Opinions on ExamKrackers Test Prep Package? Forum

[ramuthra500]

I have purchased the three books from ExamKrackers for the LSAT. I was wondering if this set of books is a good buy, or if I should scrap them and buy the PowerScore Bibles instead.

[Geetar Man]

I have purchased the three books from ExamKrackers for the LSAT. I was wondering if this set of books is a good buy, or if I should scrap them and buy the PowerScore Bibles instead.

Never have used/seen those books before, but I would make sure that the questions they use are actual questions from previous exams and not made-up questions. If they aren't actual questions, you should just buy the powerscore bibles; they use actual lsat questions in the book.

[MLBrandow]

ramuthra500,

I can't speak about the quality of the other books, but I did write up a review on the reading comprehension book when it first came out. It's useful, and probably among the best out there, but it's still not that great. Here's the original post (from 2008):

Examkrackers RC Book Review

First off, buy this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking the June LSAT. I have spent hours in my local bookstores sifting through RC strategies from other companies (call me a cheap ass), as well as reading through the free samplings on google's e-book cache (call me a cheap ass more). This book is well worth the $23 if you are finding yourself in a heap of trouble on RC.

Here is what makes this book more useful than anything else I've come across yet:
- It focuses on breaking up the passages by how the main point is presented and the arguments are structured, rather than by what the passage is about (a la Kaplan and a few others).
- It has a few in-chapter drills which hone the specific skills it teaches as you learn them, rather than delving into RC all at once by taking whole sections from the get-go.
- Each lecture focuses on one passage type and one question family.
- The mini-exams corresponding to each lecture are excellent. Each focuses solely on the relevant material you learned.
- It's the only book that I've come across yet with a comprehensive comparative reading section (17 pages).
- Many of the "typical wrong answer choices" that correspond to each answer type do, in fact, come up often, and are easy to spot once made aware.
- I like the book's use of color to draw attention to certain wrong answers, although this is ancillary at best.


Here are shortcomings of this book:
- If you are anal like me and have every PrepTest that can be feasibly attained, then the "extra practice" sections at the end are useless. It has 95 questions spanning roughly 15 passages that are all pulled from actual LSATs. However, if you are lazy and don't like buying all the PrepTests (bad idea, but hey, that's your prerogative), then this belongs in the other category.
- The paper this book is printed on pisses me off. It's glossy and reminds me of my high school textbooks rather than of the LSAT.
- There is a little sun-shaped mascot in various persona aside most of the pages, and it's really annoying.
- While the information this book provides is valuable, the method of presentation is questionable. I would like to see more examples in each lecture (it's pretty barren, only one per chapter), and I would also like to be given the opportunity to process a problem for myself rather than having to be walked through it.
- While some of the explanations are pretty solid, a few of the wrong answer choice explanations are too brief.
- The Title of Chapter 11 (the Reading Comprehension Review), is referred to in the subsequent page headers as Chapter 9. This indicates to me a bit of a rushed product.
- This book does not place enough emphasis on parsing. It simply says "remember this" in some cases where parsing would be very helpful.


Conclusion:
Overall, the biggest pluses this book has to offer are its dissection of different passage types and the mini-exams, which drill specific passage- and question-types. The biggest drawback was the lack of examples.

This book is laden with useful information, but you do have to get by its sometimes peculiar presentation to glean that information from it.


Rating:
Relative Usefulness - 4.5/5 (versus existing prep books)
Absolute Usefulness - 3/5 (in terms of what is necessary to master RC)
Clarity - 4/5
Quality of information - 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Recommendation:
Buy this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking the June LSAT. Consider buying this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking a later LSAT, as Powerscore's RC Bible will be released July/August.





=======================
original post:
=======================
DayDay11,

This looks like it might be quite a helpful book.

Here is a direct link:

--LinkRemoved--

I would be interested to see reviews on this product. I have never heard of Examkrackers before.


Edit: I noticed that it just came out a few weeks ago, so I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon.com for $22.00. I'll volunteer myself to be the guinea pig, as this is really the only section giving me grief.

I'll send out a review in a few weeks.

