PBush

Would they look down upon taking the test really early or many times?

I would prep first of course, but I figure that since the LSAT is so important to law school admission, that the best strategy would be to start insanely early.

bluedevilmike

Yes and yes. This is a bad idea.

sallyawp

Short answer to your headline question -- absolutely not. Take the LSAT once and be fully prepared before you do so.

drusba

Intent should be to take it once and do well. Unlike SAT for college, many law schools including your high ranks will hold a bad LSAT score against you even though you submit a second test with a good score.

PBush

^ Would it look weird to take it well and do very well but early? When do people normally take the LSAT?

I'm just the sort of person that likes to get things done early.

drusba

Any score is good for five years so if you take it and do well you will need to apply within five years to law school to get the benefit. Most who are considering law school immediately after college take it end of junior or beginning of senior year. Many (and this is a lot) don't even take it until after college because they work a couple years before deciding to go to law school.

Getting it done earlier than usual should not be the goal. Scoring high should be the goal. The issue you need to consider if thinking of taking it in freshman year of college is this: if you blow it you are likely done as far as top law schools are concerned even if you score higher later; LSAT is the biggest factor in admissions to law school and a high GPA will not save a low LSAT.

PBush

^I figured I'd practice for it and take a lot of practice tests so I don't think I would just "blow it". I was thinking of taking it sometime sophomore year.

Of course I want to score high but I suppose my question is if I'm getting 170+ on practice tests, is there any reason to not take it sophomore year (or even freshman year)?

marny1

IMO-- if you want to take it early, be fully prepared and maximize your study time- think about taking it sept/october of your junior year at college. Reasons for this suggestion-

1. you'll have 2 years of college study already under your belt
2. take advantage of studying during your summer break. There are way too many distractions and other academic commitments during the school year.
3. you'll know your LSAT score before senior year and you'll be able to decide what schools to apply to and start preparing applications during the summer prior to senior year.
4. still gives you the opportunity to do study abroad spring semester junior year if desired.
That's just my opinion- but I think the summer break may offer you a good study environment and will give you the free time needed to study for the LSAT's and even start preparing law school applications (senior year) without having the additional time conflicts with school commitments.
just my 2 cents--

also there is a negative (burnout) factor in studying too much for this test- I'm a parent so I can't relate to this concept. But some students have written on TLS and LSD that too much studying can diminish your results. So I think it wise to concentrate on a specific time period (2 to 5 months seems max.) and just give it your all.
Good luck.

jonri

You're a senior in high school, I think.

Here's the best advice I can give you. If you are taking any dual enrollment or college classes or AP/IB courses which you want to use for college credit, do well in those. They may end up counting towards your college gpa for LS purposes--even if your college doesn't count them.

standrews

As a rising sophomore this summer my son had trouble finding a job so he started prepping for the LSAT, intending to take it June, 2010. His practice scores were consistently in the 170's, so he decided to take the September, 2009 test because he felt he wouldn't be any more ready next June. Fortunately, he did extremely well. Now he can focus on his grades and enjoy his undergrad experience knowing that he has banked a great score. His goal was to get a good score, not to take it by a certain date. It just turned out that was earlier, not later.

samonite16

"if you blow it you are likely done as far as top law schools are concerned even if you score higher later"


This is not true. It used to be that schools took the average of all LSAT scores, but now virtually every school (including the top ones) take the higher of the two scores.

drusba

^Not correct. About four years ago, the ABA changed the method that schools are required to report their middle 50% ranges which are used by USNews in ranking from using the average of scores for candidates that submitted multiple LSATs to using highest score submitted. At the same time the LSAC, which administers the LSAT, changed from recommending that law schools use the average of multiple scores to using the highest for admission. It was thought these changes would create a goundswell that would result in all law schools going to considering for admission the highest LSAT score submitted. It didn't happen. Many law schools did change to considering highest scores but many did not and the many that did not include almost all high ranks who will still consider bad scores against you.

sallyawp

This is not at all correct. In fact, many, if not most, of the top law schools will average your scores and will require an explanation from you regarding your decision to take the LSAT more than once. If you search my past posts, you will find a post with quotes from the websites and law school applications of most of the T14 law schools stating their policies.

