Need help - one day left to cancel

cbloom19

Hey Guys,

I know it's not a fun topic, but I am really struggling with the question of whether to cancel my score and would appreciate some advice. My situation is a bit unusual so I've found most of the advice out there to be not that helpful. (tl;dr - too busy at work, wasn't ready for June but took it anyway, will do better in sept., should I cancel?)

In January, I registered for the June exam. I am a legal assistant at a v5 firm and shortly after registering was assigned to a new case that was going to trial. I worked 85+ hour weeks from mid-March thru 2.5 weeks before the June exam, and thus did no prep at all during that time.

The biggest problem at this point was that I hadn't yet "learned" logic games. I knew I couldn't do that in two weeks, but continued to work as hard as I could, prepping 7 hours per weekday and 10 on weekends, plus 6 hours of tutoring. The tutoring was great, and gave me the tools I need to work most effectively over this summer for September. I went into the exam knowing well that I was not ready and would not perform to my highest potential. I took the test because I paid for it and felt the test day experience could only be beneficial. I was PTing around 160 and getting at least half wrong on LG. The test went fine, but I think I scored somewhere in 159-161. I am going to take September and am planning to work extremely hard until then, and I won't have the same issue with work hours. I am certain that I will do much better in September. I am aiming for at least a 165.

The question, then, is whether it is worth having a lower score on my record if I know for a fact that I will do better in September. It seems to me that the best choice is to cancel, and that all I would get out of not canceling would be having the ability to see my score - nice, but worth it if I can avoid having a 159 on my record? If I don't cancel, I would write an addendum explaining the circumstances leading up to the exam. What do you guys think?

Thanks so much!

Pacifico

Don't cancel. It's not remotely worth it to cancel and getting a mediocre score might help focus you so you don't take it unprepared again. You're likely writing an addendum either way so you may as well see the score.

cbloom19

@Pacifico said:

Don't cancel. It's not remotely worth it to cancel and getting a mediocre score might help focus you so you don't take it unprepared again. You're likely writing an addendum either way so you may as well see the score.

Do you mean that I will need to write an addendum about the cancellation or about the low score, depending on what I choose to do?

CCarinae

If you're aiming for 165 and you think you scored 160/1, don't cancel.

David Busis

I'm going to weigh in on the other side. If you think you can do better in September, you should cancel. You don't have to write an addendum to explain a cancellation, and an admissions officer won't look askance at it. I just don't see much upside to letting the score become official, and the downside is obvious.

cbloom19

@david.busis said:

I'm going to weigh in on the other side. If you think you can do better in September, you should cancel. You don't have to write an addendum to explain a cancellation, and an admissions officer won't look askance at it. I just don't see much upside to letting the score become official, and the downside is obvious.

This exactly what I was thinking, so I wanted to see if there were any convincing reasons not to cancel.

Pacifico

If you're aiming for a 165 then you're not shooting for any of the few schools that care about multiple takes. Almost every school only cares about your highest take. If you don't get your score you won't know what you need to work on and it will have been totally pointless. You don't need an addendum for a cancellation, but if you don't get your score now you likely end up repeating the same mistakes in September without knowing it and then have to retake in December anyways. Get the score now, especially since you think you're in close range. Even if you end up with a 140 now and a 165 in September, then you have a 165, end of story.

stepharizona

I wouldn't cancel. You can learn far too much from your score.

Nicole Hopkins

No WAY! Don't cancel. We recently addressed the only reasons cancellation makes sense in our blog: https://7sage.com/lsat-final-stretch-withdraw-cancel-or-conquer/

Nicole Hopkins

@david.busis said:
I just don't see much upside to letting the score become official, and the downside is obvious.

From everything I've seen/heard: Everyone feels rotten about their scores, and AdComms don't care about lower scores (so long as you've got a high one to give them ).

7sagelsatstudent180

I wouldn't cancel

cbloom19

@Pacifico said:
If you don't get your score you won't know what you need to work on and it will have been totally pointless.

@stepharizona said:
You can learn far too much from your score.

Makes sense, but isn't a PT just as useful (maybe the real test is slightly more useful)?

Edit: My real objective is a 170, but to keep things realistic with the time remaining, I'm saying 165. I'm guessing this doesn't change anything unless a score disparity of 10 points would raise eyebrows among AdComs.

Nicole Hopkins

@cbloom19 said:
Makes sense, but isn't a PT just as useful (maybe the real test is slightly more useful)?

"Just as useful" is very strong. There is no way to exactly mimic the experience of test day and the intensity of it.

Nicole Hopkins

@cbloom19 said:
I'm guessing this doesn't change anything unless a score disparity of 10 points would raise eyebrows among AdComs.

They seriously don't care. You might want to explain a >5 point differential, but seriously. They only have to report your highest score.