If you’re thinking about retaking the LSAT, there’s a good chance you should. A single extra point can significantly boost your admissions and scholarship prospects, especially if that bump moves you across a school’s median. (See our lesson on why the LSAT matters.) There are, however, a few factors that you should consider before you sign up for another test.

Scroll down to see the flowchart.

1. Don’t retake unless you expect a better score

If your first score was below your practice test average, retaking is a no-brainer. But you shouldn’t sit for another test unless you have a reasonable chance of improving based on your practice tests.

Let’s run through a few hypos, as they say in law school.

Scenario: your proctor cut you off 30 seconds early in one section, and your frustration threw you off in subsequent sections.

What you should do: retake, and complain to LSAC if you haven’t already.

Scenario: you slept poorly before the test and couldn’t focus.

What you should do: retake, and practice mindfulness before the next test. Try meditating or self-affirmations.

In fact, if anything disrupted you—if your test day was anomalous, and you underperformed as a result—you should always retake.

Now consider a different sort of situation.

Scenario: you scored within three points of your practice test average, but you think you can do better.

What you should do: continue studying for the LSAT and retake after you raise your PrepTest average.

What you should NOT do: retake and hope that you’ll get lucky.

The LSAT is a well-made test. It accurately differentiates test-takers of different abilities, leaving little room for luck. The good news is that almost everybody can improve their ability: it just takes hard work and lots of studying.

2. Don’t retake if it will significantly delay your application

Given that law school applications rose nearly 20% in the last cycle, timing matters more than ever. Submitting your application in September or October gives you a much stronger shot than waiting until December or January, even if you manage a small score increase in the meantime.

If your only option is to retake the LSAT late in the cycle—say, January or later—you’re facing a real tradeoff. In that case, you should either (1) delay your application cycle or (2) apply ASAP with your current score. Schools will be notified of your new score after your retake. You can also use a new score as an occasion to send schools an update or a letter of continued interest.

3. Be wary of retaking if it won’t push you over a median

If your dream school has a median of 170, then raising your score from a 160 to 163 won’t have a major impact on your application. Retaking pays off the most if you might end up on the other side of a school’s 25th, 50th, or 75th percentile score.

The same logic applies to scholarships. Higher scores can lead to more aid, but there’s a ceiling. If a school’s median is 170, you probably won’t get much bang for your buck by going from a 174 to a 176, and you might even send the wrong message. Speaking of which…

4. Be wary of retaking if it might send the wrong message.

Imagine that you’re the dean of admissions of a prestigious but not top-tier school like Notre Dame. Your school’s median is 169. You see that an applicant with a 172 takes another exam. What’s your conclusion?

This is a common scenario, one that our own Jake Baska—former dean of admissions at Notre Dame—saw all the time. And in such cases, Jake knew that the applicant was gunning for Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or similar. So what did he do?

Reject. Because he knew that the applicant in question was unlikely to accept an offer from Notre Dame in any case.

This is called yield protection, and it accounts for some portion of the rejections among seemingly overqualified applicants. (Of course, there are plenty of other ways that applicants with exceptional numbers can earn themselves a rejection.)

The moral of the story is that you should think about the message you might send by retaking a high score.

5. Be wary of retaking if you’ve taken the LSAT three times or more.

Taking the LSAT two or three times is standard. Four or more takes might raise some eyebrows.

Admissions officers aren’t just screening for bright people. They’re screening for bright, reasonably well-adjusted people. And too many LSATs—especially if the scores aren’t going up—could be a sign that something is off.

I don’t mean to tell you that you can only take the LSAT three times. I just mean to say that, after three rounds, you need to weigh the pros against the cons: namely, coming off as a bit “extra.”

This is really an argument for delaying your retake until you can raise your score.

Okay, let’s take a look at that flowchart I promised.

Bottom line: retaking the LSAT usually makes sense, but you should wait until you’re positioned to improve.