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is that okay? But honestly, I heard from some pre law friends of mien that taking the LSAT more than once will be looked at negatively by the admissions of law schools.. whats true and what isnt? and is retaking the LSAT once the maximum?

I'd rather apply with 5 LSAT scores if one of them is a 170+ than with one LSAT of 169

thegor1987 wrote:I'd rather apply with 5 LSAT scores if one of them is a 170+ than with one LSAT of 169

thanks for the quick response! so are you implying that even if you take the test 4-5 times, as long as you get a good score the ends will justify the means?

jback2 wrote:is that okay? But honestly, I heard from some pre law friends of mien that taking the LSAT more than once will be looked at negatively by the admissions of law schools.. whats true and what isnt? and is retaking the LSAT once the maximum?

I think you can apply with a maximum of 9 scores. You can take it 3 times every 2 years and a LSAT score expires in 5 years. 3 + 3 + 3 = 9

So to modify, I'd rather apply with 9 LSAT scores if one of them is a 170+. stop, wait. Maybe not with 9. But 5 LSATs on your record is for sure worth a 170+.

jback2 wrote:

thegor1987 wrote:I'd rather apply with 5 LSAT scores if one of them is a 170+ than with one LSAT of 169

thanks for the quick response! so are you implying that even if you take the test 4-5 times, as long as you get a good score the ends will justify the means?

In general the rule of thumb is number of times you take it does not matter because they report your highest score for rankings. In doesn't really matter though, if you take it 3, 4 or 5 times and end up with a 170+ chances are, you could probably write up a pretty reasonable explanation.

Because nearly all law schools simply take the highest LSAT score these days instead of averaging, I'd rather retake to get a higher score than apply with a low one.

It does matter for some schools like NYU, Harvard, Yale...If you take it like 5 times and have a 170 the guy who took it once and got a 170 definitely has a slight edge.

whymeohgodno wrote:It does matter for some schools like NYU, Harvard, Yale...If you take it like 5 times and have a 170 the guy who took it once and got a 170 definitely has a slight edge.

This is true,

HLS proposes that the LSAT need only be taken once.

thegor1987 wrote:

whymeohgodno wrote:It does matter for some schools like NYU, Harvard, Yale...If you take it like 5 times and have a 170 the guy who took it once and got a 170 definitely has a slight edge.

This is true,

HLS proposes that the LSAT need only be taken once.

If I had an HLS-worthy LSAT score, I wouldn't consider retaking.

Yes, if you have 3 scores and only 1 170+, you might be at an disadvantage to someone who took it just once and got a 170+. However you still have a much better chance at one of the T14 than before you retook it a third time (targets depending on what your highest score is). A 153 165 has no chance at T6. A 153, 165, 173 does.

That being said, don't take the LSAT if you're not ready for it.

If you are reaosonably certain that you can boost your score significantly, retaking for the third time is not a bad idea. Having one score above a school's median is better than having none, espessially since schools only report the highest.

Someone on TLS took the LSAT 7 times or so, with like 4 cancels and 3 scores, and said their cycle played out as expected if he/she only had their highest. So I think it's cool.

thegor1987 wrote:

whymeohgodno wrote:It does matter for some schools like NYU, Harvard, Yale...If you take it like 5 times and have a 170 the guy who took it once and got a 170 definitely has a slight edge.

This is true,

HLS proposes that the LSAT need only be taken once.

The LSAT does "need" only be taken once, in the sense that you can get a 170+ your first time if you're capable of it and prepare well enough the first time. But if you don't prepare or something goes wrong on test day, then you're still far more likely to get in if you retake until you hit 170+ than if you just apply with your first mediocre score.

Yeah, the guy who has a single 170 might have a slight advantage, but with regard to the original question (how do multiple retakes affect your application), it's still always better to retake if your score isn't high enough yet than it is to just apply with a significantly lower score (or set of scores).

I like LSAC giving you 3 chances, because in my opinion their are so many variables that can lead you to preform poorly or worse than your capabilities. I'm writing a third time and have no qualms about it. You should be fine, just make sure you don't regress, then that's a problem.