Canceling Your Praxis 5331 Score: When It Makes Sense

You just finished the Praxis 5331. The screen asks whether you want to report or cancel your scores — and you have about a minute to decide. If you're reading this before test day, spend 5 minutes here so you're not making a high-stakes decision in a fog of adrenaline.

Can you cancel your Praxis SLP score?

Yes. ETS lets you cancel your Praxis 5331 score immediately after finishing the exam, before you see it. The decision is offered on-screen at the very end of the test session. Once you click "report," the score is final — you can't cancel it later.

What happens when you cancel

• No one sees the score. Not you, not ASHA, not your state board, not the score recipients you listed at registration.
• No score report is generated. The attempt shows up in your ETS account as canceled with no number attached.
• You don't get a refund. The $146 test fee is not returned when you cancel.
• You can retake. The standard 21-day retake window still applies. See our retake policy guide.

Does a canceled Praxis show up anywhere?

No. ASHA, state licensure boards, and any universities you listed as score recipients receive nothing. There is no "canceled attempt" notation on the score report they eventually receive. From their perspective, that test date never happened.

When canceling is a reasonable choice

• You were sick mid-test. Vertigo, migraine, GI issue — you know the score doesn't reflect what you know.
• Major life event within 48 hours. A death in the family, a car accident on the way. Grief and adrenaline destroy working memory.
• Testing conditions were compromised. Your at-home test had connectivity issues, or your test center had a fire alarm mid-section.
• You skipped 30+ items. If you ran out of time so badly that a huge portion was left blank, a cancel keeps a very low score off your record.

When canceling is usually a mistake

• You "felt bad." Almost every candidate feels bad after the 5331. The felt-difficulty of the exam is a terrible predictor of the score — most people who feel like they failed actually passed comfortably.
• You guessed on a lot of items. Guessing is expected; the scaled score already accounts for it.
• You're worried about a low pass. A 162 is a pass. A 162 is not a scarlet letter. State boards and employers only see "passed" once you're licensed.

Score choice is not the same as canceling

ETS also offers "Score Select," which lets you choose which scores to send after you see them — but for the Praxis 5331 that's mostly moot because ASHA requires the score go to them directly, and most state boards want the primary record. Cancel is a different, narrower decision made before you see the number.

Can you cancel the Praxis after you see the score?

No. Once you accept the score, it becomes part of your ETS testing history for 10 years. Your only remedy at that point is to retake and send only the higher score to a recipient that accepts most-recent (or highest) scores. ASHA uses your highest passing attempt.

What ETS keeps even if you cancel

ETS retains a record that you tested on that date and that you canceled. This does not appear on score reports, but it does count toward the ETS annual limit — you can only test 6 times in any rolling 12-month window regardless of cancels. This rarely matters (most candidates test 1–2 times) but it's worth knowing.

The 60-second decision framework

1. Ask: "Did something concrete go wrong today that I can name?" If no → report the score.
2. Ask: "Did I skip more than 20 items?" If no → report the score.
3. Ask: "Would I rather lose $146 than see this number?" Only cancel if yes.

Nine times out of ten, the correct answer is report. The score is almost always higher than the in-test feeling suggests, and knowing the number — pass or fail — gives you actionable information for the next step.

If you already canceled and regret it

You cannot un-cancel. Register for the next available date, use the 21-day window to sharpen high-yield areas (see our last-minute review guide), and treat the retake as a normal attempt. Most candidates who cancel and re-test pass on the retake.