Self-study
I just took my first LSAT and scored a 160. I was shooting for high 160s on this first attempt and felt solid about it after I took it so I did not expect to get this score. My plan is to apply to some T-14 schools. Is this a score worth keeping or should I cancel it? Ideally my goal score is around 173.
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7 comments
I don't see why you should cancel when it's not a bad score. I agree with the comments that if you end up getting your goal score, they will probably only look at that.
Keep-- especially because it is still a solid score. Schools usually only look at highest score, and cancelling could indicate a score much less than a 160
@joegav1 thank you!
I can't see any logic at all to cancelling it. If you cancel it, it doesn't just disappear as if you never sat the test. It remains visible that you took the test and the result just shows as 'cancelled'. In that case the only assumption a school can make is that you did poorly. But you didn't do poorly, in fact you scored something close to the 90th percentile! Why cancel that and leave them guessing what that score was? I don't see it as helpful in any way.
To me, cancelling would only make sense for a circumstance where you just plain bombed horrifically for whatever reason. I would suggest that you just be transparent and hope for future improvement. It's what I'm going to have to do myself: my cold diagnostic was a 168, my recent prep tests averaged 174, and I scored a 167... worst score I've had in months. That stings a lot, but it's not something I can improve by cancelling.
@RobertField thank you!
if you keep it, it can help show improvement over your LSAT administrations. Like schools will be able to see your improvement from 160-170 but that of course is contingent on you doing better the second time. I got a 146 my first LSAT and did not cancel to show my progression over time. If I were you I would cancel only if you are concerned that you will not see a significant improvement in scores based on your PT, etc. Best of luck to you!
Thank you!@MakennaRiley17