Best LSAT prep approach and books? Forum

[deant286]

Hey everyone,
I discovered this website a couple weeks ago but I just now got around to making an account. I hope a couple of my questions can be answered regarding LSAT prep.

I will be applying to law schools next fall and I originally intended to take the LSAT in October but I have recently decided that I want to try and prepare for the June LSAT and take that one instead.

1. As an overall approach to preparing, would it be smart to first buy the preptests and take a couple to gauge my abilities in each section and then buy books that specifically target the skills in each of the sections I am weak in? Then for the next 7 months be taking the preptests intermittently between learning from the various books I bought. I don't know what is generally considered a smart approach to tackling the prep so if this sounds stupid or there are better ideas please let me know.

2. I haven't be able to find a concrete answer to whether or not I should start with the older tests first and work my way toward the new ones or the other way around. How far back would you recommend going to start my prep? I read somewhere that the June 2007 and newer are all that should be studied for modern LSAT prep.

3. Is it smarter to purchase one of the books that covers all of the sections in order to develop all the skills as a whole? Or would it be wiser to purchase the books that specifically target different sections and then just buy all the books that target all of the sections? Is that overkill? A waste of money? I notice that some of those books say that they include actual tests or preptests or something, are these the same ones that would be included in the packs of 10 you can buy from the LSAC?

I appreciate any answers you guys can give me.

[Smallville]

Hey everyone,
I discovered this website a couple weeks ago but I just now got around to making an account. I hope a couple of my questions can be answered regarding LSAT prep.

I will be applying to law schools next fall and I originally intended to take the LSAT in October but I have recently decided that I want to try and prepare for the June LSAT and take that one instead.

1. As an overall approach to preparing, would it be smart to first buy the preptests and take a couple to gauge my abilities in each section and then buy books that specifically target the skills in each of the sections I am weak in? Then for the next 7 months be taking the preptests intermittently between learning from the various books I bought. I don't know what is generally considered a smart approach to tackling the prep so if this sounds stupid or there are better ideas please let me know.

2. I haven't be able to find a concrete answer to whether or not I should start with the older tests first and work my way toward the new ones or the other way around. How far back would you recommend going to start my prep? I read somewhere that the June 2007 and newer are all that should be studied for modern LSAT prep.

3. Is it smarter to purchase one of the books that covers all of the sections in order to develop all the skills as a whole? Or would it be wiser to purchase the books that specifically target different sections and then just buy all the books that target all of the sections? Is that overkill? A waste of money? I notice that some of those books say that they include actual tests or preptests or something, are these the same ones that would be included in the packs of 10 you can buy from the LSAC?

I appreciate any answers you guys can give me.

Im going to start off by saying you can find answers to all if not most of these questions within 5-10 min of lurking other threads
with that said...
LSAT Trainer
PowerScore Bibles are great books, theres some websites (7sage & Velocity) that has some free help
and many other books out there (unless you take a diag and you only miss questions on one section... ya you want to get books that target the whole test lol
Besides your diag I would avoid PT's for a bit... it'll be a waste. Look into cambridge packets. Go through the trainer and bibles and learn the basics and do drills (drilling older PTs is norm the way to go and use like 40+ as PT's (when you start them you wanna do them untimed for the most part))
and finally if it will bump your score its not a waste of money... what may cost you 300 now could save you thousands(depending on how you use it)

[stoopidqpid]

I strongly recommend blueprint. they make studying so much less painful (both in person and via videos) and have explanations for everything. They include the books and all practice tests (with explanations) when you purchase the online/classroom program.

[nlee10]

I strongly recommend blueprint. they make studying so much less painful (both in person and via videos) and have explanations for everything. They include the books and all practice tests (with explanations) when you purchase the online/classroom program.

I am taking a blueprint course right now in prep for Dec test and would like to point a caveat for the course. You will see the most improvement if you are up to date on homework and review. I understand that some people are still in school or work full-time and may not be able to complete all the hw. But to best achieve their avg 11 point score increase, you have to be willing to put in serious hours doing practice questions. In addition to the course hw, they include several other PT's as well as drill sets for Q-types/Game types/and RC passages.

If you are going to take a prep course, I strongly encourage you to self-study a bit before starting. A few of my peers started the course cold and, IMO, are struggling to grasp some of the material.

