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Other than "because Yale might ding me if I score lower than my first LSAT score," is there any reason to not retake when I didn't score a 180 on my first and only LSAT, and I have a fee waiver that allows me to take a second LSAT for free? I'd argue that even with a 179, it would still be worth a shot to try for the 180. And in my case, where my first LSAT score is in the lower 170's, and I have scored 180 on two practice tests (out of the seven I have taken), I'd say it is even more worth a shot.

Then, given the answer to the above is to retake, is there any reason to not retake on the July 2019 administration, which basically then allows for a third free shot if I don't get the 180?

The point of a high LSAT score is to get admitted to a law school you want to attend at the best price possible. The difference between a 179 and 180 for admission purposes is non-existent.. At that point you would be retaking a test for your own ego, not to help your admission chances.

Npret wrote:The point of a high LSAT score is to get admitted to a law school you want to attend at the best price possible. The difference between a 179 and 180 for admission purposes is non-existent.. At that point you would be retaking a test for your own ego, not to help your admission chances.

If you score, say, a 171, and you are consistently PTing at 175+, by all means give it a go to see if you can squeeze a few extra points out.

If you net a 179 (or even a "mere" 176, YLS' 75% percentile), for the love of Heaven don't retake in a quest for 180, unless your goal is to market yourself as a "perfect-scoring" LSAT tutor.

Npret wrote:The point of a high LSAT score is to get admitted to a law school you want to attend at the best price possible. The difference between a 179 and 180 for admission purposes is non-existent.. At that point you would be retaking a test for your own ego, not to help your admission chances.

I gave this thought a pretty significant amount of my time a few years ago. My conclusion was the number is either 173 or 174, depending on the cycle, where a retake starts to make next to no sense. cliffs: anybody who is competitive for a Hamilton or a Ruby (the big scholarships at Columbia and Chicago respectfully) is probably going to get full ride money from a lower T13 without a retake. On the flip side, if you can't get into Harvard with a 173/4 then you're probably not getting in with a 180.

Thanks for the responses. Actually two of you touched on some of my reasons for gunning for a 180. The first is my ego - to prove that I can, in much the same way one might train for and complete a marathon or one of those warrior dashes. Moreover, I actually enjoy mental challenges like the LSAT. The second is that I do entertain the option of becoming a professional tutor, and I think having a 180 would look good (better than a 179) to potential clients.

But if I do manage to score a 179 on the July 2019 LSAT, I admit that I would have a hard time convincing myself to cancel that score for a free retake.