LSAT 3rd Try?

[David Bakody]

I took the LSAT in October of 2004 and scored 139.  I was sick with the flu and this had a bigger impact on my score than I expected.

I retook the LSAT in December and scored a 151.  That's a 12 point gain over my previous score and closer to what I was expecting.

For fun I kept up with the LSAT in my spare time as it became a bit of a hobby.  I'm at a point where I can nearly ace the LSAT now, and I suspect if I took the LSAT for a 3rd time I would score in the low 170's - maybe even ace it.

The drawback is that my LSAT report is going to show 139, 151 and [maybe] 172.  How is that going to fly?  Plus, I really don't want to wait another year for law school.  I'm 37, 3 small kids, and I'm old enough where I'm now aging in dog years.  Every delay adds 7 years to my life.  Then again, scoring in the 170's might change things in a very good way...

[applyingsoon]

it depends on how important the tiers are to you. if you really want to go to the best school you can get in to, i'd try it again, esp if you are regularly making superior scores.

[bonzai93]

For one thing, you definitely don't need a 170 to get into law school.  You are 37 with work and life experiences.  Regarding the test scores, a school may look at 2 drastically different LSAT scores and accept that the 1st exam was an anomoly, provided that they were persuaded into thinking so in a personal statement or addendum.  However, looking at 3 LSAT scores with the next one being signicantly higher than the previous one tells a different kind of story.  One would confidently assume that a good deal of studying was done to get to that level and the candidate got really good at how to answer LSAT questions.  I would think that an admission officer would tend look at that in a different light compared to a candidate who scored a 168 on the first try.

[David Bakody]

Excellent advice across the board.  Thanks.

I'm going to stay put with the 151.

[lawdawg19]

I have to disagree on this one.
You may get money from a school if you have a higher score. When you finish, you'll be 43 instead of 42, not a big difference, but for the rest of your life, you'll be able to say that you optimized your application towards the best school for you, which will give more momentum, and worth the year of waiting.