Cancelling July 2018 Score

[ksikanon]

Hi there,

Wondering if I can get some advice. I have been studying for the LSAT for basically 2 years now while working full time, and have two scores under my belt: a 153 and a 164. I studied every single day for the last 1.5ish years, and saw some major progress. I started at a 143 and made my way up to the mid-to-high 160s throughout my prep, and posted one 172. I took the July test yesterday, and despite months of mental preparation, I completely lost my cool on the games section. I honestly guessed on 7-8 questions. Despite my best efforts to maintain composure for the rest of the test, I kept thinking I'd have to cancel this score, and I'm sure it affected my performance. However, I finished every section besides the LG section, which rarely happens for me.

I am hoping to go to Georgetown or Berkeley. I have a 3.77 from a top school and great extracurriculars and work experience. I'm wondering if I should 1) cancel this score and sign up for another administration of the test, 2) cut my losses and apply with my 164, or 3) keep whatever score comes out of July because maybe, by some stroke of luck, it turned out better than I thought.

I am so disappointed in myself. It's amazing how much this test can break your spirit. Hopefully I'll get over it in a few days' time.

[Jon Denning]

Hi ksikanon - thanks for the message, and sorry to hear that the games on yesterday's test caused you some problems! It's probably little consolation, but you're far from alone: this test was, by all accounts, an extremely difficult one and nearly everyone who took it struggled a bit more than usual.

The upside of that is the scoring scale (the curve) should reflect the difficulty and be on the loose side, likely allowing -12 or -13 (possibly even -14!) for a 170. So the issues you faced will hopefully be at least mostly offset by the forgiveness of the scale when your score is calculated.

As for cancelling, let me add my thoughts, starting quite to the point and then elaborating on my perspective.

I wouldn't cancel. Here's why:

First, schools only care about your highest score, so even if this comes back lower than a 164 you're in no worse shape than at present. And with what should be a loose scale and finishing every section it's entirely possible that you surprise yourself and go up! Keeping the score at the very least allows for that possibility.

Second, you'll have this score before application windows at most schools even open (scores release 8/10), so there's no applying with your 164 at this/that stage anyway. You can thus make the decision about what to apply with, and when, with this result in-hand.

Third, the next test you can currently sign up for is November, and you can choose to enroll in it after getting this result back. If this isn't the number you need you can then take some time to decide between a 164 app or a November retake. And that November test is still plenty early in the cycle so you won't be applying "late" or doing yourself any sort of disservice if those are the results you choose to rely on.

Cancelling forces your hand: you either apply with your 164 or take November (or possibly both). Keeping gives you an additional option with really no downside, as an improved score allows you to apply straight away and a lower score puts you in the same boat as cancelling does. So with that in mind I'd advise you to keep it and hope for the best

[ksikanon]

Thanks, Jon. My only worry with cancelling is that some schools, like Georgetown, list that they sometimes take an average of the scores. I also wonder about whether it's better for my application to display two scores with an 11-point increase between them versus three scores where one is bad, one is decent, and the third is bad. And also, does showing four LSAT scores hurt my chances more than if I just showed two?

[Jon Denning]

Good questions! These are such school-specific, even admissions-officer-specific, questions though that I want to add a note before I make any blanket suggestions or pronouncements: your best bet when it comes to decisions like this is to inquire with schools directly and ask them for their preferences. You're likely to find that different schools have different answers when it comes to what they'd like to see in terms of number of attempts, number of cancellations, score reporting, etc. For instance, I've heard many admissions officers say that they're not concerned with how many takes you have on record and just look for the highest score...while a few have noted they'd ideally like candidates to have taken it four times or less. So to state one or the other of those as the way to go would be misleading at best :/

So with that in mind, and taking this with the requisite grain of salt, I can first say that the claim on score averaging (from Georgetown or wherever) isn't true. Even schools that suggest they average or "consider all scores" (which...well of course they look at everything on record) in actuality only judge candidates on the highest. If any school were to truly still average it'd be doing itself a huge disservice: they only report the highest score and that's how rankings are formulated, so treating a 158 + 172 as just a 165, say, would run counter to how every other school/system would treat that same person, which is as a 172. Schools seek to justify admission to applicants however they can, so valuing applicants lower than all their higher-ranked competitors would be hugely counterproductive...they just don't do it. Which means of course that multiple scores or not, you're ultimately just viewed via your best outcome.*

Which all of course informs the other questions and answers since three scores or four scores or whatever shouldn't matter provided that at least one of them is high enough. What I'm wary of are trends that might indicate something unusual about a student, like repeated cancellations or massive swings up and down in scores (see below). Those can usually be explained adequately in an addendum and/or interview, though so again it mostly just comes down to school/adcom preference.

Sorry I can't be more precise in my recommendations here, but with the degree of potential variance in school views it becomes a matter of what they advise regarding the number/nature of scores reported. But hopefully this helps steer you somewhat further in the right direction!


*Barring some legitimately bizarre in scoring trends, like someone who goes 148, 153, 151, 169, 146 or something. They're a 169...but they'd have some explaining to do regarding the other results: if a school needs upper-160 applicants this person qualifies, but there'd still be questions as to whether they had the skills of that one-time 169 or the four-time,150-ish score. But that's clearly a highly unusual scenario.