Were you seated by someone who coughed every 12 seconds? Was your concentration rattled by an idiotic proctor? Did you mis-bubble an entire section? If you are considering canceling today’s LSAT score, please review these previous posts to help you decide:
Who Gets To Attend A Top Law School?
11 Responses
This blog is awesome. My question: is being raised as an only child of a never-married mother an acceptable subject for a diversity statement in addition to my personal statement?
Hi Diverse Guy,
It could be acceptable as a diversity statement topic if it’s done right and if you show how that impacted your life and outlook growing up.
Ann
Hi Ann,
You’ve got a great blog going – I’ve read many posts on it, and your advice is fantastic. I was hoping you could shed some light on my situation.
I just took the February 2009 LSATs and while I felt fine about it, I know there were things that could have been better. I had to guess on a game pretty much (with the exception of the first acceptability question) – I ran out of time. Reading Comprehension wasn’t bad either – in fact, I thought that was fine too, but who knows. Logical Reasoning was/is my worst – and of course it’s 50% of the test (which is just fantastic). I know for a fact (trust me) that I’ve gotten like 10 wrong already, and who knows how many more I got wrong. I’m feeling not so optimistic because of that.
I’ve read your previous posts, but I’m still indecisive about what to do, and I have 4 days or so to cancel. It’s frustrating because i know that one of these days, the LRs will click and it will all make sense. I regret not looking at the Powerscore Logical Reasoning Bible – I hear that’s quite helpful. It was my first LSAT and funny enough, I felt less pressure in terms of time than I normally do on my practice tests. At this rate, if my score is fine (and of course the higher the better), then I might not take the June one. But if I cancel, then I’ll definitely take the June one.
During my Undergrad, I had two bad semesters of school – one was a 2.8 (my first semester of junior year) and a 2.7 (my last semester). I managed to finish with a 3.38 (imagine if I actually didn’t have those two bad semesters), and it’s a pretty good school. But regardless of my GPA, I’d obviously like to do well on the LSATs.
Would you mind sharing your thoughts with me as to what to do? I’m not one of those guys who comes out of an exam saying, “oh, I don’t know how I did…” and then come out with an A. I know I got those 10 LRs wrong, and I know it’s my weakness.
So what do you think? Thanks in advance Ann!
Hi William,
Since I take it you’re applying for Fall 2010, if you don’t think this was the best you can do then I’d cancel. You have plenty of time (June, and as a backup – October) and you seem to trust your instincts pretty well about your performance on LR. So, keeping the score means it’s something you’ll have to explain when you later (hopefully) improve upon that score. I’d rather have a clean application with one LSAT. Addenda/explanations are so overly utilized. I only like using them if they are both credible and persuasive.
Please let me know if I can help in any way.
Ann
Ann, thanks so much for posting all your helpful advice on here! I found your LSAT advice (for the day before the test) to be very helpful.
You’ve been a huge help to me and I’d sign on as your client again in a heartbeat! I couldn’t have done the applications without your help and I’m glad that the LSAT’s over and done . . . forever!
Thanks again for your hard work here. I’ve steered some friends and family to your site because everything you post is helpful to us applicants.
Hi Ann,
Thanks for the reply – I was eager to hear your thoughts and opinion on my situation. The funny thing about wanting to cancel scores is the waffling effect (at least for me), in which I’m now rethinking my decision. Despite getting 10 LR questions wrong, is it possible that I got an answer or two right from guessing in one of the logic games? Absolutely. Could RC strength help out? Sure. Right now, realistically, I’m looking at a score between 158-162 I think. Optimistically speaking, if I got like 18 wrong, that’s not too bad I don’t think. And I read somewhere that people generally score worse the second time? I hope that’s not the case for me. Ideally of course, we all want a 180, but I’d love to get 170+, and I know that there’s no way for me to do so unless I actually master the LR. So I’m still a little confused I think. I’m definitely leaning towards canceling. If you have any more insight, I’d appreciate it. But thanks so much for getting back to me – I’m glad there’s someone like you out there.
William, I am currently applying to law schools and I strongly recommend the Powerscore Logical Reasoning and Analytical Reasoning Bibles. I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped the first time I took the LSAT. I settled in to studying with the Powerscore books–an hour a day, plus extra time and a full test on weekends. I raised my score by 9 absolute points and 7 percentile points. Good luck, whatever you decide.
@joy
Wow Joy, thanks for being so kind as to responding to my post. I have both those bibles, and while logic games are stronger for me than logical reasoning, it couldn’t hurt to raise both sectional scores if possible. Did you cancel the first time, or did you keep your score? Would you recommend that I cancel then? Also, is there a way for me to email you? I feel bad as it is already bombarding Ann with my questions. Thanks!
William, you have a great resource in Joy. If Joy tells me it’s ok, I’ll pass along her email to you.
Ann
@Ann Levine
Great, thanks Ann – I appreciate your help!
William, sorry for the delay. Just saw the comment updates. No, I did not cancel my score. I’ve told Ann to pass along my email, so feel free to send me any additional questions.