Cancel or keep my first LSAT score? (First time test taker with score preview)

[kabailey]

As a first time test taker, I took the february 2022 LSAT and purchased score preview. In complete honesty, I took the LSAT off three weeks of studying using just the two free LSATs through LSAC LawHub and a couple YouTube videos, and I got a 151 (I decided I wanted to pursue a law degree only a couple months ago, and most of my study time was taken up by my grad school finals and a cross-country move). I am planning to take either the June 2022 or August 2022 LSAT, but this time I plan to study for 3-5 months, purchase the PowerScore course material, analytics package, and the LSAC Prep Plus. Since the 151 is essentially my baseline score with next to no studying, I am confident that I will be able to score in the 160s by the time of my next LSAT date.

Given this, I have been completely torn on whether or not to cancel or keep this first score, and I feel myself changing my mind every hour of the day. I have heard that varying/multiple LSAT scores don't matter to admissions committees because they only consider your highest score nowadays. However, I see some conflicting information that if there is a large discrepancy between two scores (more than 4-6 points, which I plan to accomplish), that this may raise some questions with admission committees/ not be a 'good look'.

Essentially, I'm not sure which situation will look better to admissions; to keep the low score (151) and get a higher score (160s) the second time around to show admissions my commitment to improvement and hard work (and maybe include an addendum providing explanation), or if a large score discrepancy between the two would be more detrimental to my application. Would a Cancelled first score look worse than a large score discrepancy, or would this be the better choice since I wouldn't have to provide any type of explanation and essentially start with a clean slate since they would never see the cancelled score in the first place (especially since I am confident that I can score higher with the appropriate amount of studying)? Would you advise that I keep or cancel this 151?

Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi kabailey,

My take here is that you should more than likely cancel this score. It's not because the law schools will hold you to this 151--they won't. It's more because in my experience, once an applicant has a score on record that they know is lower than their potential, it creates a sort of mental drag on them, and increases pressure for their next take. That can cause issues, so since in this case you are certain (and this is key) that you can outperform the 151, it only harms you since it will be in the back of your mind. Cancelling erases that issue, hence my recommendation.

By the way, if you were uncertain about outperforming the 151, then I'd say keep it without hesitation. So, there are nuances here.

Last point: law schools don't give credit for improvements in scores. They acknowledge them, but it's not a positive to them (and may cause them to wonder why you didn't work harder the first time if you had that ability inherently).

Thanks!