Cancelling: Success Stories and Cautionary Tales Forum

[delusional]

Did you prep well, do poorly on an actual test and decide to cancel and retake? If so, you may be just the type of person we are looking for to share your experiences in this young but promising topic!

Was your next score more in line with your PTs than your cancelled score would have been? Did schools ignore the cancellation, the way so many of them promise? Did you fulfill your dreams, and touch the hearts of those who love you?

Or did you find that it wasn't that particular test, it was you; That you'd been cutting yourself too much slack, and counting answers after the timer buzzed, and giving yourself 40 minutes a section because it takes time to munch on those peanuts? Did you return to find that the actual LSAT is the only true judge, and abandon your dreams of renown as a SCOTUS guy in favor of selling used cars?

[delusional]

Bumped to tell y'all good morning!

So what's the deal? Do most cancelers without major illnesses find out on later tests that they had expectations that were too high? Or do most cancelers find that one bad test is unfortunate, but they can still get a 180, HYS, fame and fortune? Or are both fairly common?

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

.....

[ElvisAaron]

Did you prep well, do poorly on an actual test and decide to cancel and retake? If so, you may be just the type of person we are looking for to share your experiences in this young but promising topic!

Was your next score more in line with your PTs than your cancelled score would have been? Did schools ignore the cancellation, the way so many of them promise? Did you fulfill your dreams, and touch the hearts of those who love you?

Or did you find that it wasn't that particular test, it was you; That you'd been cutting yourself too much slack, and counting answers after the timer buzzed, and giving yourself 40 minutes a section because it takes time to munch on those peanuts? Did you return to find that the actual LSAT is the only true judge, and abandon your dreams of renown as a SCOTUS guy in favor of selling used cars?

When I read your post I can just picture you on a late night infomercial belting out these questions standing beside wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing tube man and hawking some LSAT product.

[Remnantofisrael]

Its funny how scores work themselves out.

I got screwed up on my first section (or maybe second) in June 10. I ended up misbubbling and only realized with 2 minutes left. I fixed it, started to answer the last 3 questions that I had fully diagrammed out and realized that my bubbling was still off. The environment (loud ass lawnmower) plus my new stress (omg omg I screwed up) on top of usual stress REALLY messed with my mind. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong, and ended up running out of time without answering the last question AND seeing that my bubbling was wrong.

I wanted to cheat, to look back, to figure out where I got screwed up, and then fix it during the next LR section. I didn't do that, and instead was ultra depressed, became a zombie and just didn't give a flying F.

Test over, I leave, planning on canceling. Called my kid brother (who is a 1L at Michigan) who told me to chill, just relax. That tests seem to average out- perhaps the difficulty in the LG that led me to make a mistake, a mistake I didn't even know the actual size of, would be negated in part by my performance elsewhere.

I ended up with a 170. Note I was averaging 177-180 (missing 2-4 ?s) on PTs, and I missed 4 questions due to bubbling alone, 1 because I ran out of time on the LG trying to fix the bubbling, and maybe another couple that I missed just because I didn't care.

BUT this let me retest in October without much worry. knowing that, at worst, I have a 170 made the test way less stressful. I've already come to terms with what Law School with a 170 LSAT will look like, so there was nowhere to go but up.

So my thought is, on your first LSAT, if you think you dropped the ball, unless you are sure you made a bunch of huge mistakes, just relax, take the score. It will make your 2nd LSAT easier. I figure if I had canceled June, then October's would have been even MORE stressful.

[Tainted_Praise]

Its funny how scores work themselves out.

I got screwed up on my first section (or maybe second) in June 10. I ended up misbubbling and only realized with 2 minutes left. I fixed it, started to answer the last 3 questions that I had fully diagrammed out and realized that my bubbling was still off. The environment (loud ass lawnmower) plus my new stress (omg omg I screwed up) on top of usual stress REALLY messed with my mind. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong, and ended up running out of time without answering the last question AND seeing that my bubbling was wrong.

I wanted to cheat, to look back, to figure out where I got screwed up, and then fix it during the next LR section. I didn't do that, and instead was ultra depressed, became a zombie and just didn't give a flying F.

Test over, I leave, planning on canceling. Called my kid brother (who is a 1L at Michigan) who told me to chill, just relax. That tests seem to average out- perhaps the difficulty in the LG that led me to make a mistake, a mistake I didn't even know the actual size of, would be negated in part by my performance elsewhere.

I ended up with a 170. Note I was averaging 177-180 (missing 2-4 ?s) on PTs, and I missed 4 questions due to bubbling alone, 1 because I ran out of time on the LG trying to fix the bubbling, and maybe another couple that I missed just because I didn't care.

