What is the best prep course Forum

[BerkeleyNoctambulist]

Ok so in a nutshell I received a scholarship for an LSAT Prep course. I am wondering which prep course would be the most beneficial and why. I am looking at TestMasters because most people I talk to say that they are the best hands down. Although I really do like the Powerscore Bibles. I am curious about other prep companies as well, such as BluePrint, Kaplan, and Score it Up. and Any feedback of your experience with these prep companies is much appreciated. Thanks!

[ArchRoark]

powerscore

/thread

[LastChanceLA]

BP and Testmasters are practically the same thing. But I do know that one updates material, while the other doesn't.

I'll be honest, I dont even know how helpful test prep companies are.

Best of luck!

[ArchRoark]

BP and Testmasters are practically the same thing. But I do know that one updates material, while the other doesn't.

I'll be honest, I dont even know how helpful test prep companies are.

Best of luck!

Went rom a 159 diagnostic to 177 on the real thing. Granted at times I felt the course was paced too slowly but I needed the structure of a 4hr class to "force" myself to study. I would usually just work ahead in class, do the homework and then put a dent into the massive amount of supplemental material they provide. My instructor was awesome and provided a number of useful tips/strategies. That said I most likely could of scored near my score without the class if I had the material they prouder their students and was able to commit to a strict study schedule.

Posted on my phone so excuse any spelling mistakes

[you_were_driving]

BP and Testmasters are practically the same thing. But I do know that one updates material, while the other doesn't.

I'll be honest, I dont even know how helpful test prep companies are.

Best of luck!

Went rom a 159 diagnostic to 177 on the real thing. Granted at times I felt the course was paced too slowly but I needed the structure of a 4hr class to "force" myself to study. I would usually just work ahead in class, do the homework and then put a dent into the massive amount of supplemental material they provide. My instructor was awesome and provided a number of useful tips/strategies. That said I most likely could of scored near my score without the class if I had the material they prouder their students and was able to commit to a strict study schedule.

Posted on my phone so excuse any spelling mistakes

I did Kaplan for the same reason. some people have the motivation and ability to make a study schedule and stick to it, I am not one of those people. I took a three month class that met twice a week, I usually studied daily with all of the supplemental material they provide but it was good to know that even if I had a particularly heinous week I would be studying at least some.

[cowgirl_bebop]

I dont care what anybody says, but I SWEAR by The Princeton Review. They had convenient class times, gave me tons of practice, great instructors, convenient location, and reasonable prices. They broke the questions down for me and were EXTREMELY helpful. I would recommend them to anyone.

[monty.brogan]

If you are in the NY area, X is really good.

[CanadianWolf]

Reviews from several students show PowerScore & TestMasters to be highly regarded. Princeton Review gets good to excellent reviews depending upon the instructor. Kaplan received poor ratings. These are the only courses of which I have any meaningful sources.
The key, however, is to do all, or substantially all, of the homework and to attend all of the classes. Some students did not improve as much with TestMasters as hoped, but they didn't do substantially all of the assigned homework.

[Malcolm8X]

A lurker has finally surfaced..

I can't honestly tell you the answer to that question but here are my 2 cents. I took Princeton Review and it helped boost my score about 8 points from my diagnostic. But self-study is the best prep in my opinion. Doing everything outside of the test course is THE most important part to studying. That means if you're shooting for 165+, you should do at least 30 PT's, under timed conditions, at the time you're taking the LSAT. At the same time you're doing the PT's, prep your brain by reading immensely, playing sudoku puzzles, and abstaining from detrimental behavior such as heavy drinking. Prep tests depend on the teacher really and THEN your commitment to their assignments.

That being said, Kaplan giving you access to ALL the PT's ever made is a huge plus. But I can't say which method is better per se cuz I've only gone through one method. I personally think they're like Coke and Pepsi. SLIGHTLY different flavor but they generally taste the same.. YOU gotta add the punch.

[Lasers]

took blueprint. it was as good as i would expect from any prep course.

[OmbreGracieuse]

I used Knewton. I really enjoyed it; it is less expensive than some of the others (*powerscore*), and they offer the PTs as well as tests you can create yourself based on a single subject (such as LR- assumptions, ect). I really liked it, and if you are interested you can message me, and I'll send you a link for $100 off your purchase. They also offer a 5 point guarantee, or your money back.

[lakers3peat]

there is no right or wrong answer on this but I'll give my .02.

I took testmaster while a friend of mine took kaplan(we studied together).

He thought Kaplan was a waste of time because the instructor read a cookie-cutter script, did not even take the actual LSAT and other reasons that I can't attest to because it would be mere hearsay.


Testmasters, in my opinion, was relatively useful BUT not worth the money in any way shape or form. In fact, I think Testmasters could actually hurt you if you take it for the following reasons: For starters, I had a very bad instructor. During the course, I had 2 different instructors. One would teach the lessons and then another was brought in to go over practice tests and special 'jam sessions.' The teacher who went over the daily lessons was AWFUL. The teacher who went over the jams was AMAZING. So realistically, it is a complete toss up as to which you get to teach your actual class. For $1,500, it is NOT worth the gamble.

