Cancel? (4th time taking) Forum

[elong1988]

So this was my fourth time taking the test and I really don't feel good about my performance this time around.
I had a really hard time concentrating on RC. I think LG went ok and LRs went pretty well.
My previous scores are 157, cancel, and 163. Canceling this time around would give me two cancels which I know won't look good, but I fell like I really messed up the RC and if the curve is only going to be -10 or -11 theres a chance I will score lower than my 163.
So should I cancel and just try to explain why I have two cancels or just let it ride and possibly have lower score?
My GPA is 3.77 so with a 163 I was thinking about a few schools in the 30-50 range.
I know t14s would have a big problem with all these lsats scores/cancelations but would some of the lower ranked tier 1s?

[99.9luft]

cancel but make sure to get around a 170 or above in Oct.

[joebloe]

Can you get a waiver to take a fifth time?

Also, I don't think schools are going to see a big diff between three vs. four or five takes.

What's your PT average like?

[elong1988]

Honestly there is no way I'm going to take the test again.
I really couldn't imagine talking it for a fifth time, I thought four was excessive to begin with.
So if I cancel I'm just going to take the 163 as my highest score.
Obviously I now regret getting a waiver and taking it a fourth time, I wish I would have just stuck with a 157, cancel, 163 because I feel like its easy to explain one cancel but two looks pretty bad.
I PT in mid to high 160s, average I would probably say 166 or 167.
The sad thing is that I've always been a good test taker throughout high school and college but for some reason this test seems to have my number on test day.

[elong1988]

I guess my question is exactly how bad does a second cancel look to admissions, especially on a fourth time when I had to get a waiver just to take?

[bp shinners]

It definitely doesn't look good to cancel twice.

You say that most of the test went well, but you had issues with RC. Can you break it down passage by passage (not specifics, just a general "2 were ok, I might have bombed the other 2 though") to give us an idea of how bad it might be?

[TMC116]

Cancelling twice is going to raise red flags. Don't cancel your test.

If it's lower than 163, then most schools will just take the higher score. If it's higher then great.

[CanadianWolf]

Minus 20 might equal a score of 163. Don't cancel.

[wtrc]

Based on what you said, you got at least a 160. Don't cancel.

[99.9luft]

It definitely doesn't look good to cancel twice.

You say that most of the test went well, but you had issues with RC. Can you break it down passage by passage (not specifics, just a general "2 were ok, I might have bombed the other 2 though") to give us an idea of how bad it might be?

wait a minute, mr. shinners, are you saying that a 10 point increase into the 170s (if taken again) with two cancels on record is worse than a two scores in the low 160s and one cancel? i know this may not be the exact OP situation, but just humour me please on this scenario.

[northwood]

Honestly there is no way I'm going to take the test again.
I really couldn't imagine talking it for a fifth time, I thought four was excessive to begin with.
So if I cancel I'm just going to take the 163 as my highest score.
Obviously I now regret getting a waiver and taking it a fourth time, I wish I would have just stuck with a 157, cancel, 163 because I feel like its easy to explain one cancel but two looks pretty bad.
I PT in mid to high 160s, average I would probably say 166 or 167.
The sad thing is that I've always been a good test taker throughout high school and college but for some reason this test seems to have my number on test day.

99- I think the score in the 170s and 2 cancels is fine. It might raise a red flag, but a lot of schools wil be happy with that, especially if it went cancel 170 cancel. you could write it as nerves, 170, attempted to do better, but left feeling confident that you didnt beat the 170. Now if you went 170, cancel, cancel or cancel, cancel 170 it would be more difficult to explain that second one without losing some credibility.
If you scored twice in the 160s- then it tells the school that your test taking average is within the 2 160s. Although at the end of the day i would think the 170 would be a double solid 16x.

keep the score. It sounds as though you should expect to score in the 163-167 range on test day. A lot of test takers score a few points below their pt average- so chances are you will be in the 163-165 range. 2 cancels may be an issue for administrators- as you cant say that you had a bad case of the nerves 2 times without losing some credibility. If you score lower- then you will have to explain it- and you could say taht you had a bad allergies this time, but didnt want to have 2 cancels on your score report. If you score higher- great!. Just make sure to send out your applications early for next cycle and use the summer and fall to visit schools adn finish your essays.

[albanach]

Only the very top schools are going to seriously be looking down on four sittings. Everyone else will simply take the highest score, because that's what they report to US News.

Since you could have done better than your existing highest, I'd take the score. Any additional point will be significant in your cycle.

Good luck!

[elong1988]

yeah thats what I was thinking, two cancels can't look good.
I appreciate the advice.
I can usually get thru the whole RC but I was having a hard time concentrating on the first 2 passages which caused me to get behind schedule so I didn't really get to finish.
So the first two might be ok, the third I started to rush quite a bit, and the fourth I literally just skimmed and tried to answer as many questions as I could.
I'm guessing theres a possibility of -10 to -12 on the RC maybe a little worse, I'm thinking -22 to -24 total, so what thats like 160? 161?
Not terrible but I definitely didn't think I would go down from my 163.
Why does June have to have the smallest curve? haha
How bad do you think it looks to go back down after having a big jump from 157 to 163?
Or do you think it won't really matter, they will just look at the 163 and take it for what it is?

[bport hopeful]

Dude dont cancel. You know you arent going t14 or anything, so most of, if not all of the schools you apply to are going to take the highest score anyway.

[bp shinners]

It definitely doesn't look good to cancel twice.

You say that most of the test went well, but you had issues with RC. Can you break it down passage by passage (not specifics, just a general "2 were ok, I might have bombed the other 2 though") to give us an idea of how bad it might be?

wait a minute, mr. shinners, are you saying that a 10 point increase into the 170s (if taken again) with two cancels on record is worse than a two scores in the low 160s and one cancel? i know this may not be the exact OP situation, but just humour me please on this scenario.

I didn't say that it couldn't be mitigated; just that two cancels doesn't look good. I'd rather have a 160 and 170+ with 2 cancels than one cancel with two 160s. In the former situation, though, I'd be writing an addendum.

[appind]

.