Should my friend cancel or not

[mattm]

Hello,

any advice on this situation?

My friend is interested in applying to to grad programs in psyc but decided to take the Dec LSAT to apply for one joint degree program.
She is more interested in psyc and spent much more time studying for the GRE

She took the test essentially cold turkey and was not able to complete any of the 5 sections of the test...based off what I read I Could see a score in the 140's maybe even as low as high 130's

Should she cancel? Even though highest score wins , I'm sure there are limits as to how far that goes ( a 130 and a 170 would not look good for example, even with an awesome 170)

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Matt,

Thanks for the question. We're always very careful to not tell people what to do in terms of keeping or cancelling, mainly because we weren't in the room with them and also because in this case I don't know what law schools she is considering That said, some situations lean a certain way more than others, and hers probably falls into that category. Taking the test more or less cold is the first tipoff that there's trouble here, because it means it's really unlikely that she somehow got lucky and scored a breakout performance (I've seen it happen before, but only with students who had been studying a while). Next, if she has indeed posted a 130/140 performance, then at almost all law schools this won't be enough to get her in. If that's the case, then why keep the score? And last, if she is indeed capable of hitting a score like 170, having that 130 there actually is not neutral, it's harmful. Even though they take the highest LSAT these days, just seeing two scores that disparate calls into question what actually happened. It's rare to see a discrepancy that large, and it would cause me to pause for a moment to seek more info. that's not what you want happening, and since a score at the level won't get her in, I'd strongly suggest she consider cancelling.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[Jon Denning]

Hey Matt,

As a follow up to Dave's excellent advice, let me say that it's not often we see situations that are pretty cut and dry when it comes decisions of cancellation. That is, most people unsure of what to do are legitimately on the fence, with a performance that could go their way, but a degree of uncertainty about it.

This, however, I think is more clear cut. If your friend is going to be in the 130s or low 140s (barring some miracle of course, which don't happen on a test like the LSAT), then having that score visible to schools is really of no benefit. As Dave points out It's too low for acceptance at nearly every school, and a significant improvement in the future is treated, to some extent, with suspicion, rather than simply as a good score. So I think the cancel option is almost certainly the correct call here.

The key moving forward, if your friend does decide to retake the test, is making sure she is thoroughly prepared for her next attempt. She has the experience now of having taken the real thing, which is beneficial, but her next try needs to be one she's confident will reflect her true potential. So, in other words, get serious about this thing and really study!

Thanks again!