There’s a date circled on many of your calendars. You know the one. Red marker. Exclamation points. Maybe even a few skulls and crossbones.

But December 21, 2012 came and went, and the Mayan apocalypse didn’t come. So now you’ll have to receive your LSAT score.

The official LSAT score release date is January 4, 2013. Happy New Year…

The LSAC, however, generally releases the scores early. So don’t be surprised if you find that score in your inbox as early as today.

Some might be thinking the delays in releasing the October scores will affect December’s release date. They are, most likely, wrong. Those delays were caused by an extreme weather event which shut down LSAC’s offices. Nothing similar has happened this time around, so we should see a normal schedule for the score release.

In the past, the December LSAT has been released up to a week early. I wouldn’t expect that. The window between expected release and actual release has been shrinking in recent years, so my prediction is next Wednesday. However, maybe the LSAC will be nice and send them out on Monday so you can have the LSAT out of the way in 2012. You’ve already the champagne to celebrate!

How can you tell that scores are going to be released? On your LSAC account page, the LSAT status icon will go from green to grey and the email date on the website will change to the release date. Thought you were obsessively checking your email? Now I’ve given you something completely new to obsessively check!

After that change (which will be reported within seconds on Top Law Schools, Twitter, and other internet locations), scores will start to be sent out. Though your fate has already been decided, you’ll finally know it within the next few hours. Like an accused murderer waiting for the verdict to be read. Or a lotto winner who passed out before the numbers were read. We’re hoping it’s more like the latter.

So good luck, everyone!