PBush

^ Then what about the lists on this page: Retaking the LSAT

Or maybe the lists are misleading because many of the law schools that use the highest score are lower-tier?

Ok everyone, I understand now that the LSAT should be taken as few times as possible. That said, I still feel like taking the LSAT during my freshman year would be advantageous for me, though feel free to try to convince me otherwise. I'm not a stubborn guy at all and I will value all your opinions. If I gave the impression that I was going to be the idiot that tries to take the LSAT 8 times (yes, I know three is the max), that is not true at all. I only took the SAT once. In fact, I have never retaken a standardized test in my life, except for the PSAT.

Advantages to taking the LSAT super-early
1. A LOT of time for prep. More than three months with absolutely nothing to do, and for various reasons, I'm unable to take any college courses. I plan to follow the 5-month plan outlined here: 5-Month Study Schedule
2. Don't know how many of you have read his (?) posts, but Cue7 has a lot of posts in the UChicago (where I'm heading this fall) forums about how he suspects that the reason Chicago underperforms at pre-law placement relative to its peers is because people don't take the LSAT seriously enough. I don't know if he's right, but either way, I plan to take the LSAT very seriously, and I sincerely believe that this will be the best time for me to focus on knocking out the LSAT (and being fully prepared to do so) and not needing to juggle studying for the LSAT (which supposedly is the equivalent of a full-time job or at least a part-time one) with taking hard classes, pursuing a satisfying social life and interesting extracurriculars.
3. Note, I may want to knock out the LSAT as early as possible, but that is not inconsistent with getting a high score. If I'm not consistently getting good scores on the practice tests, I won't take the real thing, though I will likely continue studying and consider taking it the next test date.

Potential Disadvantages which I would like to get some opinions on
1. Of course, relative intellectual immaturity. I'm the first one to admit that I'm much smarter now as a HS senior than I was as a HS sophomore. Am I underestimating the impact of this relative to the advantage of having a lot of time to prepare?
2. Impact of college courses. This is related to the above point. Will taking courses in logic and so forth make a huge difference in my score, keeping in mind that I will be learning logic according to the 5-month plan. Student615 says here (Taking LSAT during Sophomore year?) that: "While I don't imagine that law schools would care whether you took the LSAT sophomore year, I would caution against it. I think that college level work in general will do a lot to prepare you for the test: critical thinking, logic, dense reading, emphasis on speed."
3. Will colleges look at when I took it, even if I got a good score, and say, "OMG! Another over-achieving ORM!!!"
4. The five-year limit on the score. If I understand correctly, June marks the beginning of a new cycle, right? This means that I can only apply either my senior year or one year after that, right? My thinking is that if I take more than a year off before applying (or reapplying, wouldn't it be fairly easy for me to find some time to prep again?)


Apparently others have taken it sophomore year (Taking LSAT during Sophomore year?) so it isn't too crazy for me to take it freshman year, right? Of course...that is a slippery slope until gradeschoolers are taking it.

At the very least, would you guys think it would be worth it to study hard for the LSAT this coming summer before I even enter college even if I don't take the LSAT until sophomore or junior years?

Once again, I have to emphasize. I am aware of the huge experience gap between me and most of you, and really value your insight. My own personal experience taking the SAT early in junior year has shown me how stress-relieving it is to have the SAT out of the way while everyone else is trying to struggle with prepping for it and getting good grades with a rigorous junior year courseload. In fact, if I could do it all over again, I would have taken the SAT as a freshman or sophomore so I would have had the summer before junior year to do something much more fun and exciting.

Also, I don't mean to sound really conceited (though, I admit I am...), but I do consider myself more mature than average, and I've learned to trust my gut about these things, though admittedly, my gut is only 18 years old...

And yes, I am wary of the pitfalls with this strategy. After all, that is why I asked everyone's advice...

Edit: I also forgot to mention that I read some schools have their own time limit on the LSAT and won't take scores older than three years. Not that I want you guys to do the hard work researching which ones these are, but any off the top of your head?

marny1

You seemed to have made up your mind- though everyone's advice to you was to wait until you completed at least 2 to 3 years of college. I don't think our advice to you is going to be any different now despite your last posting.