Updated from 2009

For those of you who are happy with your December LSAT score and believe it will lead to admission at the law school of your dreams, CONGRATULATIONS! Don’t forget to recycle your LSAT books!

For those that didn’t do as well as they wanted to, you need to decide if you want to retake in February.

How do you know if you should retake?

• There was some extraneous circumstance, like you were shorted on time, ill, or mis-bubbled (and for some reason you didn’t cancel)
• You were overcome with test anxiety and it very significantly impacted your performance
• Your score was significantly lower (-2 points) than the average of your final 3 full prep-tests
• You didn’t devote yourself to a complete course of study (i.e. you worked through LSAT for Dummies and took one full real practice test)
• Your case for retaking is better if many of the law schools you are targeting take the highest score

For many test-takers, Decemberwas already a re-take.  If you got two scores that are similar, you probably should not retake again.  For some people, this can be painful as they realize they are not likely to go to the law school of their dreams (or law school at all).

If you are going to retake, you should start thinking now about what you’ll do differently next time.

• Get a different book. If you’ve been working without real LSAT questions, you must get a book that uses real questions.  You probably also need to look at a different set of strategies to find an approach that works for you.
• Think twice about re-taking a class. If you took an LSAT class once and don’t feel you’re living up to your potential, how will sitting through the same class help again? It might be time to try a new approach.  Additionally, if you took a course with a score guarantee and you’re eligible for a refund, you should definitely take it and either save the money or reinvest in tutoring.  Be persistent: prep companies want you to re-take their course because it costs them exactly nothing for you to be the 18th person in a class.
• Get a tutor. Good LSAT tutors are specialists at taking you from where you are now to where you need to be, zeroing in on your weaknesses. And yes, we’re biased because one-on-one tutoring is all we do.

Next Step Test Preparation provides complete courses of one-on-one tutoring with an LSAT expert for less than the price of a commercial prep course. Email us or call 888-530-NEXT (6398) for a complimentary consultation.