Score decrease application consequences??

[SoMuch2Say]

I took the LSAT for my first time in September and scored a 169, higher than my 165 target score. I took the October LSAT a few days ago despite not having studied since before the September test because I’m just so over the test and I got to where I wanted to be. The only reason I took October was because I could not get a refund. I was also under the impression that using score preview would make the score disappear as if I had never taken that administration. I now see this is not the case. I guess I should have thought like a lawyer and not made that unwarranted assumption. Whoops. Its not like I think i bombed October, although i think a regression is more likely that an improvement, as it had been over a month since I studied. Say I regress and decide to cancel the October score, what will schools think ? And should I consider keeping a score worse than my 169? Like say I get 168. Would it be better to keep it than to cancel? What's the highest score that it would be smart to cancel?

I appreciate the work you all at powerscore do. I could not have gotten where I did on the LSAT without the forums and bibles!

Thanks

[Jeff Wren]

Hi So Much,

First, congratulations on getting a 169! That is a great score, and the fact that it is higher than your target score puts you in a really good spot.

Second, while LSAT burnout is definitely a real thing and I don't know your specific circumstances in terms of how much/how long you've been studying, it was somewhat unfortunate that you weren't willing and/or able to keep up your studying through the October LSAT because even getting another point or two can often make a difference in terms of getting into schools and receiving financial aid. For students who are feeling burned out but still plan on retaking the LSAT, I often recommend taking a week or two off and then returning back to studying, perhaps also cutting back on the amount of studying as well. This often does the trick. (Of course, this advice is more for other students who may find themselves in a similar situation.)

That being said, as far as whether or not to cancel your October score, there are two reasonable choices to make here. The first is simply to cancel any score lower than a 169 with the idea being that a lower score won't help you, and therefore any score below your best is not worth keeping. The only disadvantage of this is that if your score was slightly below a 169 (say a 167 or 168), the admissions officers may assume that you did worse than you actually did based on your canceled score.

With that in mind, the second choice is to cancel your score if it is significantly below a 169, but keep a score that is a very close to a 169. For example, a 167 or 168 is not a substantially different score than a 169. This is one of the reasons that LSAT scores come with score bands to reflect that the LSAT scores are only estimates.

Because law schools use your highest score, I don't think either of these options will negatively affect your admissions.

The main reason to cancel a lower score in my opinion is that you will generally not be expected to write an addendum explaining your cancellation. Test takers cancel scores quite often for any number of reasons, and one cancellation on your record shouldn't raise any concerns. (If someone has multiple cancellations, however, that may require an explanation.) On the other hand, if you keep a score that is significantly lower than your first, you will likely be expected to write an addendum explaining your score discrepancy. If you do need to write an addendum, definitely do not mention that you stopped studying because you were "just so over the test." That likely wouldn't go over very well with admissions officers! Best, however, to avoid needing to write such an addendum by simply canceling a score that would need to be explained.