There is not a single right time to take the LSAT. I would shoot for an administration which would give you at least four months to prepare. If you approach test day and need more preparation time you can always wait for the next administration. You are ready to take the LSAT if and only if the average of your last three practice tests are within a point or two of a score which you would be happy applying to schools with. The LSAT is designed so that the great majority of students will fall within +/- three point margin of error “score bands” of the average of their final three practice tests on test day. You are playing against heavy odds if you believe you will break this trend.
While I do not have a universal answer for each person’s situation, keep the following considerations in mind about each of the administrations of the test:
(Click here for a list of BYU Test Prep’s LSAT courses which correspond to these test administrations)
June. This is the first administration offered for each admissions cycle (even though you perceivably take the test a year or two early if you’d like). Many students like to take the June test because it will give them the rest of the summer to relax, write application essays, and assemble the rest of their application package. Knowing your LSAT score this early will also give your time to visit the schools you will be competitive at numerically and figure out which schools you might want to attend. Many schools give special consideration to those first few students who get their applications in each year. Because law schools operate on a rolling admissions basis, your application (if remotely competitive) will be reviewed many more times by admissions committees if you get it in very early.
Nevertheless, a major pitfall students fall into is not preparing adequately for the June test. Because it lies very close to the end of school, some students wait until school gets out to begin studying. This schedule will simply not allow enough time to prepare. If you are taking the June test, I would strongly recommend taking a prep course to remain focused during the school semester.
September/October. While the June administration will allow applicants to get their applications in extremely early, the October test will still allow applicants to get their applications in before the deadline of most schools’ early admissions programs. These programs will increase the chances of an applicant being admitted to each school and may or may not be binding. Another major advantage of the October test is having an entire summer to prepare for the LSAT.
December. This is the last time I would recommend taking the test for the same-year admissions cycle. Have all of your application materials ready, as every day you delay in sending in your applications after receiving your LSAT score in late December will place you behind hundreds more applicants. However, it is worth taking the December test if you believe you can score more than two points higher on the LSAT than you would have in June or September. Getting your applications in very early (around Halloween) can be worth up to two points on the LSAT. If you are scoring more than two points below your goal as the September/October test approaches, December may be a great alternative.
February. This is the last opportunity to take the test for most schools you will be applying to. However, applying to schools this late will cause you to be rejected from schools whose median LSAT and GPA scores you do not far exceed. Students tend to score worse on this test administration than any other. However, this may be more related to the composition of students who take the February test and not its actual difficulty. LSAC will also not release a copy of the test to students who have taken it, unlike the other administrations. The only two good reasons exist for taking to February test that I can think of are 1) taking the test for the following application cycle or 2) attempting to achieve a higher score to get in to a school that you have already been waitlisted by.
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