Also, what is killing me more than anything right now is that Testmaster's makes homework questions/review questions from Actual Lsats. While they stand by this practice, it's totally screwing me over now because I want to gain practical experience taking many practice tests under timed constraints but the results are always biased because I too frequenetly remember reading a question that was in the homework or a question that was discussed during the lesson.

They try to break the test up into too many portions. If you have a pie, consider 25 slices. 1 slice for question type 1 LR, question type 2 LR, Question type 3 LR, Arts RC passage, Literature RC passage, Sequence Game, Linear Game, Spatial Game, etc. etc. They grill you to hard on individual categories, making you think one is of greater importance than an another when it is a much bigger picture-- 2 LR, 1 LG, 1 RC. In these sections the questions and question types you get are entirely variable.

Best bet is to buy the bibles and take a ton of practice tests. If you need structure then take a class, but know you are probably going to be wasting $1,000. If you care about law school,, you should be able to structure your own day. Classes won't force you to study.

[GoGetIt]

Kaplan

Prep courses are a waste of money IMO. However, they can be, at times, a good foundation to get the ball rolling; in order to gain the most out of the course, adequate self-study is mandatory. So why not just get your own materials and study on your own? This is the most effective route. Many of these places just want your $.

[cowgirl_bebop]

Kaplan

Prep courses are a waste of money IMO. However, they can be, at times, a good foundation to get the ball rolling; in order to gain the most out of the course, adequate self-study is mandatory. So why not just get your own materials and study on your own? This is the most effective route. Many of these places just want your $.

That all depends on how you learn. I know I learn concepts better if I can sit in a classroom with an instructor and ask questions to a person rather than just trying to learn from a book. If I had just done self-study, I can pretty much guarantee that I would have entirely different expectations going into last Saturday's test

[andedom]

BP and Testmasters are practically the same thing. But I do know that one updates material, while the other doesn't.

I'll be honest, I dont even know how helpful test prep companies are.

Best of luck!

Went rom a 159 diagnostic to 177 on the real thing. Granted at times I felt the course was paced too slowly but I needed the structure of a 4hr class to "force" myself to study. I would usually just work ahead in class, do the homework and then put a dent into the massive amount of supplemental material they provide. My instructor was awesome and provided a number of useful tips/strategies. That said I most likely could of scored near my score without the class if I had the material they prouder their students and was able to commit to a strict study schedule.

Posted on my phone so excuse any spelling mistakes

I did Kaplan for the same reason. some people have the motivation and ability to make a study schedule and stick to it, I am not one of those people. I took a three month class that met twice a week, I usually studied daily with all of the supplemental material they provide but it was good to know that even if I had a particularly heinous week I would be studying at least some.

Ditto, I took PR--took a Kaplan course for the Series 7 and thought it sucked balls. My score went from a 158 on Dec 08 LSAT studying alone, to peaking at a 168 on PTs.

[GoGetIt]

Kaplan

Prep courses are a waste of money IMO. However, they can be, at times, a good foundation to get the ball rolling; in order to gain the most out of the course, adequate self-study is mandatory. So why not just get your own materials and study on your own? This is the most effective route. Many of these places just want your $.

That all depends on how you learn. I know I learn concepts better if I can sit in a classroom with an instructor and ask questions to a person rather than just trying to learn from a book. If I had just done self-study, I can pretty much guarantee that I would have entirely different expectations going into last Saturday's test

Touche. I should have worded that a bit differently. Everyone has their own way of grasping concepts, whether through self-study of through the classroom. However, there are tons of concepts that one needs to absorb for this test. It's very difficult to learn and grasp all of these in a classroom; This is why I feel that classrooms are, to an extent, a waste of time.

[yannab]

Ok so in a nutshell I received a scholarship for an LSAT Prep course. I am wondering which prep course would be the most beneficial and why. I am looking at TestMasters because most people I talk to say that they are the best hands down. Although I really do like the Powerscore Bibles. I am curious about other prep companies as well, such as BluePrint, Kaplan, and Score it Up. and Any feedback of your experience with these prep companies is much appreciated. Thanks!

Take Blueprint. Hands down they are the best. I heard the instructors for BluePrint at Berkeley are awesome. I took in NY and I gotta say that I was very impressed. BluePrint has so many supplements to go along with the actual course its amazing.

[Tainted_Praise]

It's NOT the Princeton Review.... They make you feel like you've made an accomplishment once you start scoring in the 150's.......

[Gemini198]

Personally, I STRONGLY recommend Testmasters (although I've heard great things about Blueprint as well since their practically the same course). My teacher was amazing, and I went from a 150 to a 171, granted that you have to put in ALOT of effort on your own regardless of how good your instructor is. If you keep up with all the homework (and trust me, theres alot), I feel like a substantial score increase is inevitable. An earlier poster said that they didn't like how Testmaster's divides their LR material into specific types (Type 1, 2, 3 etc), but I actually found this helpful because now I can immediately identify a question when I see it on the test and answer it accordingly with certain strategies.

The only downside is that you do get every released LSAT question as HW, and sometimes you might remember reading a question when you're taking a practice test. But this has never really helped me answer the question correctly because I tend to only remember reading the question in the past, rather than remembering the specific answer. Although theres a possibility that this still might skew your PT's a little, I think the best way to study for the LSAT is to do actual problems; other companies make up their own questions and I think thats a terrible idea; why not just learn from the real thing?