Third (Fourth?) Attempt?

[Halle]

Hi PowerScore Instructors,

First let me say thank you for all your speedy responses. This is one of the best-maintained LSAT forums I've come across.

I'll put my question at the top so you can skip the story below as it may not matter:
I have two LSAT scores and a cancel, should I take it a third time?

Now for my tale of indecision:

• I took my first LSAT Feb. 2012. I studied poorly or not at all and had a 159.
  
  I enrolled in a full-length PowerScore Course Aug. 2013. As test day approached, my practice tests put me around 169-170. I wanted to score higher than that to compensate for the 159 so I withdrew my registration.
  
  I enrolled in 1/week 2 hour private tutoring. I took the December exam and felt I missed between 10 and 14 questions, i.e. straddling the usual 170 cutoff. To be safe I cancelled. (As it turns out, one could miss 14 questions on that test and get a 170 but there's naught to do about that now.)
  
  I self-studied after that. I bought some logic game books and LSAC preptests and tried to do a practice test a week. Admittedly, it ended up being a practice test every two or three weeks. A few weeks before the June test, I ramped up, taking multiple tests a week. Each test scored higher than the last and the last test I took before the test came back 176.
  
  My scores came back today: 165. Somehow I missed 10 questions on LG alone. The result seems totally inconsistent with my practice tests. I know I am capable of scoring higher but I don't know if it's worth it to try again. Would it hurt to have another score? Even if I can make it 6-7 points higher than this one?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. If I do take the Sep./Oct. test, I plan to resume tutoring to keep me on track so there may be a ROI (and possibly COI) in helping me figure this out.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Halle,

That's a good question! Unfortunately, I can't give you a simple yes or no answer for it but I'll give you some things to consider.

First, my colleagues have written some excellent blog posts about how law schools view multiple scores and how law schools view cancellations that may be of interest to you.

At this point, you already have multiple scores and a cancellation so your decision really comes down to whether or not it is worth the investment of time and money to take the test again. To figure this out, you need to weigh the potential risks and rewards and ask yourself some important questions:

Can you get a higher score on the LSAT? First and foremost, you have to ask yourself if realistically you can get a higher score on the real thing. If you can take the test again and get a higher score, it can only help. But there's also the unfortunate risk of re-taking the test and getting a lower score. It's also probably only worth taking the test again if you can get a significantly high score. You have gotten much higher scores on your practice tests and that is a great sign. But if you want to be sure that you can get a higher score on test day, you need to do some self-reflecting and see if you can figure out why there's such a big difference between your practice test scores and your actual test scores. Do you have test anxiety? Did you just have an "off" day on test day? When you take your practice tests, do you take them under conditions that mimic actual test day conditions as closely and strictly as possible? This leads into the next question you need to think about:

What will you do between now and the next test to get a higher score?
If you think you can get a higher score on test day, you need to think about what you can do between now and test day to make that happen. If it's some sort of test anxiety situation, what can you do to help yourself get your nerves under control? If you fell victim to a "Killer Game," what can you do to make sure that you are better equipped to deal with Killer Games in the future? Do you have time between now and the next test to devote to studying? It's probably only worth taking the test again if you have some sort of specific plan for how to make sure that you can reach your test goal on actual test day. Which brings us to our final question:

Do you need a higher score?
Think about what law schools you want to apply to and look at what their average LSAT scores are. Do you need a higher score to get into the school you want to go to? A 165 already puts you in the top 10% of test takers. It can certainly be frustrating when you know you can do better, but you have a competitive score already. Before you invest the time and money into taking the test again, make sure that you really need a higher score to go where you want to go and do what you want to do.

I hope this helps! Good luck with your decision!

Best,
Kelsey

[Halle]

Thanks Kelsey,

First, I'll second your suggestions. Those two blog posts are great.

I think you provided me some really helpful criteria to evaluate my decision and when you frame it that way, I feel confident that one more attempt is a good investment. I'm reasonably certain I will score higher, I have a plan to get me to September and I feel strongly that I need a higher score.