BUT this let me retest in October without much worry. knowing that, at worst, I have a 170 made the test way less stressful. I've already come to terms with what Law School with a 170 LSAT will look like, so there was nowhere to go but up.

So my thought is, on your first LSAT, if you think you dropped the ball, unless you are sure you made a bunch of huge mistakes, just relax, take the score. It will make your 2nd LSAT easier. I figure if I had canceled June, then October's would have been even MORE stressful.

Good advice.

[beachbum]

Its funny how scores work themselves out.

I got screwed up on my first section (or maybe second) in June 10. I ended up misbubbling and only realized with 2 minutes left. I fixed it, started to answer the last 3 questions that I had fully diagrammed out and realized that my bubbling was still off. The environment (loud ass lawnmower) plus my new stress (omg omg I screwed up) on top of usual stress REALLY messed with my mind. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong, and ended up running out of time without answering the last question AND seeing that my bubbling was wrong.

I wanted to cheat, to look back, to figure out where I got screwed up, and then fix it during the next LR section. I didn't do that, and instead was ultra depressed, became a zombie and just didn't give a flying F.

Test over, I leave, planning on canceling. Called my kid brother (who is a 1L at Michigan) who told me to chill, just relax. That tests seem to average out- perhaps the difficulty in the LG that led me to make a mistake, a mistake I didn't even know the actual size of, would be negated in part by my performance elsewhere.

I ended up with a 170. Note I was averaging 177-180 (missing 2-4 ?s) on PTs, and I missed 4 questions due to bubbling alone, 1 because I ran out of time on the LG trying to fix the bubbling, and maybe another couple that I missed just because I didn't care.

BUT this let me retest in October without much worry. knowing that, at worst, I have a 170 made the test way less stressful. I've already come to terms with what Law School with a 170 LSAT will look like, so there was nowhere to go but up.

So my thought is, on your first LSAT, if you think you dropped the ball, unless you are sure you made a bunch of huge mistakes, just relax, take the score. It will make your 2nd LSAT easier. I figure if I had canceled June, then October's would have been even MORE stressful.

This was my experience almost verbatim on the June 10 LSAT: freaked out on LG, thought I had completely blown the test, and seriously debated canceling my score. I also ended up with a 170, though that was my PT average at the time. So I'll definitely second your advice: unless you have a really (really) good reason, don't cancel. You might've done better than you think.

[Cupidity]

Didn't cancel. Applied with a 166, 159. My cycle went EXACTLY as it should have with a 166. Seriously guys, stop freaking out.

[jtemp320]

Wanted to believe I could break 170 but was struggling on games and averaging 163-168 before June. When I took the test I knew I bombed the games and very badly wanted to cancel but got talked out of it. I was right- I did bomb the games -- but I was glad I didn't cancel because everything else went great and with -10 on games I got a 167. Not the score I wanted but one I could live with. I decided to retake and focused on games I got a lot better at them and my PT average improved. I also felt much more relaxed (which makes a big difference) knowing I had a score in the bank. My advice would be - short of catastrophic circumstances (that dosent include - I had a PT or two where I felt better then this test) - don't cancel see what you got and retake if you have to.

[fenix916]

Had been scoring in the low to mid 170s on practice tests. First test I fucked up the reading comp - had to guess on 6 questions and felt the other sections went good, not great.

The Second time i took the test I felt much better about my performance, so I kept my score. I fucked up the reading comp again, got 6 wrong in that section. Fortunately, I did well in the other sections and ended up with 170 anyway. I knew after that test maybe reading comp didn't go great, but I also felt like I kicked ass on the rest of the test (I was right, I got 1 out of 50 LR questions wrong, 2 wrong in games section).

IF you have prepped, you should know yourself by now, you should know your abilities and be able to gauge your performance to some degree. gotta make the decision for yourself.

[delusional]

Had been scoring in the low to mid 170s on practice tests. First test I fucked up the reading comp - had to guess on 6 questions and felt the other sections went good, not great.

The Second time i took the test I felt much better about my performance, so I kept my score. I fucked up the reading comp again, got 6 wrong in that section. Fortunately, I did well in the other sections and ended up with 170 anyway. I knew after that test maybe reading comp didn't go great, but I also felt like I kicked ass on the rest of the test (I was right, I got 1 out of 50 LR questions wrong, 2 wrong in games section).

IF you have prepped, you should know yourself by now, you should know your abilities and be able to gauge your performance to some degree. gotta make the decision for yourself.

