Jump in LSAT score

[ebertasi]

Hi,

I took the June 2012 LSAT today, and I have to say I am not extremely happy with how I feel about it. I do realize this is normal and I have read the blog about how to determine your low score and high score possibilities. My target score was a 165 and I only hit that one time during my practice tests. I hit a 163 multiple times as well as a 162 and 161. Every time I took a practice test I didn't feel great about it, but I didn't feel overwhelmed by the LR sections either. Today, one of my LR sections really threw me for a loop and I have tried to go back and think about what I guessed on and what I felt sure about. I completed all but 1 question, but I had quite a few questions where I had two contenders and just couldn't eliminate either of them. I felt like there were a lot of ambiguous answer choices with the LR on this test, and the RC for that matter. I had two games sections and I felt pretty good about both of those. So the high and low scores I have calculated is a 155 and a 163. I suspected I would have to test again, because I would really like a 170 and definitely think I have the potential to do so, but I am afraid if I do get my low score and next year when I take it again I do get a 170, that score jump will look very bad and be detrimental for me getting into school.

I took the Powerscore virtual course online and finished the course exactly 3 weeks before the test. During the course I basically had no time because of an overload of school and other things I didn't expect. Basically the only thing I did was attend class during the whole course. The course ended just a couple days before my last exams at university and after that i basically re did the entire course myself and did probably 75% of the homework. That took one week. After that I took practice tests for the next two weeks. Spent one week in the high 150's and low 160's and the last week before my exam I was all in the low 160's, and I hit a 165. If only I had another three weeks I think I could have done so much better, but that just how things went. I am planning a much better study schedule for next year, and I think I can definitely get a 170 with more time. I scored a 152 on my first practice test to see where I was before I started the Powerscore course.

So basically, I don't have a good feeling about my score today and I am wondering, if having a 15 or 16 point score jump in a year from now will have even a minor negative impact on getting into school. And I might as well tell you that I would like to get into Georgetown. I have a 3.96 GPA from University of Tennessee Knoxville, so I think that will be a plus, but I just don't want a low LSAT score on my record with no good excuse except for I didn't have time because I was studying and doing thesis research. Would a low LSAT score be any worse than a cancellation however? And how low is too low? What if I totally bombed it and got a 150 or something?

Thank you!!

[Anne Chaconas]

Hey ebertasi,

You pose a lot of good--and hard--questions. I'm glad the virtual course served you well, even if you weren't able to devote yourself to it as much as you wanted. I think you are correct in assuming that, if you create a dedicated, lengthy study schedule, you should see a nice increase in your score.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you whether or not to cancel--that is a decision that you must make yourself, based on your own comfort with your performance, and how confident you feel about your self-analysis. However, I can answer your questions and hopefully provide you with a little more information with which to make a decision.

Now, about those questions:

Will a 15+ point increase have a negative impact in your ability to gain admission into law school? Only insofar as it will affect your average LSAT score. Yes, I know that most law schools do not look at the average LSAT score--but the average is reported, and law school adcoms are human, and will therefore look at it. It may affect how they see your higher score. Put yourself in their shoes: If you see a 150, and then a 170, and an average of 160, which of the three would you consider most indicative of the student's performance? Chances are good you would pick the 160. However, if the increase comes with an explanation of exactly what happened ("I thoroughly revamped my study habits and schedule, and approached the test in a methodical, holistic way"), then the 170 might hold more weight, but it is still subject to interpretation. You do have the fact that law schools report the highest score for admissions purposes on your side, so I wouldn't worry too much about a potential negative impact, but it is still something to consider.

Would a low LSAT be worse than a cancellation? If it is only a single cancellation (meaning, this is the first time you're cancelling), then yes--a low score would be the worse option. A single cancellation can happen to anyone--you might have a bad day, something might come up on the day of the test, you might have crippling test anxiety, you could sit next to the most annoying person on the planet during your LSAT--and schools don't really hold a single one against you. The low score can be much more detrimental for the reasons I presented in my first answer, above: It can mess with your average. Again, not usually used in admissions, but still there and still visible to adcoms. The less you have that's up to interpretation, the better. Now, if you already have other cancellations on your record, then it depends on how low the score is, or how many other cancellations/absences you have. It may end up being about the same, in that case.

How low is too low? Well, if you're aiming for Georgetown, anything in the 150s, really. And possibly the low 160s. The 25th and 75th percentiles for GULC, according to LSAC's Official Guide, are 169-172. You want to get as close to that as possible. If you feel like you totally bombed and got a 150, then cancelling might be what you need to do (this is all, however, dependent on how you feel now that you've had a day or so to reflect on your performance).

Your GPA is extremely strong for GULC (and any other law school, really, including the other members of the T14). I would worry more about what your LSAT score is saying about you. Your GPA says you're extremely strong academically, but if you want to crack the T14, you need to make sure your LSAT score reflects that academic strength, as well.

I hope this was helpful! Please let me know if I can answer any further questions. Best of luck!

[ebertasi]

Hi Anne,

Thank you so much for the detailed response. I still haven't come to a decision about canceling my score. I wanted to follow up with a few clarifications for you as well as another question.

This is the first time I took the LSAT so I have nothing on my record yet. Regarding having another day to reflect further on my test performance, I really haven't been able to discern much of anything. The test is such a blur to me. I really don't remember much, and I just have a bad feeling about it.

I did actually look on the Georgetown website, and it says that with more than 2 LSAT scores, or 2 scores and a cancellation, they give your average score the most consideration, otherwise they consider your high score. However, given the fact that they are human and they will see the lower score like you said, that will probably have an effect on some of the admission committee members. They also say that they like to have an addendum for anything greater than a five point increase in your score.

Given this new information, what do you think about my situation? Also, considering my performance on practice tests do you think its worth risking a low score just to see if I am totally wrong about how I feel about it?

[Anne Chaconas]

If you feel badly about your test, can't really remember how you did (which is usually, unfortunately, not something that students who are confident in their performance suffer very much from, so you might consider that as a negative), and are simply keeping your score to see how you did, then it might make the most sense to cancel.

Given that GULC doesn't start using the average until you have more than two scores, you have a little more leway.

Cancelling is a very personal decision, as I've said. Nonetheless, were I in your shoes, I probably wouldn't play the odds game; I like to be as sure as possible in what I'm putting out there, and it doesn't sound like you are. In your situation, I would very likely cancel the test, study like crazy until I'm PTing in the 170s, and then retake. That's how I would feel most confident in my performance.