Checklist to determine if you should cancel your February LSAT score

I’m sure that you are probably freaking out right now (after all, no one researches this question just for fun, unless they are nuts.)

First, let’s make sure you are nice and calm and ready to make a rational decision. Take that deep breath, think happy thoughts, and let’s do this.

Let’s start with the good news, bad news discussion:
Since you were smart enough to take the Febrary LSAT (instead of October or December), you made a really smart choice. You basically have a free pass if you do need to cancel your score. You will still be able to take the June exam and get your score back in plenty of time before you need to start your applications. The bad news? There really isn’t any, unless you decide you have to take the LSAT again.

As a preliminary matter, you have 6 days to cancel your score (click here for info on how to cancel an LSAT score). If you haven’t let that 6 day deadline slip already, you have some time to work through this checklist, reflect on it, and then make your choice. (Also note that LSAC regularly changes deadlines and rules. Depending on how old this post is when you read it, the magic number may no longer be 6 days. Always confirm all information on the LSAC site.)

Many people overlook this next consideration – What kind of law schools are you applying to. Do the law schools you will apply to average multiple scores, or do they just use your highest score? You will have to contact the schools themselves to find out for sure, since this info can change from time to time. If it is a ‘highest score’ school, your conclusion will probably different than it would be for an ‘average score’ school.

Deciding whether to cancel is a two-step process. First, was there any absolutely obvious reasons you must cancel? If not, then move to the second level of the analysis, which is, is there a good possibility that you will score higher the next time you take it?

When you definitely should cancel your February LSAT score

First things first: Strongly consider canceling your February LSAT score if one or more of the following are true:

The list of things that can go wrong, and has gone wrong, is pretty much limitless but the following are some of the most common horror stories.

You experienced a getting-to the test center disaster: How many times have we heard of students not being woken up by their alarms, not going to the correct test center, not being able to find the test center, getting caught in a blizzerd, etc.? The end result is that if you got to the test center so late and out of sorts that you totally fell apart, then cancellation is a smart choice. (Obviously, if you got there so late that you couldn’t even get admitted to take the test, then a totally different set of facts apply; you need to check out the post how to reschedule your LSAT date).

You had a during-the-test disaster: Man, have we heard some stories. There was the one about the fire alarm that kept going off and the proctors herding the students out of the building. There was the one about the crazy fellow-test taker/proctor/random nutcase standing menacingly out in the hallway; you get the idea. But it doesn’t have to be so dramatic to seriously mess you up. When you are sitting in a classroom for hours on end, even a noisy air unit/desk/neighbor can cause some of us to perform sub-optimally. Not everyone has super-human skills to tune out distractions.

You had a test-taking disaster: Some of the most common disasters we hear have to do with errors and illness. You know for a fact that you mis-bubbled your answer sheet (and couldn’t correct it in time.). You were really, really sick (like, you shouldn’t have even come at all.) Whether errors, illness, or something else, if something went so terribly wrong for you that you know it walking out the door, then do what you have to do.

You made a really dumb choice and didn’t prepare at all: If you thought you could just take the LSAT cold, then you made a dumb mistake. Cancel your LSAT score now, if you actually place much importance in getting into the law school you want to go to.

You may want to cancel your February LSAT score if:

This analysis is a lot more nuanced. I will assume that you did a reasonable amount of prep, that during that prep you reached a scoring plateau (plus or minus a few points) on your practice tests, and that you know how well you feel after taking practice tests.

Now consider the following items:

Analyze your test. Did you feel about the same as you did after taking practice tests? My guess is, probably not, or you wouldn’t be reading this post. If you feel worse about the test, can you identify any specific item or issue, or is it just a general sense of unease? Did you guess more often than normal? Did you struggle with one or more games more often than you normally would? The point is, was there something noticeably out of the ordinary, and could that impact your score? If you can’t put your finger on a specific problem, then that would call for caution.

Finally, will you have the time and resources to put in the effort to do better next time? After all, if you don’t get a score for the February LSAT, you will have to wait until at least the June LSAT, and who wants to do LSAT prep during the beautiful days of Spring and Summer?

The nice thing about taking the February LSAT is that if you have a fail of epic proportions, you have all sorts of time to regroup and take a later LSAT.

Tags: cancel lsat, february lsat, lsat advice, lsat score