Review of LSAT Prep Courses Forum

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jwalsh16

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Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by jwalsh16 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 2:42 pm

I will be in the DC area this upcoming summer prepping for the Fall LSAT and I have a few options for LSAT classes to chose from. Can anyone shed any light on these following classes

Strategy Prep
Griffon Prep
Kaplan
Princeton Review
Testmasters
Gorilla Test Prep

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2011L1

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by 2011L1 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 2:42 pm

jwalsh16 wrote:I will be in the DC area this upcoming summer prepping for the Fall LSAT and I have a few options for LSAT classes to chose from. Can anyone shed any light on these following classes

Strategy Prep
Griffon Prep
Kaplan
Princeton Review
Testmasters
Gorilla Test Prep
Go to NYC and take Binary solutions. It's the best hands down

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jwalsh16

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by jwalsh16 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 3:19 pm

I appreciate ur response but since I have to stay in the DC area due to an internship my options are limited to the ones in that area, but if I do get an internship in NYC I will be sure to go there....anyone else?

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joebloe

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by joebloe » Fri Dec 31, 2010 3:35 pm

Kaplan is meh. I took their low-end classroom course. The consensus though seems to be that a lot depends on the teacher, with some saying that the telecourse versions are better because they have their best teachers do those.

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2011L1

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by 2011L1 » Fri Dec 31, 2010 4:01 pm

jwalsh16 wrote:I appreciate ur response but since I have to stay in the DC area due to an internship my options are limited to the ones in that area, but if I do get an internship in NYC I will be sure to go there....anyone else?
testmasters

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LSAT Blog

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by LSAT Blog » Fri Dec 31, 2010 4:27 pm

What matters more than the company providing the course is the instructor you'll actually be working with.

You need someone who's knowledgeable, experienced, engaging, able to answer random questions on the fly, and go off-script to address the actual needs of the students.

You also need an instructor who can strike a balance between the needs of the "slower" and "quicker" students. Unfortunately, most classes contain students of all different ability levels (people shooting for simply 150+ and others shooting for 170+). In a class, you need an instructor who doesn't cater solely to one group or the other.

Ideally, if you take a course, you should be able to speak with the instructor before starting the class, get references, and sit in on a sample class actually taught by that instructor.

Good luck!

jdwishes

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by jdwishes » Fri Dec 31, 2010 5:02 pm

I have to agree that the quality of the instructor may make a big difference. I took Testmasters twice (didn't have time to be fully dedicated the first go around and repeating the course is half price) and there was a marked difference between instructors' teaching ability; it was actually quite frustrating and annoying. That said, Testmasters has a pretty good reputation, a free tutoring helpline, and their instructors are required to have attained a 170 or +.

The homework with Testmasters is largely divided up by question types. The classes provided good information on how to attack the different questions and games; however, at some point as you progress through the course I would recommend you move to doing more timed practice tests. Initially, I got too hung up on completing the massive homework assignments and found that my scored started improving much more when I started drilling with timed PTs.

Hope that helps. Good Luck

bp colin

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by bp colin » Fri Dec 31, 2010 5:45 pm

You might want to add us (Blueprint) to the list of companies you're checking out. We're expanding into DC this coming year, and we're frickin' delightful.

futurej.d.

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by futurej.d. » Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:31 pm

I took the Princeton Review LSAT Hyperlearning course. My instructor was an idiot who consistently showed up about 15-20 minutes late each class, and let us out 10 minutes early on most days. Also, the instructor heavily relied upon the answer keys to "justify" the correct answer choice. One time, the key was incorrect and so the instructor ended up "justifying" the wrong answer choice. Overall, even if the instructor is great and not incompetent like the one I had, this prep course is still probably only useful to complete beginners who need a general overview of what the LSAT entails.

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by barnum » Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:51 pm

Full Disclosure - I work for Griffon Prep.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, I have to agree with previous posters, that the instructor can make a huge difference. Learning is a two way street so not only does the instructor have to be good, but they also have to be good for you. Different people learn better in different environments. I think I am a wonderful instructor, but I also realize I am not great for everybody. I can be a bit "in your face" at times. Meanwhile, we have another wonderful instructor who pushes her students with a more subtle nudge. We both very much get the job done, but different students will generally prefer one of us to the other.

Because of this, I recommend you give the classes a try. Make an appointment to sit in, see the instructor for yourself, talk to current students, take a look at the material, etc.

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2Serious4Numbers

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by 2Serious4Numbers » Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:53 pm

I had a Kaplan elite teacher. Worked very well for me

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jwalsh16

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by jwalsh16 » Sat Jan 01, 2011 12:05 pm

thanks guys ....anyone have any experience with Strategy Prep ?

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by c_dubya_s » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:14 pm

jwalsh16 wrote:thanks guys ....anyone have any experience with Strategy Prep ?
I was literally just about to mention Strategy. In the interest of full disclosure, I never actually took the prep course--I prepped on my own and then went to Strategy to take proctored practice exams. But what I can tell you is that their practice exam setup is excellent and did a very good job of prepping me for the actual LSAT. They use the most recently released LSATs for practice exams, and they include "experimental sections" from older practice LSATs so you get used to doing a full length exam. I think it's only around $15 or $25 to take a proctored practice exam--you can also purchase practice LSATs from them to take at home.

I've talked to a ton of people who took the actual classes--from what I've heard, they are very reasonably priced, with small class sizes and great instructors. Everybody who I've talked to was satisfied with what they got out of the course. The best part, to me, was how flexible and attentive they are. Because you're not dealing with a nation-wide institution (Strategy, I believe, is DC-only), it's a lot easier to get helpful personal attention and tutoring if you have any issues (with the test, with scheduling, etc.). I only took about 6-7 practice exams there, and the owner of Strategy knew my name and said hi to me when I walked in for the second exam. Even though I wasn't paying for the classes (just the practice exams), an instructor still talked to me after one practice exam to help diagnose why my scores were leveling off. Her tips probably added around 4-5 points to my final LSAT score.

