How high of a score should you not cancel?

[Jude.m.stone@gmail.com]

Hi! I got a 172 on the August LSAT, but I was (and still have been) scoring 174-175 on my latest PTs. I'd like to apply to T14 schools, or at least get as much scholarship money as I can from T15-25 schools, so I plan to take the September LSAT too because I think I can get 2-3 points higher. But obviously, that comes with the risk of doing the same or worse by a couple of points, too. The worst score I've gotten in a while has been 169 (my most recent PT scores, from the most to the least recent, have been: 174, 175, 175, 169, 173, 174, 171, 173, 172). Based on that, it seems unlikely that I won't improve on a 172, but there's a chance I could do worse and get something like a 169. In that case, would it look worse to admissions boards if I have a 172 and a cancellation or a 172 and a 169, which certainly doesn't indicate that I've actually been scoring around 174-175? I'm trying to decide if I should purchase the Score Preview option or not.

Also, I know they say they only look at your highest score now, but since they can see all your other scores too, I'm basing this on the assumption that having a lower second score would indicate to them that I maxed out at a 172. But please let me know if I'm misunderstanding the process with that. Thank you!

[Stephanie Oswalt]

Hi! I got a 172 on the August LSAT, but I was (and still have been) scoring 174-175 on my latest PTs. I'd like to apply to T14 schools, or at least get as much scholarship money as I can from T15-25 schools, so I plan to take the September LSAT too because I think I can get 2-3 points higher. But obviously, that comes with the risk of doing the same or worse by a couple of points, too. The worst score I've gotten in a while has been 169 (my most recent PT scores, from the most to the least recent, have been: 174, 175, 175, 169, 173, 174, 171, 173, 172). Based on that, it seems unlikely that I won't improve on a 172, but there's a chance I could do worse and get something like a 169. In that case, would it look worse to admissions boards if I have a 172 and a cancellation or a 172 and a 169, which certainly doesn't indicate that I've actually been scoring around 174-175? I'm trying to decide if I should purchase the Score Preview option or not.

Also, I know they say they only look at your highest score now, but since they can see all your other scores too, I'm basing this on the assumption that having a lower second score would indicate to them that I maxed out at a 172. But please let me know if I'm misunderstanding the process with that. Thank you!

Hi!

Schools really only care about the highest LSAT score you receive, so one slightly lower score on your record won't be an issue if you have a higher score. An exception would be if you score significantly lower-- a 172 followed by a 140 may raise some questions about what happened on that second take -- but a 169 shouldn't be an issue. Thanks!

[Jude.m.stone@gmail.com]

Okay, thank you!

[HopefulAttorney]

Apologies if you've answered this elsewhere, but is what you mentioned above (not cancelling your score unless you've got an enormous discrepancy between two test administrations) still the prevailing advice? I'm assuming so, since the comments are dated recently, but I wanted to throw something else into the conversation...the score preview option.

Now that people have the option of finding out their score before cancelling it, do you think law schools will still only care about your highest score?

Thanks!

[Stephanie Oswalt]

Apologies if you've answered this elsewhere, but is what you mentioned above (not cancelling your score unless you've got an enormous discrepancy between two test administrations) still the prevailing advice? I'm assuming so, since the comments are dated recently, but I wanted to throw something else into the conversation...the score preview option.

Now that people have the option of finding out their score before cancelling it, do you think law schools will still only care about your highest score?

Thanks!

The advice is still valid. And, no, score preview does not change law schools' outlook on highest scores/multiple scores.