…less stressfully than they used to, thankfully.

Scores for the September LSAT are set to be released tomorrow, and LSAC has officially confirmed that the score release will begin at 9 am, so September hopefuls will know exactly when to start frantically refreshing their LSAC pages.

This seems like a rather small announcement, but it’s actually a huge improvement from the way things worked back in my day (and, indeed, in most people’s days until the July test of this year).

Back when I took the LSAT, we had to walk uphill both ways barefoot in the snow to take the test. But also, the score release date was more of a suggestion than a promise: For each test administration, LSAC would dutifully identify a score release date, but then they’d go ahead and release scores some number of days before that. Sometimes they’d release scores as much as a week early (and for the December 2017 test, they actually sent out scores 12 days early), sometimes they’d release them only a day or two before the scheduled release date.

Getting your score early might sound great, but in practice, it meant that test takers spent the entire week before the scheduled release date on tenterhooks. They knew from past experience that it was possible LSAC would release scores on any day, so they’d spend that week debating whether each day might be the score release date and frantically refreshing their LSAC accounts. It was, dare I say, a little cruel and unusual.

Things seemed to be looking up in early 2018, when LSAC released a statement specifying in advance that February test results would be released on “March 7, in the early evening.” Finally, those students knew exactly when they should start stressing about their results! But then LSAC, in classic LSAC fashion, pulled a gotcha and began releasing scores on the night of March 6th instead. Again, while unexpectedly receiving your score early is better than the alternative, it made for a bit of a jarring surprise.

Not one to learn from their mistakes, in June LSAC again identified a specific day on which scores would be released, and again decided to just go ahead and send out the scores a lil’ early anyway. Test takers began to despair, wondering if they would ever be able to plan on LSAC actually following through on its word.

Finally, for the July LSAT, LSAC posted on Twitter — passive-aggressive hashtag and all — that scores would be released on a specific day and would not be posted before 9 am, and this time LSAC actually followed through. So, all of this is to say that this time, it seems like September test takers really can plan on receiving scores no earlier than 9 am.

Of course, there’s still some trauma involved in the process … because scores aren’t released all at once, but rather in batches. The batches are totally random — it’s not based on name, social security number, score, location, or anything else you can think of — so your friends might get their scores a few hours before you, or vice versa. At any rate, you’ll know that scores are coming because the icons on your LSAC account will turn grey instead of their usual green, which in LSAT-nerd parlance is known as “going grey.”

So if you’re eagerly awaiting your September LSAT score, your wait will soon end, though exactly how soon is still somewhat unpredictable. At any rate, you can fire up the ol’ browser at around 9 am Eastern tomorrow, and make sure to have a brunch drink of choice at the ready. Good luck!