Yes--clear as mud, but at least mud can be washed off unlike a credit score. Part of the problem here is that there are three major players who score credit, and each has their own "model" by which they crunch numbers. And lenders have a certain conflict of interest in having customers in the dark about this because the customers with the higher scores can get better rates and pay less interest. So lenders don't have much incentive in helping you to improve your score.
One thing you might do is Google credit scores and start reading. I'm sure there is much more to be learned.
Here is a link to an article on canceling cards--they appear to recommend that you leave the cards open--but
cut them up if you're tempted to abuse them.
Cancel a card, hurt your credit score (Page 1 of 3)