So you took the LSAT and, like the good pre-law student you are, you submitted the rest of your application materials so you’d be good to go. Then you got your LSAT score back and thought “you know, I could probably do better.” What now?

First, make sure that you’ve thought about whether it really makes sense for you to retake the LSAT. You need to be willing to dedicate enough time to studying to make it worthwhile, and you also need to be able to front the cost of an additional LSAT registration and any study materials you’ll need.

If your heart is set on a retake – and if you’re sure that the school you’ll be applying to will accept scores from the February LSAT – then go ahead and sign up. At this point, you need to give the admissions officers at the schools you’ve applied to a heads up that they should hold off on reviewing your application until they receive your February LSAT score. (Otherwise, you run the risk that they’ll consider your application only with the current score. Unfortunately, there’s no middle ground – you can’t have them take a look at your application now but also keep in mind that there’s another score coming.)

Note that schools will only consider a complete application, meaning that they need to have all required essays, your transcripts, your letters of recommendation, and so on. If your application is not yet complete, you should let the school know to keep an eye out for your February score regardless, but they wouldn’t actually begin reviewing the application anyway until they have the rest of your materials.
You may have heard that you should write an addendum explaining discrepancies between multiple LSAT scores. You might be tempted to get cracking on that addendum now so that you’ll be ahead of the game – but I’d caution you to hold your horses on that one.

Firstly, there are scenarios in which such an addendum is neither needed nor helpful, so be sure that you really need to write one. Secondly, there’s the obvious issue of counting your chickens before they’ve hatched – you don’t yet know how you’ll score in February, so although you hope it will be significantly higher than your previous score, you can’t be sure. And thirdly, at this juncture your time is better spent actually studying for that February test – you can devote your time to explaining your breathtaking score increase after the test is over with.

Other than that, retaking the LSAT in February is not much different than retaking at any other time of year. We at Blueprint LSAT wish you the best of luck with your studying – and stay tuned to Most Strongly Supported for continued tips!