If you took the December LSAT, there are probably a few questions you wish you could have back. You may be wondering whether you should cancel your LSAT score, and since tomorrow is the last day you can do so, it’s time to make up your mind.
First, let’s talk about how cancelling your LSAT score works. You can download the LSAT score cancellation form on LSAC’s website. Then, to cancel your LSAT score, you need to fill out and sign the form, then send it to LSAC by fax (if you’re sane) or overnight mail (if for some reason you like throwing money away). The form needs to be received by tomorrow.
Once you cancel your LSAT score, neither you nor law schools will know what your LSAT score would have been, but law schools will know that you canceled. One cancellation is no big deal, though more than one can start to look less than stellar. Also, the canceled LSAT score still counts toward your LSAC-imposed limit of three LSAT tests within two years.
Now, let’s talk about whether to cancel your LSAT score. The downside to keeping a disappointing LSAT score isn’t what it used to be, now that so many law schools consider your best LSAT score in making their admissions decision. And there’s a downside to cancelling your LSAT score: If you’re planning on applying for admission in Fall 2013, if you cancel you’ll have only one more shot at the LSAT, in February, and that’ll be too late for many law schools.
As such, if you’re pondering cancelling your LSAT score, it’s in your interest that any decision to cancel be made on the basis of a solid assessment of your performance and not out of a general sense of paranoia. In other words, don’t let those few LSAT questions that were killing you on your way out of the LSAT test center make the decision for you. Do your best to go over every LSAT section, in your best recollection, and figure out how many questions you felt good about, OK about, bad about, or just plain didn’t get to. Compare this to your practice LSAT tests. If you have strong reason to believe you scored something lower than you’d be willing to apply with, then it makes sense to cancel your LSAT score. Check out this video for a detailed method for breaking down the LSAT and making your decision.
If you let tomorrow go by without cancelling your LSAT score, the waiting begins. LSAC claims that they’ll email your LSAT scores on January 4. But LSAC has a long history of releasing LSAT scores earlier than they say they will. This past October’s LSAT scores were delayed, but that was a Frankenstorm-induced special occurrence. Judging by the release dates of other recent LSAT scores, I’d wager you’re likely to receive your scores a day or two earlier. My completely unscientific prediction is Wednesday, January 2.
