Withdraw or Take with the Intention of canceling

[nudulutch@wisc.edu]

I am signed up to take the June LSAT on Monday and I have been underpreparing since February. I am only scoring in the low 150's right now and I am trying to make myself a splitter because my GPA is relatively dismal. So, I am well below my target score. Does anyone have any advice for me as to what I should do? Should I take it to get the test day experience? Or just sit it out and regroup my efforts?


Thanks

[Dave Killoran]

Hi N,

This is an important question, and the answer is most definitely do NOT take the test. If you already know for a fact that you aren't prepared (and I like how you stated that!), it's better not to have the low score on your record. Yes, law schools only care about the high score, but people are people and there's no reason to even make them think for a second about a low score. The test day experience is in no way worth the lower score (and you also burn the most recent LSAT, which doesn't help either).

So, in this case, I have no hesitation at all in recommending that you withdraw now and skip this exam.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[nudulutch@wisc.edu]

Thank you for the quick reply, would you have the same advice against taking the test and canceling the score?

[Adam Tyson]

My two cents, N, is that there's a big difference between withdrawing and canceling, and the difference matters plenty. Here's a link to one of our blog posts discussing this:

http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/335 ... difference

If you know you will not score close to what you want/need, it's better to withdraw than to cancel. Why? Because down the road you'll need to explain that cancellation in your application, and "I didn't prepare sufficiently" is a rather unimpressive explanation! A withdrawal requires no explanation because it doesn't show up on your report.

I'm with Dave - withdraw today if you are that certain you aren't ready. Consider joining us for a class or tutoring this summer, or use one of our study guides to better prepare for September. Then, crush the test and never look back.

Good luck!

[nudulutch@wisc.edu]

Thanks for the advice guys! I just withdrew and plan on getting back on the horse for Septembers test.