How to Survive the LSAT Score Release Wait

(Guest blog from someone who has been there, and scored in the upper 170s!)

If you’re reading this, you’re likely sitting at your desk pondering each LSAT question that you can remember, analyzing score charts, and trying to predict the curve. As a test taker who has survived three score release waits, I’ve compiled some suggestions to help you get through this anxious time.

  1. Try to relax. You worked hard to prepare for the LSAT and you gave it your best effort, you deserve to unwind now. No degree of thinking is going to change your score, so try not to drive yourself crazy. There is a time for analyzing your performance, but that time comes after score release, not before.
  2. Find something to do. Take a little time off from the pursuit of law school. Go to the gym, tackle that project around the house, or get outside and enjoy the summer. After a week or two you can start brainstorming for your personal statement, but if you put in the hard work to prepare for the LSAT, you deserve a short break. After you take this much deserved break, call Spivey Consulting and get working on your application.
  3. See your friends. You remember friends? Those things that made your phone buzz during preptests. Those people who didn’t care when you tried to explain conditional logic, or how hard “dinosaurs” was. They’re still out there, and if you’re lucky they still might want to hang out with you. Remember, every second you’re not thinking about score release, is another second closer to it. Obsession was a great trait to have to survive the LSAT, but it’s a damning trait to have to survive the score release.
  4. Try to stay off the forums. We know the LSAT score release wait is miserable, and we all know misery loves company, but that doesn’t mean that reading about other people freaking out is going to help you not freak out. Three hours of a popular online LSAT forum is all it took for people to convince me that I entirely misunderstood an entire Reading Comprehension passage. A month of panicking ensued while I waited to see if the internet people were right (they weren’t). Not to mention, you signed a document certifying that you wouldn’t discuss LSAT materials with others, and you should aim to stick to your word. Breaking a contract (even if you don’t get caught) isn’t a great way to start your legal career.
  5. Don’t forget to pat yourself on the back. Studying for the LSAT is hard work, and you made it through. Scores will be out in no time, but for now, let’s get back to the things we enjoyed before. Welcome to the first day of your post-LSAT life.

Spivey Consuiting note: Keep in mind LSAC usually releases scores BEFORE their announced release date. For the June 2013 LSAT, this easily could mean Wednesday, July 3rd — or that seems logical to me. Good luck!