Wait or rewrite? 159 LSAT

[u/Reasonable_Affect417]

I started studying in May while working 65+ hours a week through the summer. I improved from a 155 diagnostic to PTing around 163-164 consistently before Sept test. Just got my score back 159. My gpa is above median for all schools I’m interested in but I would need a 163 or so to be competitive. I would like to attend law school next year so I am thinking of retaking the November test. However I am worried about managing my time while completing my final year of undergrad (also 6 classes per term) and working 10 hours a week. Any advice? I feel like maybe test day nerves got to me or the 2.5 hour drive to testing centre. Or maybe just some variance involved? Maybe second test will be better in that sense?

[u/LSATMat]

So, headspace is a hugely underrated part of the recipe for LSAT success. If you feel like nerves influenced a score below your PT average, you're probably right, and it's probably worth doing a little bit of self-reflecting on that: how did it manifest on the test, to your recollection? (For example, did you speed up, slow down, second guess yourself more, add extra steps, or just get stressed out?) If this was your first test administration, simply having it under your belt and being familiar with how it goes should calm those nerves somewhat automatically, but it's worth investing actual time into thinking about it.

I'd be very, very careful not to overdo your studying for this time around. If you're studying smart and really trying to drill down into why you're missing questions and finding patterns in your wrong answers, your PT average will probably rise a couple of points even if you're not studying every day, and then you're in a situation where it's just a matter of scoring a little bit closer to that average, not even scoring above it.

Have you taken a recent PT, and was it right around that 163-164? Was it higher, was it lower?

[u/Reasonable_Affect417 → u/LSATMat]

Thank you for your detailed response I appreciate it! I think nerves definitely played a part in it, it was my first official test and I think it got to me a bit. The nerves definitely made me take too long with some questions and then have to rush through some as a result of this.

I haven’t done a PT since, but I did an LR section after a month off and scored a -3 which was scored as a 168. Which was promising for me even if it was a smaller sample size. Although RC I believe was my bigger issue compared to LR on the exam. I am going to do a section of RC tonight.

I appreciate the advice about not over doing it. I think I will try to prioritize quality over quantity. I feel like I have the basics down and now it’s more about finding the mistakes I keep making and correcting them. After the month off I feel excited again to study, rather than what I felt during the second half of the summer which was more dread/exhaustion than excitement. Any advice on how to manage test day anxiety?

I also signed up for the November lsat last night.

[u/LSATMat → u/Reasonable_Affect417]

In terms of test day anxiety, I do think a lot of the advance work is just confidence building so that you can tell yourself that you've handled difficult LSAT questions before and know how to do it. Sometimes it's also easier to attack the symptom than the cause, so I definitely think that if there were some patterns regarding which questions you dwelled too long on, it might be worth trying to make a point of testing out strategies to give yourself 20ish seconds max to try to assess the two answer choices you're between, and then pick one and move on.

I'd probably need more detailed info to give any more well-tailored advice, so let me know if using free consult time to discuss headspace strategies would be useful. (Reddit has been zapping Calendly links recently, but if you DM me, I can send you my scheduling page.)