Testmaster's course vs. powerscore comments Forum

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nickmmw

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Testmaster's course vs. powerscore comments

Post by nickmmw » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:23 pm

hi


i just finished the testmaster's course - accelarted 4 week version. here are some of my observations for anyone considering the course. I also was using the powerscore bibles along with the course.

- The testmaster's course comes with 15 workbooks. Most do not contain full explanations of topics - you are required to goto the class and 'fill in' the explanations with the instructor. And explanations are not thorough. The powerscore bibles, on the other hand, are extremely well written and compliment the testmaster's concepts -- they are the same concepts with different trademarked terminology. You definitly want to get the PS bibles if you're enrolled in testmasters. So my opinion here, for self 'teachability' : Testmasters: 0 Powerscore: 1

- The testmaster's course has tons of homework problems at the end of each workbook. They are organized by question type and are drawn from actual LSAT questions. However, there are NOT explanations for MOST of the LR and RC homework problems (there are excellent explanations for all LG problems, however, no better than powerscore.) I guess for ~1400 I would expect to have full explanation to all hw problems. So what's the difference between just going over all the previous LSATs on your own compared to testmaster's HW ? I guess its the organzition by question type. Perhaps there is some advantage to this.

- I'm guessing that the powerscore course does something similar for their homeworks.
Based on this, and in hindsight, the powerscore course would have been better for the following reasons:

1. the powerscore bibles are able to clearly communicate complicated lsat concepts in written form. Lets say you don't fully understand a conept, its nice to go to a reference like the powerscore bibles and teach yourself. This isn't possible with the testmaster's course. Its fully dependant on the instructor and 'telephonic' tutoring (which powerscore also has).

2. Both powerscore and testmaster's have excellent instructors - so i'd say they tie on this. However, I believe powerscore instructors must be in 99th percentile.

3. since the powersocore references are written so clearly, why not go with the powerscore course to further enhance your skills using 'powerscore' methodology.

Can anyone please comment on the approach to do homeworks by question type - such as in the testmaster's material ? What advantages/ disadvatanges do you feel there are in this approach ?

Anyone take the PS course ?

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zenaida

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Re: Testmaster's course vs. powerscore comments

Post by zenaida » Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:37 am

thanks for this information. I'm planning to take the test in June. I bought the Powerscore bibles and going through them hoping to finish them by the time i start Testmasters course. The reason why I would want to take Testmasters would be to get additional information/strategies on how to solve a problem. Why pay money for a Powerscore class when I have their books, explanations, and methodologies.

I thought that by taking the best of two different worlds, I can combine what I learn into one "super strategy" :D

But since I read your post....I'm obviously questioning this. I'm curious about what people will say too. I need the explanations for the problems -...does Powerscore have that for all of them?

Btw, did your score improve, and if so, by how much?

dmorey

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Re: Testmaster's course vs. powerscore comments

Post by dmorey » Fri Feb 06, 2009 1:00 pm

I just finished the 4-week virtual Powerscore class this week. I thought it was great. As far as supplies, you get two large books that have all the homework and one book with 14 practice LSATs, Explanations for EVERY problem are either in the book or available online in the student center.

Good amount of homework, organized by type. Great instructors in the 99th percentile.

I really liked the class and definitely don't regret doing online instead of brick and morter. All classes are taped and you can watch them as many times as desired and there are extra recordings online for specialty sections like mapping games, and strategies. In class you could ask questions through text chat or through the mic, though most used IMs. Plus the online stuff is available until the June administration, which is nice in case you were to retake.

dmorey

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Re: Testmaster's course vs. powerscore comments

Post by dmorey » Fri Feb 06, 2009 2:08 pm

Oops, actually it was 5 weeks (10 3-hour classes.)

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