Is feb lsat too late

[lsatlsat]

H

[Nikki Siclunov]

HI lsatlsat,

Thanks for your question. For some (mostly top-50) schools, a February score would be indeed a tad too late, because schools won't be able to obtain that score until late-February/early March. Even if you do meet their application deadline, remember that the vast majority of law schools have rolling admissions: by March, they will have extended most of the offers they are planning to extend that year. So, the remaining seats will be at a premium, and you need to show significantly better numbers to be competitive for them.

Of course, applications were down last year, and this year does not seem much different, so the cost of waiting until February is not as high as it would have been, say, 5 years ago. Nevertheless, December is your absolute best bet. A February re-take is only worth it if you're trying to get off a WL, and ideally the score should be at least 4-5 points higher than your December score with which you've already applied.

Does that make sense? Let me know.

Thanks!

[lsatlsat]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions!

I now understand that the February lsat would be too late for applying to top 50 US law schools. The reason why I would like to take the feb lsat again is that I keep on getting 155 on the practice tests. I know that in order to apply to top 50 law schools I would need a 160, so I don't know what I should do at this time. Since there is only one month left, I don't know if I would be able to improve to 160. I have taken the power score prep course, as well as read through the bibles + done the hwk (and also made notes on every lesson).
Can you please give me some advice?

Thank you very much!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi lsatlsat,

All you need is a 5-point improvement from your current score average, which is absolutely, positively doable in 4 weeks! If you're already getting scores in the mid-150's, that means you're leaving quite a few easy-to-medium difficulty questions on the table. Picking up those extra points alone will bring you to the 160's, assuming you can identify your weaknesses and fix them in the next four weeks.

I understand you've read the bibles and taken a course, so I would probably follow a self-study plan like the one below:

http://student.powerscore.com/self-stud ... y-Plan.pdf

While the plan is geared towards first-time test-takers, you can still follow it in its current format, as reviewing the foundational concepts for each section and question type is always a good idea regardless of where your strengths and weaknesses lie. After that, I would "tweak" the plan a bit to emphasize the areas most in need of improvement. Indeed, it is absolutely critical to identify the sections and/or question types that are costing you valuable points, and focus on these chapters from the Bibles and the coursebooks.

Let's say RC is my weakest section. I'd obtain the supplemental RC materials to the RC Bible, such as the RC Question Type Training and the RCB Workbook (http://shop.powerscore.com/?action=prod ... 00O2WMsIAN). The Workbook provides excellent additional drills to practice with, while the Question Type Training volumes are invaluable as a way to apply the techniques you learn to actual RC passages. Alternatively, I might start downloading various RC collections from our Download store (http://downloads.powerscore.com/question-collections/). Bottom line is, I wouldn't rely exclusively on practice tests: question collections, ideally grouped by type, are critical to developing an efficient study plan.

And, I would probably do some tutoring. Yes, it's expensive, but if you know what you want to get out of it, even a 5-hour package can make a tremendous difference in identifying your weaknesses and setting you in the right direction.

Keep in mind that the plan I'm referring to is a ton of work, requiring at least 20 hrs/week of test prep (QTT assignments, workbooks, practice tests, etc.). However, if you can pull this off by December, you will improve your chances of admittance tremendously. Don't postpone until February: there is no guarantee you'll do any better, but it's virtually certain that you will lower your chances by applying so late.

Hope this helps! Let me know.

Thanks!