[deant286]

Thanks for the info.

I'm a bit confused about the concept of drilling. When you are "drilling" you're just doing the practice questions from the books or the cambridge packets or from wherever, right? Are the questions they provide not just questions from the PTs? Don't the books boast how all of their questions are REAL lsat questions? And the cambridge packets are just the PTs with the answers worked out? Wouldn't this later ruin your ability to take the PTs as you have already seen the questions and slowly worked through them?

And would anyone recommend one set of books over another? Bibles vs manhattan? etc. Or do/can you use both effectively?

As for the trainer, it differs from the bibles because it doesn't just target one section, correct? It is a prep book for the whole test? Or am I completely off.

I appreciate any and all feedback; I'm a bit lost as I begin this whole process of prepping.

[deant286]

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[ugg]

Post removed.

[Smallville]

Thanks for the info.

I'm a bit confused about the concept of drilling. When you are "drilling" you're just doing the practice questions from the books or the cambridge packets or from wherever, right? Are the questions they provide not just questions from the PTs? Don't the books boast how all of their questions are REAL lsat questions? And the cambridge packets are just the PTs with the answers worked out? Wouldn't this later ruin your ability to take the PTs as you have already seen the questions and slowly worked through them?

And would anyone recommend one set of books over another? Bibles vs manhattan? etc. Or do/can you use both effectively?

As for the trainer, it differs from the bibles because it doesn't just target one section, correct? It is a prep book for the whole test? Or am I completely off.

I appreciate any and all feedback; I'm a bit lost as I begin this whole process of prepping.

the Trainer does break down all the sections so theres that and its sort of preference for the books, some people just click better with manhattan over the bibles and vise versa
the packets and such are real PT questions (the way cambridge packets work is they have the drill packets(can see what the packets are on their site) using PT's 1-38 which allows 40+ PT's to be unaffected by the drilling
which is recommended a bit if you don't do cambridge to get all the PT's and use the earlier ones for drilling
as for drilling... best is to do all MBT questions and really break down the questions so you can understand why things are right and why things are wrong... if you don't want to get crambridge packets you can prob find a list of the diff types of questions to do it yourself or can just do LR section after LR section.... the review of the questions are EXTREMELY important

[JazzyMac]

These are my materials:

10 LSATs, 19-28
10 LSATs, 29-38
LSATs Deconstructed, 43-45
10 LSATs, 52-61
Individual LSATs, 71, 70, 69, 68, 67, 65, 64, 62
Official LSAT Superprep
LSAT Logic Games Bible
LSAT Logic Games Workbook
LSAT Reading Comprehension Bible
LSAT Logic Reasoning Bible
LSAT Trainer

I've found that I feel more at ease beginning the questions in the middle (Test 50s)...and it's also the instructions per The Trainer. I feel as if I'm not working too easy or too hard. My hope is that once I've finished The Trainer, I can do the earlier tests more quickly, and work the problems in the later tests with less confusion. Just my hopes. Best of luck with your studies!

[KMart]

Cambridge has packets of question ranked in difficulty and question type. When people refer to drilling they mean doing repeated questions in the same category (e.g. drilling strengthen questions by doing 30 sets of 3). You could take a cold LSAT to see where you are. I did.

I used the Bibles and Manhattans books. I liked the Bibles more. Then I used the Cambridge packets and prep tests. I also did a class; I regret that.

[deant286]

.

[nlee10]

Is it possible to drill without the Cambridge packets? My friend who already took the LSAT gave me basically all the available PTs in pdf form. Can I use these to drill or do I really need Cambridges organization and categorization of the question types?

Also, is it ok to use a logic games bible from about a year ago and the logic reasoning bible from 3 years ago? Or would I be best served to get the new ones? Again my friend is just giving them to me for free.

Any thoughts on the Princeton cracking the LSAT? I don't see much about it on these forums.

I feel like I want to buy the trainer, use the older bibles, and then use all of those PTs for drilling and real PTs. Unless any of this sounds ineffective (due to age of books and format of questions).

Thanks again for all the answers.

Princeton is NOT recommended period in this forum.

Buy it on the Trainer, Cambridge Packets, Manhattan LR or LR Bible.