Sorry for the long post. But yes, I highly recommend Strategy Prep. If you need any more details, I could always talk to some of my friends who took the actual course and get back to you.

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northwood

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by northwood » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:31 pm

I used Princeton Reviews online prep. I really liked it as it came with a lot of access to real lsat questions for both drilling and timed section work. I also had access to a lot of released lsat tests from number 30- 59. I supplemented this with the powerscore bible trilogy ( while the language/ verbage is different, I liked having two different ways to tackle the question and game types to see whicih one worked better for me. I also liked seeing the similarties and differences, and used some things from the online class to tacke some problems, and some stratregies from the trilogy series for question types). My teachers were fantastic and really knwledgable in both delivering hte material and knowing it. It really depends on the instructor.

If you go with the prep course avenue, make sure to leave enough time to cement the information and practice on your own. You dont want to be learning new strategies the week of the test. I would recommend scheduling at least a month from the end of the course to the actual test to do full lenght prep tests and drill your problem areas. Your score will go up more the longer you prep.

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jwalsh16

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by jwalsh16 » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:54 pm

thank you all for your responses. Im going to sit in on a Strategy and a Testmasters course and depending on the experience I'll chose one of them.

thanks again everyone

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by truedreams » Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:09 pm

You might consider Manhattan LSAT, they are in the DC area. I used their study guides and an online course. You can take a sample of their course on the website to see if you like it. I used Powerscore materials and did their weekend course, which helped a little. But Manhattan (used to be Atlas) definitely took me the rest of the way.

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by joebloe » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:11 pm

northwood wrote:[...] If you go with the prep course avenue, make sure to leave enough time to cement the information and practice on your own. You dont want to be learning new strategies the week of the test. I would recommend scheduling at least a month from the end of the course to the actual test to do full lenght prep tests and drill your problem areas. Your score will go up more the longer you prep.
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Manhattan LSAT Noah

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by Manhattan LSAT Noah » Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:16 pm

truedreams wrote:You might consider Manhattan LSAT, they are in the DC area. I used their study guides and an online course. You can take a sample of their course on the website to see if you like it. I used Powerscore materials and did their weekend course, which helped a little. But Manhattan (used to be Atlas) definitely took me the rest of the way.
Yup, Ally Bell is our teacher down there - she's tremendous. You can sit in on the course as a trial student to see if it's a good fit. The class is small - we plan to cap it at 10 students in DC.

Good luck!

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by barnum » Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:57 pm

although it would be a lot of sitting in . . . if you are making the rounds, I think you should really give Griffon Prep a try. We have been in DC for over 5 years, some of our instructors have been teaching LSAT for over a decade, we have small classes (max 12, average 8 ), all our instructors have 99th percentile scores (one teacher has scored a 180 twice), we use real LSAT questions, and free weekly extra help where you can get a lot of one on one attention to address your specific needs.
Last edited by barnum on Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by bluestar » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:32 pm

binary solutions is a waste of time and money . go with a major national and at least you will get all materials and explanations , eva has no explanations !

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by Julia Do » Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:45 pm

WORST and FULL OF LIARS!!! It took me whole month to deal with princeton review and nothing got solved. I enrolled in princeton review in April 2018 for LSAT- 84 hrs ultimate course. The whole course lasted for 2.5 months and I took the exam in June. Overall, the course had multiple technical problems and I had to make multiple to report the problems but nothing got fixed. My score in June was even lower than when I took the practice exam. So I called and told them that my score was bad and I was not happy so what could them offer? They said that even though they advertised "GUARANTEE BETTER SCORE OR MONEY BACK", they would not return any money back. However, they offered me to retake the course AND a 3 months extension since my account would be expired in July but there was no course ID available yet. I accepted it, my account got extended but I did not have any access to my old recorded lectures or any full tests (to open the tests, you needed haihaisoft pdf but princeton review did not extend my haihaisoft account). So I called back to report the problem and princeton review said that the 3 months extension only give me access to the lesson video but not the recorded lecture and haihaisoft??? Then I called back again to speak with the technical support but nobody picked up or returned my call. I started to feel very disappointed about this company but I SPENT almost $1500 for the course so I had to keep calling. Eventually, I called and talked with a princeton review assistant (a guy) who convinced me to retake the course. He told to go online, look for the new course schedule and called back. So I did but when I called back, they wouldn't let me retake the course since I already had the extension???? very DISAPPOINTED and UPSET. Each time I called princeton review, I was told different and inconsistent. I explained to them my situation and questioned about their consistency. They could not answer but they wouldn't let me retake the course or refund the money. I requested to speak with the supervisor. The supervisor told me that she pulled an "old "recorded phone call and said that I made decision to extend the course instead of retake the course??? She also claimed that I was well aware that I could only choose EITHER retake the course OR extend the course. Ridiculous!!! I requested to listen to the old recorded call and the supervisor rejected it. She told me to get an attorney and the court if I want to listen to the recorded call??? I also told her to pull the recorded phone call between me and the guy who told me to extend AND retake the course. She refused to do so. The problem was not solved! I'm stuck with an stupid, limited access and useless princeton review account. Not sure how big the company is but definitely is full of liars and unreliable. I'm writing this to warn all students not to get trapped by the princeton review companies. Go to other prep companies for better score or at least better services!

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Re: Review of LSAT Prep Courses

Post by jkara33 » Tue Feb 12, 2019 3:38 pm

You may want to take a look at the reviews posted on LSAT Prep Courses

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