The "I JUST BOMBED THE LSAT NO DOUBT ABOUT IT" panic mode Thread

[Spookyghost]

So guys, I just took the LSAT today and am almost sure I bombed it.  I have never felt so incompetent in my entire life.  I understand that the vast majority of people probably feel this way, but the same level of confidence in UNDERSTANDING questions and finding answers immediately like on the practice tests wasn't there. The one section I know I did well on was probably the experimental one, and I ended up having about 10 guesses for logic games. Nerves got to me I guess.
Regardless, I was banking on the LSAT to make up for my bad GPA of 3.3 overall.  Though this GPA has a huge upward trend between my upperclass grades (3.95) and my freshman-sophomore year (3.07), though that is probably going to be offset by the fact that I was at a good school my freshman-sophomore year and a terrible one these past two.

I guess it's impossible to say that I truly bombed the LSAT, but seeing as I probably guessed on 14 questions or so, that already doesn't bode well.  ENOUGH OF THAT SOB STORY.  I am disgusted at myself.

My question is, is taking the DECEMBER LSAT too late for most law schools, considering I'll already have a grade reported is there anyway I can say "HEY I KNOW MY LAST SCORE WAS TERRIBLE, WAIT FOR MY DECEMBER ONE," or am I just gonna have to make due when this (certainly miserable score) rolls in on November 1?

[RachelK]

I feel the same way. I'm trying not to become completely depressed though I know I am already getting there. I was doing well on practice tests and today at the test, I just freaked out. Mind wondering everywhere, trying extremely hard to stay focused and uggghhhh guessed on waaay too many questions. Probably up to 20. Thats horrible!!! usually on the practice tests, I guess on about 15 and still get a good score. ugggh i'm absolutely miserable. I guess a 3.75GPA and Honors and B.S degree in Political Science  from a Top 25 public and being URM just isn't going to be enough for me. Very discouraged right now.

[marcus-aurelius]

I took my test in June and remember feeling the same way on my drive home.  It gets better as the days go by.  I thought about canceling my score for 2 or  days before I felt confident I had done well.  Take a deep breath, and get some sleep.  I believe work and sleep was all I did for a week.

[MeganEW]

I took my test in June and remember feeling the same way on my drive home.  It gets better as the days go by.  I thought about canceling my score for 2 or  days before I felt confident I had done well.  Take a deep breath, and get some sleep.  I believe work and sleep was all I did for a week.

Hmm... I think this varies person to person.

I took the LSAT my senior year of college on a whim.  I took 2 practice tests as prep.  That's it.  I didn't even take them under test conditions.  I was just doing it for the helluvit.  I took the test, knew I bombed it (I didn't even do one entire game... I typically didn't miss more than 1 question in the LG section), but I was too curious to cancel.  Plus, I thought I had ruled out law school by that time.  I'd say not canceling was one of the dumbest things I ever did.

4 years later I take the LSAT again.  This time I've prepped on my own using TestMaster books, have taken half a dozen practice tests under test conditions and spent months doing drills in my free time.  The test day was stressful, yes, but I felt good after.  I completed the sections and knew I hadn't had to guess too often.  My score was a full 15 points higher than the first time I took it.

Because I don't want to waste another year, that first LSAT score, now 5 years old, is just barely hanging onto my LSAC report. 

Most people I know freak out about having "flunked" a test when they really just got a B+ or something.  I have never been like that.  I've always had a good sense of how I did.  If you know you're the former, don't cancel.  But if you're like me, and you know you performed well below your potential, I'd say cancel.  That d*mn score lives too long.

[marcus-aurelius]

Megan,

You are correct.  If one feels one is not prepped enough, then canceling may be the choice.

On a side note, my ego always causes me to think I ace every test.  The LSAT was a different beast all together

[MeganEW]

On a side note, my ego always causes me to think I ace every test.  The LSAT was a different beast all together

Interesting.   Guess you made a brave choice (by not canceling) that paid off!

[bigs5068]

I don't know if anyone comes out feeling like they nailed the LSAT. Wait until you take your first law school final you will feel like you forgot something and odds you will have missed an issue somewhere. I don't think in the legal profession whether it be the LSAT, your finals, the bar, or even a full trial you will never feel like you nailed it. It is a hard career, but if you put in everything you had then don't cancel it. You can also take the December LSAT and maybe you will do better, but odds are you will feel the same way. You might as well get your score back unless of course you did everything you could do. However, I don't think it even matters anymore because the majority of schools do not average your LSAT score. They just take the top score.

[amandaesq]

I took the June LSAT and as soon as I left I cried and almost cancelled my score. I ran out of time on the Logic Games and that threw me off mentally for the rest of the test. I decided not to cancel and the next few weeks were torture, I kept going over every question in my mind and convinced myself I got a 120. However, I ended up being pleased with my score! So, moral of the story, you're going to underestimate yourself but just relax and everything will be fine.. you can ALWAYS retake it.

[bigs5068]

Exactly! Even after my finals I started thinking about everything and being like oh man I screwed this up and that up and yea I did miss some questions, but my grades overall were really good. You are not going to get a perfect score in law school and you are never going to do everything right in a trial or in real life. Law school is not like undergrad where you can nail it by pure memorization. You are going to miss some questions and do a few things wrong, but if you put all your effort into it generally thinks will work out.

[MeganEW]

However, I don't think it even matters anymore because the majority of schools do not average your LSAT score. They just take the top score.

This is true and a big part of why I'm not waiting a year for that low score to drop off my report. 
However, any score from the last 5 academic testing years (so that includes sept/oct 2005 this year) will be on the report.  LSAC averages all the information, and the score band illustration is shown for the average.  On first glance, then, my score seems to be 7 points lower (and 25 percentile points lower) than my far more recent high score. 
Perhaps I'm unique.  I knew I bombed it the first time (and I did, scoring 11 points below my practice at that time).  And the second time, I walked out feeling like I had done roughly the same as I had on my practice tests (provided the games section I thought was experimental was...which I'm pretty confident about because they were game styles I had never seen before).  I scored a point higher than my average practice test score.
I was surprised by a couple paper grades in college (some I *knew* would be A's ended up B's and vice versa), but tests are objectively graded.  I couldn't always tell the A- from the B+, but I knew when I did well and when I didn't.

Like I said, most people I know always think they did worse when they did fine.  You're all probably freaking out over nothing.  It is a fair test, imo.  Think objectively about it today and truly consider the marginal benefits and costs before making a decision.  If you were unprepared, though, or left far more blank than you ever did in practice, I'd say cancel.

At the end of the day, you know yourself, you know whether or not you're overreacting, and you know your choices.  Don't make any rash decisions.  Just relax and enjoy the rest of your weekend post-LSAT.
Cheers!