Online course: BP or PS? Forum

[borntokill]

Could anyone who has taken an online course from Blueprint/ Powerscore/ Kaplan or Princeton share how many points they improve?
i'm considering to enroll one of the above
Just finished watching the PS and BP sample
BP seems fun, many jokes (or too many?)
the first 45 of PS is almost a waste of time-an explaination of the vitual classroom...
Thanks for any input!

[tomwatts]

I teach online courses for Princeton Review, so I can tell you anything you want to know on that end of things. Score improvement always depends on how much you put into the course more than it depends on the course itself, at least in LSAT.

[PoliticalJunkie]

Can't compare the PS/TM online courses. I read all the bibles and only went up about 4 pts in September. Currently enrolled in the BP Movie for December. Diag was a 161. Test yesterday was a 172, which was only my second test in the program. While I am not done with it yet, I am definitely pleased with the course. It takes a different approach than PS's curriculum (can't compare courses just comparign to the books) and its resources helps guide my thinking.

[PoliticalJunkie]

Diag: 150
Bibles
Test range: 155 - 167 with an average in the 158 - 162 range.
Tested in September at 159 (averaging around the same so was not surprised. Very Disappointed)
Diag: 161 (to test my abilities PRIOR to the BP course methodology)
BP Movie
Test 1: 172.
While this is just one test, I got through each of the sections in 30 minutes which I have never done before. That, with a 172 I consider progress.

Diagnostic just means to identify my abilities at the moment. I needed to do that in order to base line myself 3 weeks after the Sept LSAT and to figure out how I did throughout the BP meth since it is pretty different.

If you prefer, you can change "diagnostic" to "test."

[PoliticalJunkie]

I agree that the testing knowledge is cumulative and part of my increase is due to PS, there's no doubt about that.

I don't necessarily think that I meant "there's more to come" I'm leaving that open with the expectation that I will learn all of my weaknesses. I also have to say that 1 test is not reflective of abilities, so I'll know more about my range in the next 2 weeks after I've taken a few more practice exams.

However, positives that I have seen since the BP, that I noticed I did not have during my self study were,
1. Better timing (BP taught me some more info that I didn't get form the Bibles that allowed me to get through, for example Parallel Q (which were my worst) in about a 30-45 seconds with 100% accuracy).
2. BP also differentiates questions (MBT, ~MBT, Flaw, etc) into lessons and groups the questions so you maximize practice on specific problem sets. I also did not get this with self study bibles.

Having said that, I am basically comparing self study with a structured course...which is nearly impossible to do.

I looked at TM's online course and to me price wasn't worth it. I liked BP's video courses, the video explanation of LR and LG, and the LR podcasts. They also have drills which helped me with the only referents.

[sregor]

I'd like to chime in on this discussion and offer my experience with the two methods. I realize that because this is my first post, somebody will probably think I'm plugging a company that I work for (I've read the threads in which some of the posters are 'suspect'), but I assure you that is not the case (though that assurance doesn't hold much water on an anonymous internet message board, does it?)

Anyway, I started by reading the Powerscore Logic Games and Logical Reasoning books, and while they both gave me a bunch of great information, I still was having problems. I decided to try something more structured and ended up going with the Blueprint online movie. I'm going to take the February LSAT, so I don't yet know how the course will help or hinder my actual score.

Having said that, I certainly like the Blueprint method better, and here's why: The Powerscore method for Logical reasoning seems, at least for my particular brain, to be unnecessarily complicated. I found myself worrying about the details of the method when I needed to be focussing on what was written on the page. Personally, I like the more simple divisions of question types that Blueprint employs - it just seems more intuitive than the more complicated architecture that the Powerscore method is built on. Also, the Powerscore method for Logic Games seems to want you to "front load" the page with inferences and information, which, for me at least, was taking up too much time.

Also, I watched the demos on both sites before I decided, and I ended up getting very annoyed with the Powerscore demo because they seemed to welcome people to the session for most of the lesson. I think they should show a demo of something a little deeper into the course. Plus, I don't really want to be in a classroom/feedback situation. I just want to watch somebody do the problems and hear the explanations. I'll figure the rest out on my own. Blueprint seems to do this well.

I also recognize that I learned a lot from the Powerscore books, and my understanding of the material has come a long way because of Powerscore. I think the methods are similar in many ways, but the Blueprint method gets to the essentials and does not get bogged down in details.

I've been happy with it thus far, and I feel like it was money well spent.

[tomwatts]

The definition of "diagnostic test" must have changed because it formerly meant: the test you took before prepping.

At TPR, we call all of our proctored, full-length tests that you take with the course "diagnostic tests," so we'll talk about your first diag, your second diag, and so on. When I talk about diags, I usually mean that sort of thing. I suspect that some other companies use the same terminology, though I don't know for sure.

[lsatextreme]

bumping a semi old topic, I had this exact question, debating between taking BP movie course or the PS virtual course (since I'm a working individual and cannot make it to the regular classes for neither of them).

I took it once already in Dec 09, got a 154 after self-studying for 2 months. Went over both bibles (though admittedly, I realized I forgot much of the dense information after having gone through it as I realized I kept having to refer back to it) and I took about 20-25 PTs avging around 160. Decided it wasn't worth trying to cheap out on investing in a course because I keep denying myself but I'm actually one of those learners who have to be taught the material to me from someone who knows the material well.

The way I see it, the pro for going with the PS virtual course is the fact that it's actually a live class that resembles as close as it can to having to attend the class and pay attention (I think I might have slight motivational issues as well so this would help I think). With the BP movie course, it just seems like I paid $799 to get a bunch of archived test prep materials but in a video format, which for some reason feels more like a rip.

Any updated input/feedback on both courses would be greatly appreciated

[tomwatts]

Live beats recorded any day of the week. But last time I checked, the live online courses for pretty much anybody other than the company I teach for were so short that my jaw dropped.

[LockBox]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to post here because I am considering taking the BP online course. I also have the option of taking a testmasters live course. I wanted to find out, if cost weren't a consideration, which would be better?

I was PTing around the upper 150's two years ago, but due to unforeseen circumstances was unable to sit for the exam. So I want to make another go of it this June. I feel like I need the motivation of an actual live course, but the comfort of an online course is very tempting. What I can't seem to figure out is how structured the BP course is. Can you just watch a video whenever you want? Is there a syllabus telling you when you should be doing what? Thanks in advance for any info...

[Chris_cpb]

Thinking same about bp online course as many are. One thing that I've seen at least from the website that is making me question the decision is looking at their sample videos such as the first two by Trent Teti.

[Chris_cpb]

Seeking last minute opinions. ANY feedback is GREATLY appreciated. I am going to enroll in Blueprint: The Movie unless convinced that other below course is somehow better. Unfortunately, below data is taken from the bp website, so likely biased.


Blueprint Kaplan LSAT Premium Online Princeton Review LSAT Online Power Score

Hours of lesson instruction: 42 35 20-30* 45
Personal set of all available LSAT questions:Yes Yes Yes No
Teaches LSAT exclusively: Yes No No No
High quality streaming videos Yes No No No
Videos taught by founders of the company?: Yes No No No
Cost: $799 $1149 $999 $995

EDIT: looks like the table I tried to do didn't work, here's the link http://www.blueprintprep.com/video/comparison.php

[tomwatts]

I said this by PM, but let me say it briefly in the open here, too.

Live > recorded
More hours > fewer hours

Princeton Review LiveOnline all the way. It's live, not recorded, and it's got more hours (55) than anything else by a pretty wide margin.

Uh, apparently I said this same thing earlier in the same topic. I continue to think it!