LSAT did not go well

[Legal4ssistant]

I worked so hard for my application and tried my hardest to score well for LSATS, but my LSATS went to the shits. I’m talking about 120 range.

I feel so awful and disappointed in myself, but I don’t know how to feel and what to even think. I was really anticipating to get into law school and make sure I get everything right. 
 

I got all three recommendation letters, B20gpa was at 3.6, great PS. 

what do you think?

[GGrievous]

Sorry to hear you got a disappointing score. I’m curious what you did to prepare. Did you take a practice test before? Did you write the LSAT cold?

I don’t want to be harsh but being realistic is important I think. There is no chance you’re getting into a Canadian law school with that score. I didn’t even know it was possible to score that low. I think you can guess all the same letter and get a higher score, so I’m completely lost at what happened here.  By your GPA it is very surprising.  You could try to take it again for next cycle, but the chances of improving from a 120’s score to what you need is probably incredibly rare. I would say try if you feel law is what you really want, but it may also be time to explore other career options. 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Barry

[CleanHands]

13 minutes ago, Legal4ssistant said:

what do you think?

So, I know you're feeling like shit right now and I'm not trying to beat you up, but I literally don't understand what you are asking. What do we think about what?

If you're asking if you can get in somewhere with that profile, the answer is a clear "no." Clearly a 120-range LSAT isn't competitive.

If you're asking how you can improve your LSAT, I'll defer to those who know how to answer better. (For what it's worth I fully agree with @Barry's assessment about this score having negative implications beyond your ability to be admitted to law school this cycle, but I'm sure others will chime in with LSAT improvement success stories.)

If you're asking whether you should continue trying to pursue law school at all at this point, that's deeply personal and we don't have enough to work with (aside from what @Barry alluded to).

[AHappyLawyer]

Take a week to be disappointed. It's ok! And only normal to feel that way. 

Afterwards, you need to kind to yourself, but critical to your study approach. Presently, there is clearly something fundamentally wrong with your study approach and you'll need to reevaluate before committing to diving in again.

Are you devoting enough time to study? Ideally, you'll have 2 months undisturbed to approach it. If you're working or have other circumstance, we can give suggestions.

Are you using prep resources that you are comfortable with? The LSAT is not about effort, it's all about approach and learning all the tricks. Powerscore is a good resource IMO if I had to recommend one. I used to tutor the LSAT and systematic approach is everything. I'm confident everyone (with enough practice) can score 155 to 160. We can build you up. These are starting points. It looks like you have a good GPA but the importance of the LSAT cannot be stressed enough.  

Edited February 13, 2022 by AHappyLawyer

[Darth Vader]

We need more information. Did you study for the LSAT and take practice tests where you scored higher and therefore expected to do better on the real test? Because even doing the LSAT cold with no preparation, almost everyone would score higher than the 120s range. A score in the 120s range means that you got nearly every question wrong and scored worse than 99% of people who took the test recently. An extremely poor performance on the LSAT can be an indicator of poor logical reasoning skills in general, which will impact your performance in law school even if you did get in. 

[VitalGiraffe]

Based on the timing of this post I want to make sure - have you already received your score back and it was in the 120s? Or do you feel like you just did poorly on the February exam?

If the latter, people often feel like they did much worse than they actually did.

Edited February 13, 2022 by VitalGiraffe

[TheLawyer]

Did you do practice tests under the same conditions as you would during the real exam?

I had issues with the LSAT but my LSAT score was basically a couple points under the score I was averaging during my practice tests. 

[epeeist]

@Legal4ssistant Sorry to hear. I think the fundamental thing - don't share here unless you want advice - is to try to figure out why you did badly. Without that, all of us here are just guessing. And without you trying to determine it, you can't really decide what you should do about it or how to improve your LSAT score.

Note, my experience is not with the LSAT (except for many years ago!) but more recently, as a volunteer tutor for people who've failed the bar exam. The most critical and first question I ask is why they failed, because (for the people I deal with) it's critical to decide what to focus on (time management, stress reduction, are examples of factors unrelated to subject-matter knowledge).

[mjslava]

On 2/13/2022 at 5:52 AM, VitalGiraffe said:

Based on the timing of this post I want to make sure - have you already received your score back and it was in the 120s? Or do you feel like you just did poorly on the February exam?

If the latter, people often feel like they did much worse than they actually did.

