I got a 168 in June, and a 164 in September. I plan on taking it again in October; I am going to push myself, but I am not setting my sights unrealistically high by expecting to get much higher than 168. (although my goal is 170-174...)
What I am wondering is if I should keep or cancel my 164 score. Will AOs see that I took it in Sept but canceled the score? Would they rather see a canceled score, or a 164? Should I keep the score, but have a brief addendum explaining the factors I think led to the score decrease (taking it in a test center instead of at home, a break in my studying in June for traveling)? Anyone else contemplating canceling a score?
Thank you!!
2
12 comments
Wouldn’t cancel and wouldn’t write an addendum for only a 4 point difference
What was your PT score range?
Honestly all over the place, 163-171 over the past 2 months, and on the higher end of that range in June. It's weird, and I attribute it to my testing conditions not being consistent.
I have gap like that with my PTs too. Good luck on October test!
Thank you!! You too!!!!! (if you are taking it :))
My two cents are that if you already have a 168 in the bag, and the next score is more than 2ish points lower, I'd just cancel and would move on. It's not weird to see one or two cancels on a record.
But don't sweat this one out! If you decide to keep it, it's fine. It's normal to see some variance in a score. I think writing an addenda on this would be appropriate.
Thank you for the input! Is there any merit to the fear that if they see a canceled score, they might assume it's greater than a 4pt decrease?
Nope, no merit! I won't know if you canceled during the test because you got sick. I won't know if you're one of those crazy folks who cancels if you get a score one point lower than before (and if you're one of those people are reading this - I meant that comment with love/support!), I won't know if you scored radically lower. All I know is that I see a "C" for cancel and I also know that I see cancels all the time.
Interesting, I really appreciate your perspective. Is there any value to keeping it? I guess I'm hesitant to cancel it because at an abstract level, I feel averse to the idea of hiding information about me from the AOs, especially because it seems to me that a 164 isn't an end of the world score? Maybe I'm emotionally attached to the hard work that the 164 cost me, even if I feel it is at my lower range and I'm not especially thrilled by it.
For more numerical context, my goal schools' medians are around 170, but luckily my gpa meets and beats the gpa medians.
Thank you for your help!!
Nope, there is no value in keeping it. This is why this is a pretty "slam dunk" cancel case in my books.
But I'll return to my original comment - "But don't sweat this one out! If you decide to keep it, it's fine. It's normal to see some variance in a score. I think writing an addenda on this would be appropriate." That's also a perfectly fine thing to do!
Thank you!
They will see that you canceled a score, but won’t know what the score was