LSAT Prep Books Forum

[rob91]

I'm new to this, and am looking to get my studies started now for the October exam. After perusing some threads here it seems the Powerscore and Manhattan prep books are the most recommended. My question on these is that each company seems to have two books for each section. For instance, Powerscore has a logic games bible (http://www.amazon.com/PowerScore-LSAT-L ... s%20bible)), and a logic games workbook (http://www.amazon.com/PowerScore-Logic- ... score+lsat). Manhattan has something similar. Is it beneficial to get both?

It seems, then, my purchase would be a total of 12 books (six from each company), plus the actual tests. Anything else recommended?

Also, any advice on a prep course? I've narrowed it down to Kaplan, Blueprint, and Testmasters (Princeton was the other option, but its closest testing center is too far for me). I've seen many people here write these courses off, however I think I will still do one. If not for the simple fact that I might learn something, I would also find it helpful for keeping a study schedule, staying motivated, and meeting fellow lsat takers to talk/share info with.

Thanks

[The LSAT Trainer]

Hi -- the workbooks and such are add-ons, and you can get them as you need them --

If you are going to go the ps/mlsat route, the books you are probably looking for are --

1) the 3 ps bibles (not the workbooks)
2) the manhattan 3 pack

6 books total.

Keep in mind that in addition to those books, you will need to purchase official practice tests, and that the bulk of your studies will likely be done on real q's (learn from the books, drill q types, and take pt's is the general recommendation/route to success here).

Good luck! -- hope you don't become an LSAT addict like some of these folks -- Mike Kim

[dw3]

Hi -- the workbooks and such are add-ons, and you can get them as you need them --

If you are going to go the ps/mlsat route, the books you are probably looking for are --

1) the 3 ps bibles (not the workbooks)
2) the manhattan 3 pack

6 books total.

Keep in mind that in addition to those books, you will need to purchase official practice tests, and that the bulk of your studies will likely be done on real q's (learn from the books, drill q types, and take pt's is the general recommendation/route to success here).

Good luck! -- hope you don't become an LSAT addict like some of these folks -- Mike Kim

+1. You'll also want to get the tests from Cambridge since they're downloadable/printable. There's a bout 70 of them. Try and go through every single one at least once before October.

[rob91]

Thanks for clearing that up. Although I'm curious, do the workbooks just go into more detail regarding whats already explained in the books themselves?

[rob91]

Yikes buying 70 tests adds up fast. Is it as important to study all the early ones as well? I have read that the test has changed since and some of those may not be as relevant.

[dw3]

Yea. You'll want to get both. Don't rely on just those though. The PTs will be key. Make sure to go through all 70 of them at least once, if not more. Many of my friends went through all 70 PTs three times over a five month period while preparing. They ended up getting only 176s.

[dw3]

Yikes buying 70 tests adds up fast. Is it as important to study all the early ones as well? I have read that the test has changed since and some of those may not be as relevant.

It is an investment that will pay dividends. Trust me. I think they're about $5.00 per test on Cambridge.

[RhymesLikeDimes]

Buy the first 40 in the form of drilling books.

[sublime]

..

[dw3]

Buy the first 40 in the form of drilling books.

Can you clarify what these are? These are somehow different than the actual tests themselves?

[sublime]

..

[LSAT Blog]

Buy the first 40 in the form of drilling books.

Can you clarify what these are? These are somehow different than the actual tests themselves?

The same questions, just grouped by question type.

Relatedly, a TLS member made a grouping of Logical Reasoning questions by type in this thread:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=108425


You can also see Logic Games grouped by type in this thread:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =6&t=50657


For more questions by type, I have a variety of categorizations for LG, LR, and RC on my site as well.

[dw3]

Buy the first 40 in the form of drilling books.

Can you clarify what these are? These are somehow different than the actual tests themselves?

The same questions, just grouped by question type.

Relatedly, a TLS member made a grouping of Logical Reasoning questions by type in this thread:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=108425


You can also see Logic Games grouped by type in this thread:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =6&t=50657


For more questions by type, I have a variety of categorizations for LG, LR, and RC on my site as well.

You're talking about these?

http://www.cambridgelsat.com/problem-se ... reasoning/

[bp shinners]

plus the actual tests. Anything else recommended?

Also, any advice on a prep course?

If you're going to sign up for a class, hold off on purchasing the actual prep tests - you should get access to those questions through the course.

And if you have any questions about our class, shoot me a PM.

[arcanecircle]

plus the actual tests. Anything else recommended?

Also, any advice on a prep course?

If you're going to sign up for a class, hold off on purchasing the actual prep tests - you should get access to those questions through the course.

And if you have any questions about our class, shoot me a PM.

Agree with Shinners on this one. I'd also advise against getting different guides simultaneously. I think if you do this, you'll find yourself getting a lot less out of them. It usually takes a few reads and a good amount of time with a given set of materials before you can extrapolate the information and accomodate the strategies to your current understanding of the test.

I'm not however, suggesting that you shouldn't explore multiple guides, its usually a good thing to do this, but take your time with one before purchasing another.

Also, there's been 2 new books that came out, one is the LG book by BP, and another by Mike Kim (LSAT Trainer) that haven't been out long enough to get more publicity, but I imagine they'll be pretty close contenders/companions to the MLSAT guides.

My personal opinion is that the PS books are a bit out of date and MLSAT/BP are better matched to deal with more recent trends in the test.

[bp shinners]

I'd also advise against getting different guides simultaneously.

To return the favor, I'll agree with arcane on this one.

Going through different systems has its place, but it's at the end of your studies, not the beginning. At the beginning, you should be sticking with one approach so that you can understand the test and get a handle on the logic. You generally go through a few stages (these are going to take longer than a few days to go through, for most of them):
1) I have no idea what's going on
2) OK, I see what's going on, but I have no idea on how to approach this question
3) OK, this book has given me an approach, and it leads to me getting correct answers, but I don't really understand why
4) Oh! That's why the method works - these shortcuts are just exploiting common logical issues. But why didn't it work here?
5) Ah, ok, now I see it - the method breaks down in certain questions when X happens. Tricky, LSAT. Tricky.
At that point, you have the logic of the test down, and you can understand how the method walks through that logic. Now, you're not just applying the method - you're using the method as a skeleton to guide you through an intellectual understanding of the material. It's at this point that you should incorporate another method, because if you can then explain how two different methods arrive at the same result, you've Neo'ed the Matrix and are seeing behind the scenes.