December or February LSAT?

[Edwin E.]

I have been studying for the lsat for several months, however, I have not been able to put in all of my effort to lsat studying because I'm inundated with school work. My question is: how suggestible would it be to postpone taking the December lsat, and instead taking the February test, so that I can dedicate the entire winter break to the lsat? My second question is: how much will this affect my chances of being accepted into a school for the fall 2013 year?

[Jon Denning]

Hey Edwin - thanks for the questions. Others may weigh in on this as well, but I wanted to give my thoughts in the meantime. I suppose the first thing I should say is that it's almost always advisable to not take the LSAT until you're consistently scoring at a level with which you're satisfied. So if that means waiting until February (or later) to take it, then generally that's the way to go.

Of course, as with most generalizations, there are exceptions. In this case the exceptions are almost all school-specific: how do the schools to which you're considering applying treat February's test? Every school is a little different--some schools don't accept it for that calendar year, some accept it but penalize you in their rolling admissions process, and some accept it without penalty--so your best bet is to contact schools individually and ask.

I say that leads to potential exceptions to the wait-til-you're-ready rule, since it might be preferable to you to apply in December with a slightly lower score than you'd prefer, as opposed to waiting an entire extra year if that school doesn't accept the Feb LSAT. But, again, it hinges on the school in question and their policies.

Finally, check out this blog post about the Feb test and various schools' treatment of it: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/153 ... SAT-scores

That should give you a better idea of what you're up against, but as always contacting individual schools directly is the most sure-fire path to the answers you're looking for.

Thanks!

[Edwin E.]

Jon,

Thanks for replying! Because I'll never know what the highest score I can get without having all this extra school work unless I actually study for the lsat without having to worry about school work, I'll take your advice of waiting until I'm ready. So whether it's the Feb test, or the June or October tests for the 2014 year, I'm going to wait till I'm ready and give this test all I've got.

I have another question: When I take the sections separately (any section) I average about 21-22 correct; however, when I take a diagnostic, I cannot manage to pull it together, I usually score mid to upper 150s. Any techniques, or for that matter anything advice at all, that you suggest?

-Edwin

[Steve Stein]

Hey Edwin,

Good question--it's not uncommon for test takers to do much better on an individual section than on an entire practice test--that brings up a vital point: an important factor when taking this test is mental endurance. Focussing at the level necessary, for hours on end, is no small feat. Do you feel like you're still bringing your A-game to the last section? If not, don't worry about it--with every practice test you take, you'll see your mental endurance level improve. Ideally, by the time you take the real thing, a full test will be no big deal.

By the way, it's great that you're doing individual sections in addition to full practice tests--you don't want to burn out by taking too many full length practice tests. One thing I'd recommend is that when you review your work, you attempt to revisit each missed question from the beginning (as opposed to just looking at the right answer and saying "yeah, I guess that makes sense," as most people do). Keep up with your practice, you are accomplishing many things at once: you're building endurance, increasing your familiarity with the language of the test, noting common themes, and highlighting areas of needed focus.

I hope that's helpful! Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

By the way, how have you been preparing--mostly practice tests, any books, etc?