Cancelling a lower second score

[feisty-nail]

I recently retook a 174 and received a 169. I know that law schools theoretically only look at the highest score, but would it hurt me to have that 169 on my record? AKA, should I cancel it? Or would that make them think I had an even worse score?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi feisty,

Ultimately, it shouldn't matter too much either way. That being said, one cancellation won't look bad to the admissions folks. There are TONS of logical, valid reasons that people would cancel a score, and they don't really care about a single cancellation. Will it look suspicious? Not really. Everyone has off days. Everyone can have hiccups during the exam.

If you have a history of cancellations though, my advice would potentially be different.

Congrats on the 174!

[ttgiraffe13]

Hi there, I am in a similar boat w a 173 I scored a couple months ago, followed by a 167 that I just scored. My top choice school had a median was a 173 last year - do you recommend I cancel or keep the 167?

I don't want them to assume I got much lower but 167 is also somewhat lower than 173 and not sure the right path forward...

[Jeff Wren]

Hi ttgiraffe,

Personally, I would cancel the 167.

To me, this exactly what Score Preview and the ability to cancel are for.

If you cancel, admissions officers will assume that you had a bad day (and scored below 173), but they likely won't give it much thought beyond that. One cancellation is quite common and shouldn't really raise any red flags.

The nice thing about cancelling is that you generally won't be expected to explain it in addendum. If you keep the score, you may feel like you should explain it in addendum. A six point decrease is enough of a difference that it may be raise some questions and admissions officers may wonder what happened.