February 2023 LSAT Scores

If you took the February 2023 LSAT, you should have received your LSAT score. At this point, you may be contemplating your next step. Here are my suggestions, depending upon your situation:

1. If you are happy with your LSAT score, congratulations! Law school remains a competitive and popular choice for college students and graduates, but law schools remain eager to get well-qualified students.  You may want to consider applying to law schools that are more competitive than you previously had planned. All of that depends upon your LSAT score, undergraduate gpa and “soft factors,” of course.

2. If you have mixed feelings, remember to focus on your ultimate goal: getting into a law school that you like. If your score is good enough to do that, you should be happy about that. See below, though, for some thoughts on retaking the LSAT.

3. If you are disappointed (don’t be alarmed – many people are), remember that you can retake the LSAT numerous times.  The good news (and it’s very good news) is that law schools almost always focus on your highest LSAT score, so preparing for and retaking the LSAT likely makes sense.

4. If you do plan to retake the LSAT, the bigger issue is how to do better next time. You may simply have gotten unlucky. You may want to review your old work to see areas where you are struggling, and continue taking practice exams. If you relied exclusively on books, free videos, “self-study,” or were not satisfied with your prior instructor/tutor, you may want to think about a new game plan. The LSAT is a challenging exam, but you can often see dramatic improvement after receiving expert instruction and practicing diligently.

5. A key consideration is that you may want/need to postpone law school until Fall 2024 if you plan to retake the LSAT. Depending upon your personal situation, there can be some very significant advantages to doing that, including (1) giving yourself significantly more time to prepare for your LSAT retake, (2) retaking the LSAT more than once, if necessary, (3) gaining the advantages of an early law school application (including a possible “early decision” application to your primary target law school), and (4) having plenty of time to work on other aspects of your law school applications (personal statement, essay answers to application questions, letters of recommendation, etc.).

6. Whichever route you go, don’t let yourself get discouraged – instead, think about what to do next time and make it happen!

Questions? If you have questions about your own personal situation and/or wish to set up a FREE 15-minute Zoom or telephone conversation with me, please feel free to email me at mark@scoreitup.com.