When to Cancel? Forum

[jdanz]

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[Rigo]

Schools take the highest score. Don't cancel unless you catastrophically messed up (misbubbled an entire section, left half the questions blank, etc.) Maybe you had some lucky guesses and did quite alright. I wouldn't cancel here.

[haus]

Schools take the highest score. Don't cancel unless you catastrophically messed up (misbubbled an entire section, left half the questions blank, etc.) Maybe you had some lucky guesses and did quite alright. I wouldn't cancel here.

I agree, I do not see an upside in canceling here.

[GMasters5]

If it means anything to you, I'm in almost the exact same situation and am not cancelling my score. Although I didn't guess on all questions from both games, I did guess on all of the questions from g3 and 3 from g4. I would only cancel if you also had catastrophes on other sections as well.

[KMart]

It is often not favorable to cancel. We go through this 4x a year. You're not alone. The low score won't really affect you. Unless you scored a 120, I would not cancel.

[ihenry]

Not in your case.

I seriously considered cancelling after the June test for mild sickness and bombing an entire RC passage (overall the worst RC section I had ever done). Now I tend to think unless there is food poisoning or an ISIS attack during the test, people should pretend there is no cancellation policy.

[reidwells]

Can I ask what is so wrong about canceling?

If you know you are going to re-take the test any ways, because you were not as prepared as you could have been/not in the right mindset leading up to the test, would it not be better to cancel the score and show only a higher score on your LSAC?

[Rigo]

Can I ask what is so wrong about canceling?
If you know you are going to re-take the test any ways, because you were not as prepared as you could have been/not in the right mindset leading up to the test, would it not be better to cancel the score and show only a higher score on your LSAC?

There's just no real upside to cancelling since schools take the highest score anyways. Also, test takers often tend to think they did a lot worse than they actually did. You could feel like you 165'd but end up cancelling a 172 out of insecurity. That would suck. Furthermore, you have no idea what will happen in the future. It's better to lock in a floor higher than 120 just in case.

[haus]

Can I ask what is so wrong about canceling?
If you know you are going to re-take the test any ways, because you were not as prepared as you could have been/not in the right mindset leading up to the test, would it not be better to cancel the score and show only a higher score on your LSAC?

There's just no real upside to cancelling since schools take the highest score anyways. Also, test takers often tend to think they did a lot worse than they actually did. You could feel like you 165'd but end up cancelling a 172 out of insecurity. That would suck. Furthermore, you have no idea what will happen in the future. It's better to lock in a floor higher than 120 just in case.

All of this, plus if you are going to retake, getting a chance to review your test results can be helpful to better understand how you do under real test conditions.

[KMart]

There's just not a benefit to cancelling unless you seriously just didn't answer half the questions.

[sjp200]

IMO, not cancelling gives you upside if you are definitely retaking. Here's what I recommend when scores come out if you do not cancel:

1. Look at your score and score report ONLY. Do not look at the questions. See how many you got wrong in each section. If you're a 160+ scorer, odds are most of your difficulties were hit in a specific section. Mine, for instance, was LR in October where I did uncharacteristically poor, tanking my scores to the lower end of 160's. and out of my range of PT's pretty much all together.

2. DO NOT REVIEW this PT. Now that you have an idea of where you are struggling, drill that section type for a few weeks, take a few fresh PT's you haven't done. See if you've improved in general, and see if you've made significant strides in the section you were struggling with.

3. A week or two before the real next take you scheduled, Re-take the december test in a timed, 5 section situation. Make the 5th section the one you are struggling with the most, or the one you enjoy taking the least. Mine was always RC. By preparing myself for an extra RC (ugh, just the thought of it annoys me), I was prepared to be focused on something I was unenthusiastic about. This retake should be almost unbiased because you have not reviewed, and hopefully not scoured the internet for clues on what you feel you struggled with. The exception of which will be LG because of course, you have seen the games. But if you did not review these games specifically, any inferences or methods should at least be not so strong that now the games are done no problems at all for familiarity alone.

