October or December LSAT?

[elilaw13]

Ok i began studying for the LSAT by taking a prep course through Powerscore at the end of July. It lasted about 6 weeks and it was a lot of material. The first practice test i took i completely bombed with a 132. Then i took another one the next week and got a 142. that was a huge boost to my confidence that i could improve. ever since that second test i have no gotten higher than a 145 on a practice test. i have only taken about 6 or 7 practice tests and i am signed up for the test in October.

Before finishing the powerscore class, my instructor suggested that i not postpone to December because a lot of the skills you learn, you can easily forget and she suggested that giving yourself more time doesn't necessarily improve your score but could give you more time to procrastinate and forget valuable material.

At this point i do not feel fully confident that i can get my best score on the LSAT for the October test. But I'm already signed up for it.

Would you suggest taking the October one anyway and then retaking it in December? or just completely postponing and not even attempting the December one? what is the best thing to do in this scenario. Either way i want to try again in December no matter what because i know I'm not at my peak. What is the best thing to do?

[elilaw13]

sorry i meant postponing the October one... not december

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Eli,

Thanks for the question! I just answered a question like this last night, actually, and I intend to post it into the Forum later today. In that case, the student was thinking about using October as a practice run. Here's what I said:

• I'm not a big fan of using real LSATs as practice runs, for two reasons: the first is that if you don't do well, the committee still sees that score even if they don't weight it (so why have it there if it's not a real try), and second, you can only take the LSAT three times in two years, including cancellations, so by taking a practice run you waste one of those three times. So, if possible, I'd say not to take it if you don't think you'll do well and that you are going to take it again anyway.

In your case, the test is a bit over a week away and you "do not feel fully confident that i can get my best score on the LSAT for the October test." If that's true, you should definitely postpone until December. Even scoring a few points higher on the December LSAT will be worth the delay.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!