Score Jump and Addenda: Mixed Advice

[flexbubbleboi]

I'm in a good situation, but one that's leaving my confused how to proceed. I got a 167 my first time taking the LSAT and had a small jump to 170 on my second go-around. I worked with a PowerScore tutor for 5 weeks (thank you!) and managed to jump to a 180 on my third and final attempt.

I had seen from various forums online that it's generally not recommended to write an addendum explaining a score jump. But just now I was in an info session with HLS's admissions folks, and they said they do recommend an addendum if your score went up 5+ points. What do I do?

[evelineliu]

Hi there,

This is a good question, and I also experienced a 10-point increase between my second and third take (168 --> 178). I chose not to write an addendum for the increase because I didn't want to say "I studied more efficiently/effectively before my third take." That being said, a T6 interviewer explicitly asked me about my score jump, so I did talk about using blind review, understanding the test better from the test-maker's point of view, etc.

If a certain school recommends writing a score addendum for a 5+ point increase, I would follow their directions. In your addendum, be sure to monitor your tone so it does not sound like you are making excuses for your old scores.

Best,
Eveline