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To Cancel or Not to Cancel Your LSAT Score: When to Press the Big Red Button

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Manhattan Prep LSAT Blog - To Cancel or Not to Cancel Your LSAT Score: When to Press the Big Red Button by Ben Rashkovich

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Some people walk out of their test centers on LSAT day all smiles and good cheer, ready to enjoy their study-free day.

Some people.

Most of us mortals, though, walk out furiously trying to figure out which was the experimental section, what the right answer was for that extra tough Logical Reasoning question, and whether we messed up every Logic Game on the test. It’s natural to want to review and to feel impatient about getting your score—and even to worry that you didn’t do as well as you’d hoped.  

If that sounds more like you, then it’s possible you might be wondering if you should cancel your LSAT score. Don’t be so hasty, though: canceling your score is a permanent move that often doesn’t pay off.

What’s the Deal with Canceling?

Before we talk about when you should and shouldn’t cancel that score, let’s take a look at the facts of the case.

How can you cancel your LSAT score?

There are 2 ways:

  1. During the test, there are instructions on your answer sheet that explain how to cancel your LSAT score right away. Unless you’re 1,000,000% positive that this is the right move, DON’T cancel your score this way!
  2. Log onto your LSAC account and cancel your LSAT score online. You’ve got 6 full days from the date of your test to decide. That’s not an enormous amount of time—but it’s nothing to sneeze at, either.

Sounds good. But what happens if you did cancel your LSAT score?

  • First, you’d obviously never receive your score. (Which means you’ll never know if you made the right call—and if you’re planning to retake the LSAT, you’ll never be able to review the answers you got wrong.)
  • Second, law schools will see that you canceled your score. Naturally, they’ll most likely assume that you had a good reason, although you might feel compelled to explain further on your application. Don’t stress about this… But it’s important to remember.
  • Third, no refund!
  • Fourth, no take-backsies! Once you cancel, you cancel: indecision will only hurt you here.
  • And finally, a canceled test still counts towards your 3-tests-in-2-years limit allowed by the LSAC. You can’t keep taking the test, hoping for an easy one and canceling if it’s challenging!

If you take my advice—and isn’t that why you’re still reading?—then no matter how much you want to cancel, wait a few days and think things through.  

Don’t Be So Quick to Cancel Your LSAT Score

The LSAT can be a grueling, punishing, stressful affair. More than many other standardized tests, it wages psychological warfare against you for hours. It’s a real demon.

My point is, don’t trust your instincts. Even if you walk out of the test sobbing, you need to slow down, relax, and analyze the data points in front of you.

Here’s the first point of information: you may feel like you bombed the entire test and somehow scored a zero, but you simply can’t be sure—and since the LSAT is so tough, it’s common to underestimate your score. So, approach your worst case scenario logically: How much were you forced to guess on because you ran out of time? How many Logic Games or Reading Comprehension passages did you totally not understand?

Chances are good that, once you break it down, your worst case score won’t be devastating. And that’s where data point two comes in:

99% of all law schools don’t average your LSAT scores. They mostly care about your highest score—because why wouldn’t they? Showing an improvement after a less-than-stellar score isn’t a bad thing, either!

So if you think you did poorly but aren’t sure, and you’re planning on retaking the test, then canceling might also make you miss out on one of the best study tools available: that test you want to cancel.

Data point three? Canceling means you don’t get to see your answers.

Think of it this way: if you didn’t do so hot your first time around, but still want to go to law school, then your first LSAT was the absolute best practice test of all time. You were under the proper conditions and stressors of a normal test, going for the gold with all your might. Once you wait a few weeks and get your score back, you get the opportunity to dive deep into what you really need to study for the next time around. Taking advantage of this will massively up your odds at improving next time.

Best case scenario: you are drastically exaggerating how bad you did. Plenty of people who consider canceling actually one-up their highest practice test scores!

Worst case scenario: you do poorly, but don’t cancel. As a result, you get a great weapon against the next LSAT you take (and most law schools couldn’t care less, anyway).

The moral of the story—you should almost never cancel your LSAT score.

When It Might be a Good Idea to Cancel

That said, canceling your score is an option for a reason.

Here are a couple scenarios where you might want to consider it:

  • You were feeling ill during test day. If you had a fever, a bad cold, a terrible headache, or something like that, then soldiering on might not be the right move—it could be smarter to call it quits.
  • You made a big mistake on your answer sheet, bubbling in the wrong rows or columns for a substantial number of questions. (This is why it can be a good idea to practice with real answer sheets!)
  • You’re certain that you messed up the entire test. You were silently weeping the whole time, not thinking straight, solving every Logic Game with a 4-dimensional diagram, and translating Reading Comprehension passages into ancient Greek. If you’re absolutely, positively sure that you just didn’t do it right, then you might consider canceling.

In other words, you need to be sure. Even if you feel very confident, it can’t hurt to wait a few days and mull things over! ?

Have you ever canceled your LSAT score? What did you learn from the experience? Let us know in the comments!

Don’t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person LSAT courses absolutely free. We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

Ben Rashkovich is a Manhattan Prep LSAT instructor based in New York, NY. He’s a graduate of Columbia University, and he scored a 172 on the LSAT. He enjoys the mental challenge and logical acrobatics of the LSAT—and he feels that studying for the test can teach everyone to approach problems more rationally. You can check out Ben’s upcoming LSAT courses here!