We know what you’re thinking: You walked out of that exam and instantly thought “Cancel LSAT score! Cancel LSAT score!!”

But stop and breathe for a minute. Relax! Even if you did not score where you wanted, your life does not begin and end with the LSAT.  It is not the end of the world.  You will be fine.  OK?

Our official “Cancel LSAT Score” guidelines . . . .

Nevertheless, here are some guidelines for determining whether you should cancel your score. Remember, you have six days to cancel your score. So, you have until the following Friday to do so.

If you fall into the first group of scenarios, if the thought “Cancel LSAT Score!” creeps into your head, just say no.  If, however, you fall into the second group, and that thought of “Cancel LSAT Score!” creeps into your mind, you might want to think about canceling your score.

Cancel LSAT Score? NO WAY!

If you experienced any of the following, when you think, “Cancel LSAT Score!” just say NO.

(1) You instantly think you bombed it. (Look, you probably didn’t. There are many people who thought the same thing and scored in the 160s and 170s.)

(2) After breathing and re-evaluating, you still feel like this test was way harder than the practice LSATs you took.

(3) You already took the LSAT and canceled it once. (Canceling twice or three times may not look good for you. However, you can always attempt to explain this in an application, but if you can avoid it, do so.)

(4) You think you performed very poorly on one of the first three sections. News flash: that section could have been the experimental section! So, don’t sweat it.

(5) What you think you scored falls into the range of scores the law school or law schools to which you want to be admitted accept(s).

Cancel LSAT Score? YEP, YOU BETTER!

If you experienced any of the following, when you think, “Cancel LSAT Score!” you may as well do it:

(1) You already took the LSAT and got a better score. (Why bother averaging, when you can use the better score??)

(2) You really feel like you did not sufficiently prepare (i.e., you only studied for a couple of weeks), and you know you could give yourself way more time to study.

(3) You messed up bubbling your answers (i.e., you were bubbling spaces in the 30s and 40s for a section that has no more than 27 questions).

(4) You were coughing, sniffling, or sneezing so much during the exam that it basically impaired you from actually taking the exam (i.e., you couldn’t finish one or more sections).

(5) A dinosaur teleported to the desk next to you and ate your exam.

(6) You had diarrhea on Saturday and it impaired you from actually taking the exam (i.e., you were running to the bathroom every 15 minutes and couldn’t complete one or more sections).

(7) Your mind blanked. You stared at the logic games section and had no idea what to do. You, therefore, only completed two logic games and left the other answers blank. Or you forgot everything you knew about logical reasoning and could barely complete half of either section. And you know you could do way better because you were actually doing better when you were taking practice exams.

(8) You had a bad day or could not concentrate because you just went through a divorce, had a baby, experienced a close family member passing away, (or experienced some other major life event).

(9) You think you performed very poorly on one of the last two sections. (Because the experimental section is usually one of the first three sections, if you know you performed poorly on one of the last sections, that means you might have performed poorly on an actual, scored section.)

(10) There was a hurricane, earthquake, terrorist attack, or some other major event that seriously affected your performance.

(11) Anything else that was unusual happened and significantly affected your score.

Our parting thoughts on the mantra “Cancel LSAT Score!”

Remember, don’t panic.  Before you think “Cancel LSAT score!!” breathe, review the scenarios above, and figure out if it is worth canceling.  It is not the end of the world.

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