Until we have this answered there’s not much anyone can do. 

[mj1995]

On 2/12/2022 at 10:08 PM, Legal4ssistant said:

I worked so hard for my application and tried my hardest to score well for LSATS, but my LSATS went to the shits. I’m talking about 120 range.

I feel so awful and disappointed in myself, but I don’t know how to feel and what to even think. I was really anticipating to get into law school and make sure I get everything right. 
 

I got all three recommendation letters, B20gpa was at 3.6, great PS. 

what do you think?

i think any score below 150 is more than likely a no for all Canadian law schools (long time lurker have never seen an acceptance given with an LSAT lower than 150 so i may be wrong). I wish you the best and good luck ! 

Edited February 17, 2022 by mj1995

[CleanHands]

5 minutes ago, mj1995 said:

i think based on for just this cycle alone any score below 150 is more than likely a no for all Canadian law schools (long time lurker have never seen an acceptance given with an LSAT lower than 150 so i may be wrong). I wish you the best and good luck ! 

Not to belabor the point, but "120 range" is a whole different league than "below 150." There's really no need for qualifications here about what the outcome is going to be.

[mj1995]

11 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

Not to belabor the point, but "120 range" is a whole different league than "below 150." There's really no need for qualifications here about what the outcome is going to be.

was just trying to soften the blow 

Edited February 17, 2022 by mj1995

[CleanHands]

2 minutes ago, mj1995 said:

was just trying to soften the blow 

Here's the thing though--and I don't say this to be harsh to the OP, nor to you--but I do feel that this thread provides the clearest of clear examples to make this point:

It is actively unhelpful when people come to a forum like this and ask for input, and there is a clear and obvious answer to their question that isn't what the OP would ideally want to hear, but people hedge and beat around the bush and pretend that the OP might possibly have a long shot at their goal. Firstly, it's not true. Secondly, people will grasp on to the little slivers of hope people hold out, even if they are intended to be minor qualifiers within an overall pessimistic take. Thirdly, these threads are preserved and other people will stumble upon them for years to come and thus bad advice will have further ripple effects on more people.

OP is not getting into law school with those stats, period. Better they know that so they can make an informed choice about what to do.

Honestly the existing responses already "softened the blow" because there's a lot more that can be said about a 2nd percentile LSAT and what it means, if people didn't want to be kind to the OP.

[GGrievous]

The only thing I would say is that it does seem like an odd post overall. The OP hasn’t responded to clarify again but it does seem this isn’t an actual score just based on timing, as @VitalGiraffe noted. That being said, yes, anyone that scores that low should know they are not getting in period. From the LSAT distribution it apparently does happen, but I assume sometimes due to some catastrophic error that occurs during, or if the test-taker just gives up and randomly selects letters at random. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by Barry

[mj1995]

6 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

Here's the thing though--and I don't say this to be harsh to the OP, nor to you--but I do feel that this thread provides the clearest of clear examples to make this point:

It is actively unhelpful when people come to a forum like this and ask for input, and there is a clear and obvious answer to their question that isn't what the OP would ideally want to hear, but people hedge and beat around the bush and pretend that the OP might possibly have a long shot at their goal. Firstly, it's not true. Secondly, people will grasp on to the little slivers of hope people hold out, even if they are intended to be minor qualifiers within an overall pessimistic take. Thirdly, these threads are preserved and other people will stumble upon them for years to come and thus bad advice will have further ripple effects on more people.

OP is not getting into law school with those stats, period. Better they know that so they can make an informed choice about what to do.

Honestly the existing responses already "softened the blow" because there's a lot more that can be said about a 2nd percentile LSAT and what it means, if people didn't want to be kind to the OP.

I get what you are trying to say and and you are correct the OP should know what has occurred but I said essentially what you said in a slightly nicer manner that I have never seen a score below 150 get accepted. We can agree to disagree and you can take your approach but a lot of the above comments are discussing studying tips and how to improve his/her position. I said "a score below 150 is more than likely a no". I agree with your point though and for the OP, I wish you the best and I hope you can improve your score significantly as the harsh reality is that getting into law school is very competitive. It would be ideal for you to score higher to have a greater chance of acceptance.  The OP also never posted their actual score so its difficult to gauge where they actual stand I do find it incredibly hard to believe that she/he is in the 120 range as that would mean they got almost every single question wrong. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by mj1995

[QueensDenning]

28 minutes ago, mj1995 said:

 It would be ideal for you to score higher to have a greater chance of acceptance. 

