Should I cancel? Really need some help!!! Forum

[cat's tail]

I have 3.9 GPA and I'm going to apply to T14, UCLA, Vandy, Fordham, U Texas, and USC this upcoming cycle. June '12 LSAT is my second take(got a 169 this Feb with a month of studying and slacking), and I really have to get 172-176 to have a decent shot at T6...

However, I totally bombed RC !!! I did well on LG and LR (probably missed around 0-4 in total on those three sections), so I am even more agonising over whether to cancel it or not. I usually get 0-2 misses on RC, but this time a proctor gave a 5 min. announcement when I was just about to start on the last passage. So, I just skimmed through the last passage and took a chance of pure guess on the last 4-5 questions! This was my first time to run out of time and play pure guess on more than one question. If these 4-5 Q's are the only ones that I'm worried about, I wouldn't feel this bad. The questions allocated to the first three passages were bit ambiguous and time-consuming to me. so I am not 100% sure whether I got all or most of them right (I probably missed a few, if not several). The fact that these first three passages were absolutely doable makes me feel even worse.

I've been searching for posts on similar topics according to which it seems like 1) most law schools do not average your scores but just take your highest one (except HYS?) and 2) H hates retakes (well, June '12 was my second take. Would there be any difference between taking it twice or thrice?). Then people seem to have varying opinions regarding which would look worse to admission committee: low score-cancel-high score or low score-low/mid score-high score. Any opinion will be highly appreciated

[BruceDenton]

Honestly, I wouldn't cancel. If you missed 4 total on LR and LG, and 5 on RC, that'd be around 171-172 (or at least in the ballpark).

Did you actually guess on the last RC or did you read the question and answer choices? I've done an RC section (purposefully) without reading any of the passages (to be prepared for that kinda thing), and you'd be surprised at how well you do if you've taken enough PT's - a lot of the wrong answer choices are obvious even if you haven't read the passage (main point questions are a good example - there's usually a couple overly "strong" answer choices, and maybe one that seems too specific). I wouldn't be surprised if you got half of the questions on the last passage right. So say you did well on LG and LR (-2 total), and better than you think on RC (-3 or -4), you'd be right in the range of scores you want.

I also think the difference between low score - cancel - high score, low score - high score, and even low-score, low-score, high-score is pretty marginal. Not that it doesn't make a difference (it might), but just remember how the US News rankings work.

People tend to freak out right after test day too, so take that into consideration.

[cat's tail]

Honestly, I wouldn't cancel. If you missed 4 total on LR and LG, and 5 on RC, that'd be around 171-172 (or at least in the ballpark).

Did you actually guess on the last RC or did you read the question and answer choices? I've done an RC section (purposefully) without reading any of the passages (to be prepared for that kinda thing), and you'd be surprised at how well you do if you've taken enough PT's - a lot of the wrong answer choices are obvious even if you haven't read the passage (main point questions are a good example - there's usually a couple overly "strong" answer choices, and maybe one that seems too specific). I wouldn't be surprised if you got half of the questions on the last passage right. So say you did well on LG and LR (-2 total), and better than you think on RC (-3 or -4), you'd be right in the range of scores you want.

Out of the five questions on the last passage, I had time to read the first two questions. But I was already in a panic mode when I realised that I still have a passage and five questions left to tackle within 5 min, so my attempt to make a slightly educational guess on those two Q's was probably an utter failure Thank you so much for your opinion!!