Ashamed of my score

[ahall]

Before I started a prep course I took a practice LSAT test and got a 143. I figured after my prep course I would see an improvement. I studied for about 3 months at 20 hours a week doing the live online courses and I improved to a range of 147-153. When I took the Feb 2015 LSAT I was severely disappointed in my score of 144. I felt the same level of confidence after the test as I did when I scored in the 150's in practice. I practiced well enough to get my timing down (I'm able to complete every section before time runs out) and I even practiced in loud and quiet situations. I feel like I shouldn't even be calling myself a prospective law student with such an abysmal score. The only consolation is that my target school's median LSAT score is 146 and GPA is 3.0 and my GPA is currently a 3.34. I know I can do well enough to break 150, but given that I'm at the median LSAT score for my target school and above their median GPA score, would it be wise to retake the LSAT in this situation or would an increase in score by 4-6 points really matter to a school with this LSAT score range?

Thanks in advance. It's been a rough night.

[Jon Denning]

Hey ahall,

Thanks for the message and I'm sorry to hear that your final score didn't live up to your, from the sound of it reasonable, expectations. I can tell you from reading various message boards and visiting several chatrooms that last night was rough for a lot of people, so while I'm sure that's little consolation at the moment, know you're far from alone. And please understand that an LSAT score and legitimate shame are entirely, ENTIRELY unrelated! This is a test that humbles everyone who faces it, and while the degree of that may vary, struggling with something that's profoundly difficult is completely normal and nothing to ever feel bad about.

As I read your message I feel like there are two points of discussion raised: (1) what might have happened on the LSAT to cause your score to be a little lower than the range you'd recently achieved; (2) should you retake given the numbers of your target school. Let me try to address both.

The real bummer about the Feb test of course is that it's not released, meaning not only do you not know exactly how you performed in each section and what you got right and wrong, but you don't even know how many questions in total that you missed. So attempting any kind of post-test self-analysis is virtually impossible from a content standpoint. What you can do is consider the overall experience and compare it to recent practice tests, and try to perhaps gauge how you felt as you moved through the Feb LSAT vs how you felt on recent PTs that were both successes and...not successes (I don't want to say "failures" because that's a really foolish way to consider an experience you can/should learn a lot from).

So with that in mind, and taking into account the information below, I'd be curious to hear how you felt it was going section-by-section, moving through the actual test. Was your level of confidence in the answers chosen as high as it was when you scored 150+? Did you find yourself moving at a 150+ type pace while doing RC passages, or setting up and attacking games, or trying to finish LR sections? How about general anxiety: to what extent do you think nervousness might have played a role on the actual LSAT compared to one of many sample practice tests?

Those may seem irrelevant to your second question, but when considering a retake I think it's always important to predict, as best you can anyway, what sort of improvement is probable the next time around.

Your question about admissions odds with a 144/3.34 is also somewhat tough to predict (for me, anyway), partly because every school is a little different in what it values more or less, and partly because there are a lot of other factors that play into an admit decision--personal statement, letters of rec, general/biographical information, etc. Again, hard for me to quantify all of that with much certainty, so it's probably in your best interest to call the school in question and speak to someone in admissions. They'll be happy to answer questions and will do what they can to steer you down an "apply now" or "take it again" path. Truthfully, application numbers are so low the past few years that schools, especially schools with lower-number criteria, are desperate for applicants and have become exceedingly helpful when dealing with prospects. Use that to your advantage. My suspicion is that they may tell you to apply with what you have, and also note that a higher score is always a bonus (for you as well as for them).

Finally, there's a tool released by LSAC (test makers) where you can input your LSAT and GPA numbers and get admissions odds feedback for the majority of North American law schools: https://officialguide.lsac.org/release/ ... alsat.aspx . I don't know where you're applying, but plug your data into that calculator and see how things look. It should give you a slightly clearer sense of your chances of getting in.

Again, sorry to hear that the numbers released last night weren't quite what you'd hoped they would be, but from the sound of things I think you're still going to be okay.

Keep me posted!

Jon

[ahall]

When it came to how I felt during the real test, I felt just as confident as I did during the practice tests in which I scored a 150 to 151. I have always been able to finish every section before time ran out except for the logic games. During the practice tests I always managed to finish on time with a minute to spare, but I sacrificed accuracy greatly due to it. I changed my gameplan to devote as much time as I needed on the real test in order to get 2-3 games done at 100% accuracy, which I accomplished. RC was the hardest section on the whole test, and I'm certain this is where I made the most errors. LR has always been a toss-up for me before, during, and after the prep course. It's funny because when I saw my third LR section on the test, I immediately could tell by the question choices which one in particular was the experimental. I think that the RC is what threw me off looking back because it was the final section and perhaps my focus and care about the material was waning at that time. I thought the LR was a little easier than most of my practice tests, so I figured that the hit I suffered in RC would be offset by a better score from my LR sections. I'm guessing this either wasn't the case or that I did worse than I thought on LR and/or RC.

My target school is not listed on that link you provided since it is a non-ABA (state-only accredited) school. I have a feeling that my scores are enough to get me in but I would like to be able to make myself more desirable to the admissions committee. I will take your advice and contact their office and get a feel for what path they suggest I take. I won't be attending law school until Fall of 2016, so I have plenty of time to accomplish anything I'd need in order to get in. At least I have that going for me. Thank you for the advice!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hey ahall,

Let me jump in real quick and add my 2c. While you may be able to slide by with your current score (again, something to discuss with the admissions office), I am confident your score can improve by 6-7 points easily, and perhaps more. Here's why: the vast majority of test-takers who score below the median do so because they leave a large number of unanswered questions. They simply run out of time, but their accuracy on the questions they do answer is higher than their scores would suggest. You have the opposite - and more easily fixable - problem: you finish your sections with time to spare, but miss more than half of the questions! A score in the mid-140's that is not affected by random guessing would indicate incredibly low accuracy on even low-to-medium difficulty questions.

You can fix this in several ways. In Logical Reasoning, for instance, you should be aiming for 1) a more thorough understanding of the fundamental principles governing argumentation; 2) a more consistent application of the techniques for each question type; and 3) a better sense of section strategy and pacing. Given that you're making silly mistakes (let's face it), even a slight improvement in your conceptual understanding of the material will translate in huge gains. Furthermore, if all you do is stop rushing and devote the majority of your time answering the 80% of the questions that would not be classified as difficult, I bet your score will improve (even if you have to guess on the remaining 20% of the questions). I've seen it happen time and time again. Rushing is the kiss of death on this test, and you two seem to be having an affair Bad idea!

In RC, rather than focus on three out of the four passages, I'd pick one question from each passage and guess on it; however, I would make sure to spend the time I saved verifying my answers to the remaining questions. Likewise with Logic Games . You aren't being strategic in your approach, resulting in unnecessary rushing and lower accuracy.

My advice would be to gear up for June and re-take. You can always re-take the course, at a discounted rate, or you can study on your own using our 3-month study plan here:

http://student.powerscore.com/self-study/index.cfm

Hope this helps! Let me know.

Thanks!