parents have a firm, so I'm going to take it over eventually.

[badwithpseudonyms]

I'm getting into real estate law since I have a background in the field. My parents have a firm, so I'm going to take it over eventually.

I might be out of line here, but is a law degree necessary to run a real estate firm? I'm sure it would be useful, but couldn't you learn most everything you need to know from your parents? With a 144 (or 150, for that matter) you're not going to have stellar chances at most legit schools, so take the $120K+ you'd dump into a TTT degree and go flip some houses or something.

[rocker1487]

I'm getting into real estate law since I have a background in the field. My parents have a firm, so I'm going to take it over eventually.

I might be out of line here, but is a law degree necessary to run a real estate firm? I'm sure it would be useful, but couldn't you learn most everything you need to know from your parents? With a 144 (or 150, for that matter) you're not going to have stellar chances at most legit schools, so take the $120K+ you'd dump into a TTT degree and go flip some houses or something.

I am not going to "run" a real estate firm. I am going to become a real estate attorney and own my own firm, I don't plan on attending law school to become an office manager. And yeah, you are out of line.

[GATORTIM]

I am not going to "run" a real estate firm. I am going to become a real estate attorney and own my own firm, I don't plan on attending law school to become an office manager. And yeah, you are out of line.

[badwithpseudonyms]

I'm getting into real estate law since I have a background in the field. My parents have a firm, so I'm going to take it over eventually.

I might be out of line here, but is a law degree necessary to run a real estate firm? I'm sure it would be useful, but couldn't you learn most everything you need to know from your parents? With a 144 (or 150, for that matter) you're not going to have stellar chances at most legit schools, so take the $120K+ you'd dump into a TTT degree and go flip some houses or something.

I am not going to "run" a real estate firm. I am going to become a real estate attorney and own my own firm, I don't plan on attending law school to become an office manager. And yeah, you are out of line.

I'm not saying you have to go to a T14 school to "take over" (as I read that: run) your parents' real estate firm, I was just asking if you need ANY law degree T14, TTT, or otherwise to do so. I think perhaps you are using the word "firm" literally, and I was reading it as a synonym for group/company/whatever. Do your parents have law degrees? I didn't know. I was just asking. Apologies for being flippant towards the end of my original post.

I'm not for discouraging people from accomplishing their goals, but do so intelligently. With your sub-25th percentile GPA and LSAT score, even as a URM, to apply so late in the most competitive cycle in years would be absolutely ludicrous.

Do what you want though. You already dropped a boat load of money on a Testmasters course. What's another $100k? Maybe it's not your money. I've just seen one too many douchebags spend their parents' money on degrees they don't really need only to take over a successful family enterprise and start out at the top. Maybe that's not you, but that's kind of how you came off. And that's where I was coming from with my original post.

Actual advice: If you took a full course and still bombed, definitely retake. Buy some prep tests and do those, as you probably already know (more or less) the methods to do well. Retake in June and apply early next year. Write an addendum for your original score. < That's probably everything any other person on this board would tell you.

[Huluba23]

Dont take courses get a bunch of practice tests and take them and go over them looking through all the wrong and right answers. And apply for 2011 whats the rush if you have a job lined up anyway?

[CKuleba]

The best advice I could give you is to not look at another course materials if they differ at all from Testmasters. All that will do is confuse you and you'll end up getting frustrated. Stick w/ the testmasters method, from what I hear they are the best way to go. Just keep practicing and using the methods you've been using.

[Roseland]

I took the LSAT twice and did not do as well as I thought I could/should. I went for it and took it a 3rd time and knocked it out of the park. In my case, it wasn't until the pressure was off...and the 3rd attempt was a "Hail Mary" pass that I was able to relax enough to do well. If you retake on your current schedule, be prepared to cancel your score. You should have cancelled your score this time. You knew you didn't didn't do well. HYS average your LSAT scores, but as far as I can tell...if you write an addendum that explains why you scored poorly...the rest do not. To score at the level you need to, you need to have prepared so well for taking this test that the room for error is eliminated. Think in terms of taking at least 50 practice tests before sitting for the exam again. The likelihood that you will improve your score by 10+ points is remote....but can be done. Good luck to you.

[rw2264]

Hey TLSers,

Here's the deal.. I completely choked on the Dec 09 LSAT because I was nervous and extremely anxious the day before the test. Didn't get much sleep the night before, and I bombed it the next day. I scored an embarassing 144, and am retaking in Feb. I was bummed out because I studied like crazy for 4 months prior to the test and I took the testmasters course. I still have all the materials from the course which I plan on studying. Would anyone happen to have an effective study technique or perhaps a suggestion as how to best prepare? Unfortuantely, I work full time and can only dedicate 4 hours on weekdays but have weekends free. Only have a month until the next test and I was advised by a friend only to take PT's until the test and go over them. Also, I know most, if not all schools take the higher score but even with a better score, I'll be applying super late. Do you guys suggest to retake in June and not Feb? Sucks to have a 144 on my record, but oh well. I'm applying to nyc/nj schools and I know that competition is fierce. Just to put things in perspective my LSAC gpa is 3.17, degree gpa is 3.61, and i'm URM. I'd appreciate any suggestions, Thanks

you should go to the CUNY law school in queens. its extremely cheap because its a lot of public interest but if you don't care about prestige its a really good deal. its tier 3 i believe.

also, retake in june. your score will get out in time for you to apply to brooklyn law school for fall 2010.

[Sourpunch]

Man you must have known walking out of that exam that you fucked up. Why would you keep the score.

The best thing to do now is to re-take the exam in SEPTEMBER, give yoruself ALOT of time to study, and completely blow it out the water (165+ MINIMUM, if not higher). Then write up an addendum when you apply EARLY (right when apps come out) explaining that the 144 is a fluke because of some medical or personal reason.

[NayBoer]

Man you must have known walking out of that exam that you fucked up. Why would you keep the score.

The best thing to do now is to re-take the exam in SEPTEMBER, give yoruself ALOT of time to study, and completely blow it out the water (165+ MINIMUM, if not higher). Then write up an addendum when you apply EARLY (right when apps come out) explaining that the 144 is a fluke because of some medical or personal reason.

The difference between 151, his PT average low, and a 144 might be going from -10 per section to -13 per section. That's not necessarily so huge a difference that you'd feel it.

I'm not sure why he needs a 165 minimum. That only seems relevant if he's going for a specific school or trying for full scholarship. Otherwise, a 165 would just be for pride. If he has a family job lined up that will allow him to repay six figures of LS debt then OP should just get his PT high of 155 and try for Hofstra, NYLS, Touro, something like that.

OP, I'd push back and take the June test rather than February, allow yourself tons of time to study and take PTs. I'd use weekends to study and take PTs.