Past LSAT Scores

[sarahof@berkeley.edu]

In 2018, I prepared and took the LSAT; however, unfortunately a few days before the test I fainted and hit my head relatively hard against a door. I sustained a mild concussion, but after prepping for so long I decided to still take the test. In retrospect, I know that was a silly decision and my score was much lower than any pre-score or practice test I had ever taken.

Now, three years later, I am getting ready to take the LSAT again and I have been scoring in my desired range (about 12-15 points higher than the 2018 score) and I was just wondering will the old score hurt my chances of getting into law schools? And how will it be viewed in the context of a new, hopefully much higher score.

[Stephanie Oswalt]

In 2018, I prepared and took the LSAT; however, unfortunately a few days before the test I fainted and hit my head relatively hard against a door. I sustained a mild concussion, but after prepping for so long I decided to still take the test. In retrospect, I know that was a silly decision and my score was much lower than any pre-score or practice test I had ever taken.

Now, three years later, I am getting ready to take the LSAT again and I have been scoring in my desired range (about 12-15 points higher than the 2018 score) and I was just wondering will the old score hurt my chances of getting into law schools? And how will it be viewed in the context of a new, hopefully much higher score.

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the post, and the good news here is that your lower score won't hurt you! Schools really only care about the highest LSAT score that you receive, as this is the score they have to report to the ABA. So in their eyes, your score will be whatever higher score you end up receiving.

That being said, while your lower score won't hurt you, you do have a completely reasonable explanation for that lower score, so you may want to consider submitting an addendum about it: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/whats- ... h-addenda/. If you do this, keep the addendum brief and factual (I wouldn't mention your regrets about taking the LSAT. I would simply say something to the effect of, "I was injured a few days prior to the test, resulting in a concussion. I have since recovered." ) Basically, you want to make an admissions committee say, "Oh that makes sense why they had a 10-15 point lower score the first time," and then move on. I hope this helps!