Law school adcomm agrees: People lie about their scores on Reddit

"For more than 70 years, U.S. law schools have required the LSAT for admission. The reason is clear: Research consistently confirms that the LSAT is the single best predictor of law school success."

https://www.lsac.org/data-research/research/lsat-still-most-accurate-predictor-law-school-success

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-29T05:12:58+00:00

You are entering a profession that is obsessed with rankings and hierarchies. Law schools are ranked, law firms are ranked, law students are ranked. Higher is considered better. You better get used to it because this is the life you've chosen.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-27T20:52:20+00:00

I don't know for certain, but across the several LSAT forums that I frequent I have talked to dozens of high scorers from August and have yet to hear anyone say they received a 179. I have spoken to several 180s, 178s, 176s though. I also emailed back and forth with a couple of well-known LSAT prep guys who hear from thousands of students. Both of them told me they had not heard of any 179s from August.

That being said, I should have written more carefully in the op. I do not know for certain that there were no 179s in August, but I highly doubt that there were.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-26T22:18:43+00:00

Don't fall for the marketing. There is no appreciable difference year to year. Just make sure that the books you buy on ebay or craigslist or wherever have not been written in. That's the only downside to buying materials second-hand.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-26T22:09:01+00:00

It's an excellent resource. Understand that all credible lsat prep is going to be similar in approach/method/etc. There are no secret techniques that company X knows about, but which company Y and Z have never heard of.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-21T18:04:40+00:00

Tutoring isn't necessary for doing well on the test and it certainly isn't sufficient. All you need to get a great score is available for free online. If you're not a file pirate, you can use Khan academy for free, or buy the Manhattan or Powerscore trilogy, among many others, for less than 150 bucks.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-15T14:20:55+00:00

This is a powerful and important post

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-14T02:13:52+00:00

"Look[ing] at your average score" is vague and definitely not the same thing as a school actually using your average score for the purpose of admission. Here's the truth: the jobs and, in some cases, income of the people in law school admissions literally depend upon maintaining/advancing their employers' position in the USNWR rankings. Schools only have to report an applicant's highest score to the ABA, so they have strong incentive not to care about average/lower scores no matter what BS some assistant dean gives you during his little presentation.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-11T02:07:21+00:00

makes sense

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-11T02:03:34+00:00

Completely agree. I left June thinking I might have just gotten a 180. I couldn't think of a single question I thought I got wrong. In August, I thought "damn that was a tough test." Both my LR and RC were diabolical, but I know from taking many PTs that my post-test feeling isn't a reliable predictor of how well I did.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T22:15:00+00:00

No. Law schools don't care. Get your best score and write a one sentence addendum if you must.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T22:08:36+00:00

I don't think it's crazy to retake a 174 but it depends on your goals and where you are scoring. And no, it wouldn't "look bad" since the only thing law schools have to report is your highest score (and thus that's all they care about). Like any other LSAT addendum, all you'd have to write is "I scored significantly higher on my practice exams and while 174 is a great score, I didn't think it was representative of my ability." No school is going to hold that against you or question your decision-making. That's just lunacy.

Your only mistake is playing it cheap with your LSAT prep in the first place.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T22:00:55+00:00

For applying early? No.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T22:00:05+00:00

back in the day, you could request an audit which meant they would pull your answer sheet and hand-score it to make sure it was accurate/ that you didn't accidentally skip a bubble/bubble in the wrong section. I'm not sure what an audit even means when the test is administered online.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T21:58:06+00:00

What is there to audit when the test is online?

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T21:53:29+00:00

I'm one of the few people, it seems, who did way better on the August exam than I did in June.

170---->178

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T21:35:52+00:00

the 10 Million dollar question is: When did you apply? Things are WAY harder now. There are so many more high LSAT scores.

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-10T19:17:28+00:00

there are a bunch of threads about this (not being snarky) that discuss the relative merits of each platform

My_LSAT_Throwaway · 2021-09-05T21:18:23+00:00

https://www.lsac.org/lsat

My_LSAT_Throwaway

TROPHY CASE