5. Now, take the time to review EVERY answer choice you got incorrect the first time through. Did you get it incorrect this 2nd time again? Did you pick the same answer choice, or use a different answer choice and still get it wrong? Both of these indicate some kind of lack of understanding of the answer choices. After that, check every answer choice you got wrong the 2nd time. Did you get any wrong that you did not the first time?

Don't count on getting lucky again, make sure you understand all of these as well. You want your score to be so that every question you got correct, you were absolutely sure of. Any question you got wrong? You weren't absolutely sure. That way, you know your score can only go up. If you score higher this way, you get some confidence moving forward, and know a guess or two in the right direction can only help you. This also puts a lot of pressure on you to be disciplined in both your focus and study moving forward, skills that will help you on the test indirectly.

Score higher than you expected and don't need to retake? Great, f this whole thread and good for you!

[PrayFor170]

After I walked out of the test center a lot of people I know taking the LSAT discuss about cancellation, but I didn't know why this policy still exists when the school only takes the highest score. In your case, although you guessed through the two games, I did that on PT72 the last game and bubbled all E. Turned out I've got three out of five right. So if you feel you did not really screw up the rest of sections, keep the score.

[appind]

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[ihenry]

Not in your case.

I seriously considered cancelling after the June test for mild sickness and bombing an entire RC passage (overall the worst RC section I had ever done). Now I tend to think unless there is food poisoning or an ISIS attack during the test, people should pretend there is no cancellation policy.

How was the score if you didn't cancel june?

In a similar boat and may cancel, but already have 4 takes.

Lower 170ish. Not as good as my PT's, but not that bad either.

Do not cancel dude. You probably did better than you think. You may say you guessed some Q's, know you got something wrong, etc. But they are likely to be compensated by your good performance elsewhere or a lenient curve.

[gilthoniel]

I'm in the same boat as the OP as well--didn't pace myself well, panicked, and totally screwed up games 3 and 4. I'm now looking at retaking and waiting to apply next cycle. It sounds like the consensus is not to cancel if you're planning to retake... I'm still hesitant to keep the score though because even if my other sections were perfect, it's vanishingly unlikely that I will have scored in my PT range (upper 170s). I also feel pretty confident that with this experience under my belt and a couple more months to study, I will be able to perform much better in February, so I guess my question is whether schools will look more favorably on, say, high 160s (maybe best case low 170s) + mid/high 170s or cancel + mid/high 170s.

I know it's totally last-minute, but any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[lymenheimer]

I'm in the same boat as the OP as well--didn't pace myself well, panicked, and totally screwed up games 3 and 4. I'm now looking at retaking and waiting to apply next cycle. It sounds like the consensus is not to cancelif you're planning to retake... I'm still hesitant to keep the score though because even if my other sections were perfect, it's vanishingly unlikely that I will have scored in my PT range (upper 170s). I also feel pretty confident that with this experience under my belt and a couple more months to study, I will be able to perform much better in February, so I guess my question is whether schools will look more favorably on, say, high 160s (maybe best case low 170s) + mid/high 170s or cancel + mid/high 170s.

I know it's totally last-minute, but any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[ihenry]

I'm in the same boat as the OP as well--didn't pace myself well, panicked, and totally screwed up games 3 and 4. I'm now looking at retaking and waiting to apply next cycle. It sounds like the consensus is not to cancel if you're planning to retake... I'm still hesitant to keep the score though because even if my other sections were perfect, it's vanishingly unlikely that I will have scored in my PT range (upper 170s). I also feel pretty confident that with this experience under my belt and a couple more months to study, I will be able to perform much better in February, so I guess my question is whether schools will look more favorably on, say, high 160s (maybe best case low 170s) + mid/high 170s or cancel + mid/high 170s.

I know it's totally last-minute, but any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

You probably got a 173.