Should I take the June 2016 LSAT?

[jtaglienti18]

Hello, my name is James and I am going into my 2nd semester of my sophomore year in college. This winter break I bought all 3 books of the bible series, and I finished the Logic Games Bible the other day. It was extremely helpful and I went up significantly in the section. My studying right now is in preparation for the June 2016 LSAT and I will be studying the rest of the semester.

My question is about the timing of the exam though. I will applying to Law School in the fall of 2017. This makes my LSAT score wait for a full year and a couple months before the application process. I am deciding to take the exam early because I only have classes 2 days a week next semester and I feel this is when I will be able to give the exam the most attention.

So my question is, should I take the June 2016 exam or should I continue studying and take the September 2016 exam because it will be closer to my admission cycle and I will have more time to study. Currently I am practice testing in the mid-150s and I would like my score to be in the upper 160s.

Thank you and please get back with any advice!

[Robert Carroll]

James,

If you continue studying seriously for the months between now and the June test, you'll have plenty of time to improve your score. I think it makes perfect sense to take the June test. If everything goes as planned, you'll be ahead of the game for applications. If something goes wrong, you can take the next test administration and still be very early in the application cycle. It's great to take the June test as your first one as this gives you plenty of time if you need to decide whether to take the test again; if, for instance, you get sick, it's not such a big deal when the next test is still so early.

It's also a good idea to determine your plan soon so that you can plan your studying around it. If you are still indecisive with regard to which test you'll take, it's easy to slack off in your studying, but if you truly plan to take the June test and shape your study schedule around that, you'll keep at it.

Robert Carroll