EDIT: http://www.buy.com/prod/Examkrackers_LS ... 05563.html

$13.79 (shipping included) via special offer on Buy.com

[Geetar Man]

ramuthra500,

I can't speak about the quality of the other books, but I did write up a review on the reading comprehension book when it first came out. It's useful, and probably among the best out there, but it's still not that great. Here's the original post (from 2008):

Examkrackers RC Book Review

First off, buy this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking the June LSAT. I have spent hours in my local bookstores sifting through RC strategies from other companies (call me a cheap ass), as well as reading through the free samplings on google's e-book cache (call me a cheap ass more). This book is well worth the $23 if you are finding yourself in a heap of trouble on RC.

Here is what makes this book more useful than anything else I've come across yet:
- It focuses on breaking up the passages by how the main point is presented and the arguments are structured, rather than by what the passage is about (a la Kaplan and a few others).
- It has a few in-chapter drills which hone the specific skills it teaches as you learn them, rather than delving into RC all at once by taking whole sections from the get-go.
- Each lecture focuses on one passage type and one question family.
- The mini-exams corresponding to each lecture are excellent. Each focuses solely on the relevant material you learned.
- It's the only book that I've come across yet with a comprehensive comparative reading section (17 pages).
- Many of the "typical wrong answer choices" that correspond to each answer type do, in fact, come up often, and are easy to spot once made aware.
- I like the book's use of color to draw attention to certain wrong answers, although this is ancillary at best.


Here are shortcomings of this book:
- If you are anal like me and have every PrepTest that can be feasibly attained, then the "extra practice" sections at the end are useless. It has 95 questions spanning roughly 15 passages that are all pulled from actual LSATs. However, if you are lazy and don't like buying all the PrepTests (bad idea, but hey, that's your prerogative), then this belongs in the other category.
- The paper this book is printed on pisses me off. It's glossy and reminds me of my high school textbooks rather than of the LSAT.
- There is a little sun-shaped mascot in various persona aside most of the pages, and it's really annoying.
- While the information this book provides is valuable, the method of presentation is questionable. I would like to see more examples in each lecture (it's pretty barren, only one per chapter), and I would also like to be given the opportunity to process a problem for myself rather than having to be walked through it.
- While some of the explanations are pretty solid, a few of the wrong answer choice explanations are too brief.
- The Title of Chapter 11 (the Reading Comprehension Review), is referred to in the subsequent page headers as Chapter 9. This indicates to me a bit of a rushed product.
- This book does not place enough emphasis on parsing. It simply says "remember this" in some cases where parsing would be very helpful.


Conclusion:
Overall, the biggest pluses this book has to offer are its dissection of different passage types and the mini-exams, which drill specific passage- and question-types. The biggest drawback was the lack of examples.

This book is laden with useful information, but you do have to get by its sometimes peculiar presentation to glean that information from it.


Rating:
Relative Usefulness - 4.5/5 (versus existing prep books)
Absolute Usefulness - 3/5 (in terms of what is necessary to master RC)
Clarity - 4/5
Quality of information - 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Recommendation:
Buy this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking the June LSAT. Consider buying this book if you are struggling with RC and are taking a later LSAT, as Powerscore's RC Bible will be released July/August.





=======================
original post:
=======================
DayDay11,

This looks like it might be quite a helpful book.

Here is a direct link:

--LinkRemoved--

I would be interested to see reviews on this product. I have never heard of Examkrackers before.


Edit: I noticed that it just came out a few weeks ago, so I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon.com for $22.00. I'll volunteer myself to be the guinea pig, as this is really the only section giving me grief.

I'll send out a review in a few weeks.

EDIT: http://www.buy.com/prod/Examkrackers_LS ... 05563.html

$13.79 (shipping included) via special offer on Buy.com

Powerscore released their RC bible already, and only after you did this write up. I really believe that the best way to get better at RC is to practice doing RC. I like to cover the answer choices with post-it notes and write the answer to the question as I see it, then match up my prephrase with the correct answer choice. HTH

[citygirl000]

I got the ExamKrackers RC Book based on the review above, and found it completely useless. I do think just practice and Powerscore bible will help best.

[Geetar Man]

Edit* Basically, I would use that book only if it pulled real questions. Otherwise I would toss it in the trash, as it may be harmful to your learning. HTH