Hi rniyongere,
I'm sorry to hear that you didn't do as well as you had hoped on your September LSAT. Since more time to study is better than less, let me first answer:
"If I were to retake in February, how drastically does it affect my admission chances for the fall 2017 cycle?"
This depends entirely on which law schools you are applying to. For each school you are interested in, you can ask the admissions office what is the latest test date for their admissions cycle (if this information isn't online, and it often is). If the school has rolling admissions, you still might be able to find information/graphs online showing stats for admissions in different months or times of the year.
Depending on the discrepancy between the score you received and the score you want, I would also say that some students decide that a certain tier of school is so important to them that it's worth it to apply in the next cycle. This is a very personal choice, but it should be on your list of choices.
"I have gotten my score back from the September LSAT and I scored substantially lower than expected. I completely froze up on test day, so the score was not a total surprise. I am still deciding on whether i should re-take it in December or February."
Freezing up can happen to anyone, but we want to make sure it doesn't happen again because you really don't want an admissions office to see that you took the LSAT more than twice. So what can you do to avoid freezing up?
-Take plenty of timed tests in as close as possible to test conditions (the same time of day, the same amount of sleep, food, coffee, the same number of people around and quietness of the room maybe even with tapping pencils, you get the idea).
-Think positively. I even recommend silently trash-talking other test-takers if it will help you.
Think about how much more you studied than some. When someone walks in late, think about how prepared you are. Anything that will get you feeling confident.
-If you finish a section early and have nothing more to check, close your eyes and breathe deeply to give yourself a break before the next section.
-Realize that even in the worst case scenario test result, you will still be a happy person with friends, family, etc. and life will go on. Even though that worst case scenario is unlikely, it's not really all that terrible. Thinking that way may free you from some of the anxiety.
"I was wondering if you had any tips on how to re-study the material efficiently as i have already taken the course...Should i intensely study it everyday as i previously did before my first take?"
This is really up to you but it depends a little bit on whether you think you have weaknesses in approaching the problems. In other words, if your problem is that you don't know how to approach/answer all of the problems, review relevant sections of your books. If you do know the right approach, but you need practice applying the strategies, especially under test conditions, I recommend taking practice tests. You can take them as full tests, as sections of tests, and as 1 game or reading comprehension passage at a time.
My personal preference is to do one timed passage or game at a time. When the timer goes off, I make a note of my answers as of that time. Then I finish the problems at my own pace. Then when you check and go over the problems you know what your untimed and timed scores were, which gives you information about whether timing is a big issue for you.
Is 6 weeks enough or should I aim for February?
If February turns out to be an option, then, at 2 weeks before the December test, determine the average score of your recent timed tests. If it's in your desired score range, you are ready. If it's not, wait until February. Keep in mind that your actual score is likely to be the same or slightly lower than your practice scores; although your actual test could be better, that's not an outcome you want to rely on for your decision-making.
Good luck!