It will be necessary for OP to score 30+ points higher to have any chance of acceptance.  

[owl12]

I’m gonna be honest, I think OP’s post in totally made up and bs. 
 

120 is the lowest score possible. 129 is in the 2nd percentile (bottom 2%). And OP said they studied. I don’t know if I could get that low if I tried to get every question wrong.

They also haven’t replied to anything. They’re  trollin. 

[CleanHands]

2 hours ago, owl12 said:

I’m gonna be honest, I think OP’s post in totally made up and bs. 
 

120 is the lowest score possible. 129 is in the 2nd percentile (bottom 2%). And OP said they studied. I don’t know if I could get that low if I tried to get every question wrong.

They also haven’t replied to anything. They’re  trollin. 

I'd agree if not for hearing stories from a friend who was an LSAT instructor. And well, 2% of people do need to be in the 2nd percentile or lower, so such people exist. 😕

OP had made a non-trolly post in an acceptance thread a month and a half earlier so well played on their part if they are a troll and had the discipline to do that and wait in order to increase perceived legitimacy.

Edited February 18, 2022 by CleanHands

[owl12]

16 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

I'd agree if not for hearing stories from a friend who was an LSAT instructor. And well, 2% of people do need to be in the 2nd percentile or lower, so such people exist. 😕

OP had made a non-trolly post in an acceptance thread a month and a half earlier so well played on their part if they are a troll and had the discipline to do that and wait in order to increase perceived legitimacy.

Fair enough ya. I guess there has to be some people in that 1.5% percentile. 

[AMG]

On 2/17/2022 at 3:03 PM, mj1995 said:

I get what you are trying to say and and you are correct the OP should know what has occurred but I said essentially what you said in a slightly nicer manner that I have never seen a score below 150 get accepted. We can agree to disagree and you can take your approach but a lot of the above comments are discussing studying tips and how to improve his/her position. I said "a score below 150 is more than likely a no".

When I ask for advice I want people knowledgeable of the topic to be straight with me, not nice. Especially in scenarios like this where taking the LSAT and applying for law schools can cost upwards of $1,000. It isn't fair to OP to sugarcoat things and have even the slightest possibility of false hope. You may have a chance at a school like Windsor or Lakehead with a 148 if you also founded a local charity and have a gpa of 3.8, but a score in the 120s, 130s, and for the most part 140s is hopeless. OP we are not at all trying to be mean to you, just telling you how it is. If you can PT above 150 that is great and I hope you are able to, if not save your money and frustration.

[squirrel]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:35 PM, owl12 said:

I’m gonna be honest, I think OP’s post in totally made up and bs. 
 

120 is the lowest score possible. 129 is in the 2nd percentile (bottom 2%).

I thought they were lying too but LSAC’s data shows that 6 people applied with a score of 120 this cycle.

https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummaryOriginalFormat.aspx

[owl12]

2 hours ago, squirrel said:

I thought they were lying too but LSAC’s data shows that 6 people applied with a score of 120 this cycle.

https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummaryOriginalFormat.aspx

That’s so wild! 

[LMP]

4 hours ago, squirrel said:

I thought they were lying too but LSAC’s data shows that 6 people applied with a score of 120 this cycle.

https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummaryOriginalFormat.aspx

I hope to emulate this level of sheer self confidence. 

[mjslava]

38 minutes ago, LMP said:

I hope to emulate this level of sheer self confidence. 

Weight of GPA: 25%
Weight of LSAT: 25%                        
 

Weight of sheer self confidence: 100%

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by mjslava

[Yogurt Baron]

I used to apply to law school when I had a GPA that would've been the equivalent of a 120 LSAT - I misunderstood what the access category was. But, yeah, I've never been accused of lacking ego.

Also, one thing I don't know: let's say somebody had a panic attack during the test, or violent diarrhea, or I guess both, and just didn't end up filling in any of the bubbles. Is there some kind of "incomplete" score, or would that just be a 120? I can totally see someone with a good GPA applying to law school in advance of taking the LSAT, and then something happens during the test.

I can't conceive of someone actually completing the test and getting a "real" 120---even if you just guessed random letters, you'd do better than that, surely.