<p>What would be considered a good, first time, no-prep score on the LSAT for someone shooting for a highly selective law school?</p>
<p>That all depends on what you mean by highly selective law school, but assuming you mean something akin to the T14, then you’re shooting ultimately for a score in the upper 160s and up. For schools higher up the ladder like HYS, something in the mid to upper 170s is preferable. </p>
<p>Typically, the difference between one’s first few practice scores and her actual score won’t be more than 5-10 points, though exceptions occur. For instance, my very first “cold” practice score was a 160, and my practice scores hovered in the mid to high 160s for a while. Eventually, I was practicing consistently in the mid 170s, and I miraculously pulled off a 180 on test day. </p>
<p>My experience was quite the outlier, though. If you’re shooting for a T14, hopefully your first cold practice score is at least in the upper 150s or lower 160s. Then you stand a legitimate chance of pushing that to a competitive number.</p>
<p>I would have to disagree with crnchycereal. Your actual score will be dependent on how much effort you place on studying; IMO your first “no-prep” score is a weak indicator of how you will do on test day. I haven’t taken the LSAT yet, but it’s my opinion that many test takers improve their score by much more than 5-10 points from their initial test given they study, study, and study some more.</p>
<p>Childhood Chores, given that you haven’t taken the test yet, your opinion is less than fully informed. Not only did I take the test and prepare for it vigorously, but I’ve also spent hundreds of hours privately tutoring others. Even the brightest students rarely push their practice scores more than 10 points. It’s a fairly significant feat, especially considering how many additional questions you have to land to push your score up by even just a few points. So yes, studying helps. But the vast majority of people who put a lot of effort into their studying (and that’s a lot of people!) will not succeed in achieving an actual score significantly more than 10 points above their initial practice score.</p>
<p>I don’t like the word “initial.” Take it as if you only have one shot, schools frown upon multiple attempts. If you want HYS, I’d say 170+. Any other T14, I’d say 165+ should work for you.</p>