Why do people cancel their scores? Forum

heyhowdyhey · Post by **heyhowdyhey** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:18 pm

I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?

qbt1990 · Post by **qbt1990** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:20 pm

heyhowdyhey wrote:I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?

Law schools are supposed to give you the benefit of the doubt when they see a first cancel. Maybe you got food poisoning during the test, maybe something happened out of your control. It doesn't necessarily mean that you weren't prepared and you wouldn't have done well otherwise.

thederangedwang · Post by **thederangedwang** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:21 pm

heyhowdyhey wrote:I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?

cuz a canceled score doesnt show up and therefore cannot be used to calculate a school's medians.....

MrPapagiorgio · Post by **MrPapagiorgio** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:22 pm

qbt1990 wrote:
heyhowdyhey wrote:I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?
Law schools are supposed to give you the benefit of the doubt when they see a first cancel. Maybe you got food poisoning during the test, maybe something happened out of your control. It doesn't necessarily mean that you weren't prepared and you wouldn't have done well otherwise.

Also, some schools still average your score when considering admission (although this is by and large the exception, not the rule). That could be something score cancelers consider.

heyhowdyhey · Post by **heyhowdyhey** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:23 pm

qbt1990 wrote:
heyhowdyhey wrote:I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?
Law schools are supposed to give you the benefit of the doubt when they see a first cancel. Maybe you got food poisoning during the test, maybe something happened out of your control. It doesn't necessarily mean that you weren't prepared and you wouldn't have done well otherwise.

Well, that makes sense. Thank you. And sorry for the dumb question.

thederangedwang wrote:
heyhowdyhey wrote:I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?
cuz a canceled score doesnt show up and therefore cannot be used to calculate a school's medians.....

I thought that only the highest score had to be used to calculate medians...

TrojanHopeful · Post by **TrojanHopeful** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:24 pm

thederangedwang wrote:
heyhowdyhey wrote:I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?
cuz a canceled score doesnt show up and therefore cannot be used to calculate a school's medians.....

Most schools only report your highest score, so this explanation doesn't work.

MrPapagiorgio · Post by **MrPapagiorgio** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:24 pm

heyhowdyhey wrote:I thought that only the highest score had to be used to calculate medians...

Yes. Previous poster was mistaken. Each school is only required to report the highest score.

thederangedwang · Post by **thederangedwang** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 3:33 pm

TrojanHopeful wrote:
thederangedwang wrote:
heyhowdyhey wrote:I'm just wondering what the rationale is. So you cancel because you think you did badly and don't want a bad first score on your record. But law schools that you apply to SEE that you canceled one of your scores (don't they?) so they will assume you would've done badly anyway had you not canceled. How different is having a meh first score and a good score from having a cancel and a good score?
cuz a canceled score doesnt show up and therefore cannot be used to calculate a school's medians.....
Most schools only report your highest score, so this explanation doesn't work.

??? my explanation works perfectly.. because they report only the highest score, they wont necessarily hold a canceled score against u....so its better to cancel than to get a crappy score and still go for it and not retake....granted, if u retake and get a higher score than my pt is mute, but im trying to say that for those who dont cancel and end up going for it despite a bad score, than a canceled score is in their interests

rivermaker · Post by **rivermaker** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:04 am

??? my explanation works perfectly.. because they report only the highest score, they wont necessarily hold a canceled score against u....so its better to cancel than to get a crappy score and still go for it and not retake....granted, if u retake and get a higher score than my pt is mute, but im trying to say that for those who dont cancel and end up going for it despite a bad score, than a canceled score is in their interests

lol what? if someone gets a crap score instead of a cancel and they are not planning to apply with the crap score, they will retake regardless so what is the difference in having that crap score instead of a cancel?

Your argument makes no sense.

ThreeRivers · Post by **ThreeRivers** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:18 am

Idk I'm pretty anti-cancel. I guess only cases it makes sense in are those who are dead set on schools who take medians (which is a pretty limited group) or if you COMPLETELY 100% bombed. Seems like a lot of people cancel when they think they "probably" did poorly.. I'd be haunted forever if I wasn't sure and canceled

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