Should I cancel my score?

[scarlettLi]

I've just finished my first LSAT today... and I think that I had a really bad performance on it TT...

I could usually score 163 for the preptests, but I think I could only score around 155 for today's exam...

I know that some law schools only care for the highest score, but still some take all the scores into account...

So should I cancel my score this time? I don't know which one (a cancelation or a really low score) would have a worse effect when I applying for law schools.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[proteinshake]

.

[Goldchain]

I wouldn't cancel. I had the same feeling after each of my takes and I scored within 3 points of my PT average each time. Apparently the feelings of underperforming are common. Retake if necessary because most schools (really Yale is the only exception) only care about the highest score. And Yale would be ridiculously hard to get with a 163 so it likely won't be an issue.

[scarlettLi]

I wouldn't cancel. I had the same feeling after each of my takes and I scored within 3 points of my PT average each time. Apparently the feelings of underperforming are common. Retake if necessary because most schools (really Yale is the only exception) only care about the highest score. And Yale would be ridiculously hard to get with a 163 so it likely won't be an issue.

Thanks a lot!
But I really had a bad performance since I did not have enough time to complete even one single section, which meant that I had to guess 1/5 of the 101 questions...and certainly there would be some wrong answers among the 4/5...

Some blog articles say that one single cancelation won't hurt at all, and I'm going to take the test in Sept. So maybe it's better to cancel instead of having a not-so-goodlooking score?

Besides, is it true that most school care about the highest score except Yale? I see on this website that a lot of schools will calculate the average score:http://www.top-law-schools.com/retaking-the-lsat.html

Thanks again!

[melmelcoolj]

I would highly recommend against cancelling, for the following reasons:
1. most people think they did much worse on the LSAT than they really did. for instance, I took the LSAT first time in Oct 2015. And I walked out of the test feeling absolutely horrible. I thought that I completely bombed it. But ended up getting a 171. Noted it is a few points below my PT average, but it is not horrible per se. And I think the feeling of having underperformed is quite common. You don't want to cancel on an actually okay score.

2. Most schools don't care about the scores other than your highest one. So you may as well get some feedback, since you have sat through the test.

3. Cancelling is worse than having a low score in certain cases, since if you have cancelled more than once, it feels like you are manipulating the system.

[scarlettLi]

I would highly recommend against cancelling, for the following reasons:
1. most people think they did much worse on the LSAT than they really did. for instance, I took the LSAT first time in Oct 2015. And I walked out of the test feeling absolutely horrible. I thought that I completely bombed it. But ended up getting a 171. Noted it is a few points below my PT average, but it is not horrible per se. And I think the feeling of having underperformed is quite common. You don't want to cancel on an actually okay score.

2. Most schools don't care about the scores other than your highest one. So you may as well get some feedback, since you have sat through the test.

3. Cancelling is worse than having a low score in certain cases, since if you have cancelled more than once, it feels like you are manipulating the system.

Thanks a lot!

I went through some law school website today and it's true that most of them care about the highest score and at the same time requiring an explanation for the differences in scores. But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores. And some law schools says that one single cancelation won't really hurt, so I'm still having a difficult time deciding cancel or not...

[proteinshake]

Post Removed.

[emkay625]

this is a flame post. OP is talking about cancelling a PT score, not an actual LSAT score.

Are you sure? I believe there were overseas administrations this weekend.

[proteinshake]

this is a flame post. OP is talking about cancelling a PT score, not an actual LSAT score.

Are you sure? I believe there were overseas administrations this weekend.

"But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores."

idk how else to interpret this sentence

[emkay625]

this is a flame post. OP is talking about cancelling a PT score, not an actual LSAT score.

Are you sure? I believe there were overseas administrations this weekend.

"But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores."

idk how else to interpret this sentence

I think it's just OP saying that she will have time to take 8-10 practice tests? He or she seems to know that the next administration of the test is in September, based on posts in here ("I have summer break to prepare for the next test") and a post in another thread. I think maybe it's just this is a non-native English speaker. At the very least, I wouldn't really call flame, more like just genuine confusion based on language issues if OP thinks they have to report all of their practice scores to schools.

[proteinshake]

this is a flame post. OP is talking about cancelling a PT score, not an actual LSAT score.

Are you sure? I believe there were overseas administrations this weekend.