Yeah, hopefully I'll end up in a similar boat. I canceled, because I knew I couldn't have broken 170 unless the curve was better than -10. I was upset with my performance and to a large extent it was more of an emotional decision, but the overriding factor was that I have no doubt that I can get a better score 90% of the time. Once the dust settled and I took another look at LSN, I realized that even my miserable test had a 100% success rate at my safety school. But it's still alright that I canceled because I can always get a mediocre mark again and get in.

[pppokerface]

Wanted to believe I could break 170 but was struggling on games and averaging 163-168 before June. When I took the test I knew I bombed the games and very badly wanted to cancel but got talked out of it. I was right- I did bomb the games -- but I was glad I didn't cancel because everything else went great and with -10 on games I got a 167. Not the score I wanted but one I could live with. I decided to retake and focused on games I got a lot better at them and my PT average improved. I also felt much more relaxed (which makes a big difference) knowing I had a score in the bank. My advice would be - short of catastrophic circumstances (that dosent include - I had a PT or two where I felt better then this test) - don't cancel see what you got and retake if you have to.

What happened with the games-did you run out of time and had to guess or did you do all of them and get a lot wrong?

[pppokerface]

Any more successful stories? I need a boost =(

[delusional]

Well, the preliminary results are in! I canceled in October because I guessed on, I think, nine answers, between LG and RC. I have NO doubt that the extra time paid off. I finished every section on the December test, and a good part of the reason was because I was forced to confront my LG weaknesses. At least two of the games used techniques that I really only started using after the October test. I had been burned out and although I could score as high as 177 in practice, I really needed everything to break just right. this time, I had much greater control. With the exception of LG, which I finished at the wire, I had time to think about ALL the other questions, which makes maximizing my score much more likely.

I'm sure to find out that I misbubbled and got a 149, but for now, I'm pretty juiced. .

[tng11]

...

[Chichaca]

Canceling success story:
I canceled in June 09. My PT average was around 175 but I messed up on the games on the real thing, so I filled in the bubbles to cancel right then and there. My friends and family thought I was crazy for it.

I went back in September and got 176. I know I did worse than that on the one I canceled.

[SageD]

Wait, there are used-car salesman jobs available? Please link me, I need to work.

[Sandro]

I have an interview with Target wednesday. Kill me.

[delusional]

Well, the preliminary results are in! I canceled in October because I guessed on, I think, nine answers, between LG and RC. I have NO doubt that the extra time paid off. I finished every section on the December test, and a good part of the reason was because I was forced to confront my LG weaknesses. At least two of the games used techniques that I really only started using after the October test. I had been burned out and although I could score as high as 177 in practice, I really needed everything to break just right. this time, I had much greater control. With the exception of LG, which I finished at the wire, I had time to think about ALL the other questions, which makes maximizing my score much more likely.

I'm sure to find out that I misbubbled and got a 149, but for now, I'm pretty juiced. .

I want to finish up this topic that I started with the end of my story.

I canceled, took two weeks off, then jumped back into studying. I corrected a few of my mistakes, which were: Giving myself too much slack on stuff that I considered easy, then scrambling to finish the last two difficult LR questions.
Taking two LR sections, my strongest point, for each of the RC and LG sections I took.
Not taking the latest and greatest LSATs, and thus being a little surprised at the more difficult LG from 55-60, and not cataloging game types that were more common lately.

I pushed myself to focus intensely the entire time, even if it meant finishing five easy questions in 3 minutes. This way, I had time to address the tricky ones at the ends of sections. It was a BIG help, especially in RC where the last few questions sometimes have answers that are an entire paragraph.

I learned to not wasting time freaking out when the answer seems impossible. The answer is never impossible. It's always there, and 99% of the time, once you get it, it's clear as day. When I broke that habit, I finished sections more consistently.

I took all the tests including 61. I did poorly on 60, and learned a lot from it. I did well on 61. I did all of the tests at night and in public places. Night wasn't optional, but public places helped me with focus.

In the end, I got a boost from the morning-ness of the actual test. I could feel the things I picked up AFTER my cancellation helping me as I took the test. My score was a 178, up from what i figure would have been about a 168 if I hadn't canceled.

The point is, cancel/retake is not about statistics. If YOU feel that you can do better, and you have something to back you up (in my case, it was PTs that were way higher than my score and the nagging realization that I'd never mastered LG) then go for it. If you just got your December score and it sucked, I had the same feeling when I left the test in October. But think about how you practiced, what you got wrong and how to improve it, get back up, and get back out there.

Sorry for being such a know-it-all. I'm pumped about my results. Good luck errbody!!