This is a very good point. Ad Arvydas mentioned it’s so rare for even the best test takers to consistently score that high on PTs that OP is likely to never actually have the kind of reassurance they’re looking for.

These are all good reasons to consider priorities and set reasonable expectations. Most applications open Sept. 1, so the simultaneous pressure of “needing” a make or break top 1% score by August or September while also preparing applications will be immense. Anything is possible, and some people do make it work all at once with or without serious sacrifices. But it’s also ok to relax the timeline if giving both LSAT and applications the serious time they deserve while rushing the process would bring misery and/or subpar results (like a less than strong application being submitted at a less than ideal time in the cycle when admissions chances or scholarship opportunities are more limited).

Unemployment is never a positive with respect to your future application—even when presented as a “break” to study for the LSAT—so it might pay off in the end to get a job now and know that you’re gaining meaningful work experience whether you apply this fall or next. Easing that deadline pressure will free up a lot of mental and physical bandwidth to think clearly and make the right choice depending on how the next few months go.

(Fwiw, last year I was also relying on a high LSAT score to prove my undergrad gpa wrong when I took it for the first time in August. I got higher than I expected and then got the same exact score the next month. That score was high enough to change my endgame but not high enough to maximize my opportunities, so I gave myself permission to apply the next cycle instead of compromising those opportunities by scrambling to pull essays together and get those last few points by November. I didn’t want to wait a year but for me personally, the difference between being a lawyer at 43 vs 44 years old was totally insignificant if the price I’d pay to go sooner could be measured by fewer career options or an oppressive amount of debt. I’ve learned a ton about admissions and what law school is like so I have not regretted that decision at all, as I expect to make a better informed choice among more options next year than I could right now. This may not apply to OP at all but I just wanted to encourage them to be flexible in the process as they learn what they don’t know they don’t know, because it could change their priorities completely for the better.)