You just finished your LSAT. You’re nervous, exhausted, and happy it’s finally over with. However, you’re probably also terrified of what your score could be. Should you cancel your LSAT score? First, pause. Many—dare we say, all—test takers feel that way immediately after completing their LSAT. You might have actually done much better than you expected.
Still, if you can’t shake the feeling that something may have gone drastically wrong (or did go catastrophically wrong), you could always cancel your LSAT score and retake the LSAT.
How to Cancel Your LSAT Score
If you purchased LSAT Score Preview, you will receive your score on the normal score release date associated with your test date (assuming you completed LSAT Argumentative Writing and do not have any holds on your account) and will have six days to decide if you want to cancel or keep your score. Your score will go on your LSAT record and be released to your law schools if you don’t take any action.
If you did not purchase LSAT Score Preview, you can cancel your LSAT score within six calendar days after your test date.
The cancellation will still be visible to any schools you apply to, but your score will never be released (not even to you). LSAT scores can be canceled through your LSAC online account or by contacting LSAC directly.
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Should I Cancel My LSAT Score?
Stuff happens. Emergencies arise. People wake up egregiously ill. Totally understandable, just your everyday freak occurrence. No explanation required. All of those are pretty obvious reasons to cancel a score in advance of the Score Preview window.
Somewhat less obvious is what to do when you get that scores-back email and it’s lower than you expected. Is it better to have a low LSAT score on your record or a cancellation? In typical lawyerly fashion, the best answer is, it depends.
When Should I Cancel My LSAT Score?
Let’s imagine you’re applying to five schools:
- School A with an LSAT median of 169
- School B with an LSAT median of 167
- School C with an LSAT median of 166
- School D with an LSAT median of 163
- School E with an LSAT median of 160
If your score is 157 or lower (3 points below the median of your least selective school), there’s no value in the score, and you should cancel it. If your score is at least 164 (above the median of multiple schools on your list), it’s a useful score and you should keep it. The tricky area is in the middle. Whether to keep a 159 would be a judgment call, and there’s really no wrong answer. No law school is inclined to think poorly of an applicant for having one cancellation, and almost no school cares if it takes you 3 scored attempts to reach your goal.
However, where this starts to become a problem is once you’ve canceled two or more times. Law school is literally a series of tests, of which the LSAT is merely the first. Most classes only count the final exam, so one test can completely determine your grade.
Then, even if you ace all those beasts, the bar exam exists post-graduation as your final boss. Only once you pass that can the real lawyering begin, and that isn’t exactly easy either.
Law schools know this. They view the LSAT not just as a way to see how good you are diagramming conditional statements, but also as a stress test to see how you’ll react to the pressure of preparing for and taking a demanding exam. The LSAT is not an indicator of how amazing a lawyer you will be, or a determinant of your law school success. However, it’s a preliminary glimpse into your test-taking potential.
What If You Have More Than One Cancellation?
Again, one cancellation isn’t a problem. There are tons of legitimate reasons to cancel a score, and admissions officers understand that. It’s the pattern of repeated cancellations that could be concerning. That’s why it’s best to have a consistent pattern of high practice test scores before taking the real test.
So, what if you had a string of cancellations before finally working up the nerve to get your score reported? What do law schools do with someone like that?
You could write an addendum. Addendums are short and succinct explanatory statements that let schools know why they shouldn’t worry about the cancellations, and instead focus on your score, grades, etc. Remember, keep your essay brief and to the point. Don’t over-explain what went wrong. Convince them that you’re on the right track now, and they’d be wise to admit you as a future alumnus. Make the facts work for you, not against you, just like a lawyer would.
Final Thoughts
Still, if you’d rather not cancel your scores, here’s a pro tip: Confidence is key, and no one is more confident than someone well-prepared. Increase your LSAT confidence and score with help from Blueprint LSAT! Whether you want the flexibility of a Self-Paced Course, prefer to navigate the LSAT with instructors in a Live Course or 170+ Course, or even private LSAT tutoring, we have the study method that fits your learning style.
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