"But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores."

idk how else to interpret this sentence

I think it's just OP saying that she will have time to take 8-10 practice tests? He or she seems to know that the next administration of the test is in September, based on posts in here ("I have summer break to prepare for the next test") and a post in another thread. I think maybe it's just this is a non-native English speaker. At the very least, I wouldn't really call flame, more like just genuine confusion based on language issues if OP thinks they have to report all of their practice scores to schools.

ah okay, I think you're right

[scarlettLi]

this is a flame post. OP is talking about cancelling a PT score, not an actual LSAT score.

Are you sure? I believe there were overseas administrations this weekend.

"But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores."

idk how else to interpret this sentence

I think it's just OP saying that she will have time to take 8-10 practice tests? He or she seems to know that the next administration of the test is in September, based on posts in here ("I have summer break to prepare for the next test") and a post in another thread. I think maybe it's just this is a non-native English speaker. At the very least, I wouldn't really call flame, more like just genuine confusion based on language issues if OP thinks they have to report all of their practice scores to schools.

Thanks! It's just language issue...I took a REAL LSAT the day before yesterday. What I mean is that since I have the summer break to prepare for the LSAT in September, I could probably improve my score by 8 to 10 (meaning if I have a 155 this time, I may have 165 next time). I don't really see the harm by cancelation since many law schools say that they don't care about one single cancelation, though many people strongly advise against cancelation...

[proteinshake]

this is a flame post. OP is talking about cancelling a PT score, not an actual LSAT score.

Are you sure? I believe there were overseas administrations this weekend.

"But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores."

idk how else to interpret this sentence

I think it's just OP saying that she will have time to take 8-10 practice tests? He or she seems to know that the next administration of the test is in September, based on posts in here ("I have summer break to prepare for the next test") and a post in another thread. I think maybe it's just this is a non-native English speaker. At the very least, I wouldn't really call flame, more like just genuine confusion based on language issues if OP thinks they have to report all of their practice scores to schools.

Thanks! It's just language issue...I took a REAL LSAT the day before yesterday. What I mean is that since I have the summer break to prepare for the LSAT in September, I could probably improve my score by 8 to 10 (meaning if I have a 155 this time, I may have 165 next time). I don't really see the harm by cancelation since many law schools say that they don't care about one single cancelation, though many people strongly advise against cancelation...

ah gotcha. but yeah, don't cancel!!

[scarlettLi]

this is a flame post. OP is talking about cancelling a PT score, not an actual LSAT score.

Are you sure? I believe there were overseas administrations this weekend.

"But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores."

idk how else to interpret this sentence

I think it's just OP saying that she will have time to take 8-10 practice tests? He or she seems to know that the next administration of the test is in September, based on posts in here ("I have summer break to prepare for the next test") and a post in another thread. I think maybe it's just this is a non-native English speaker. At the very least, I wouldn't really call flame, more like just genuine confusion based on language issues if OP thinks they have to report all of their practice scores to schools.

Thanks! It's just language issue...I took a REAL LSAT the day before yesterday. What I mean is that since I have the summer break to prepare for the LSAT in September, I could probably improve my score by 8 to 10 (meaning if I have a 155 this time, I may have 165 next time). I don't really see the harm by cancelation since many law schools say that they don't care about one single cancelation, though many people strongly advise against cancelation...

ah gotcha. but yeah, don't cancel!!

Is there any substantial harm by cancelation?

[proteinshake]

No -- ==error==/should ... sat-score/

[melmelcoolj]

I would highly recommend against cancelling, for the following reasons:
1. most people think they did much worse on the LSAT than they really did. for instance, I took the LSAT first time in Oct 2015. And I walked out of the test feeling absolutely horrible. I thought that I completely bombed it. But ended up getting a 171. Noted it is a few points below my PT average, but it is not horrible per se. And I think the feeling of having underperformed is quite common. You don't want to cancel on an actually okay score.

2. Most schools don't care about the scores other than your highest one. So you may as well get some feedback, since you have sat through the test.

3. Cancelling is worse than having a low score in certain cases, since if you have cancelled more than once, it feels like you are manipulating the system.

Thanks a lot!

I went through some law school website today and it's true that most of them care about the highest score and at the same time requiring an explanation for the differences in scores. But I'm wondering will it hurt if there are huge disparity ? Since I have the summer break to prepare for the next test, it possible that I can have more than like 8 or 10 scores. And some law schools says that one single cancelation won't really hurt, so I'm still having a difficult time deciding cancel or not...

If you do cancel, then you will have no access to the report. I think that is very valuable - understanding what you do well, and what you do badly under stress. I would advise against cancelling unless something ridiculous happened during the test - like you suddenly had a debilitating illness, or you came back from break 20 minutes late.