Testmasters vs. Manhattan live course Forum

[simplypara588]

I've seen a lot posts from past years discussing the best prep courses, but would like some more recent input. I'm currently deciding between Testmasters and Manhattan. I work full time and commute about an hour into NYC from home, so for me, a major pro about Manhattan is that its classes only meet once per week and end about a half hour earlier than Testmasters' (with testmasters, I would be getting very little sleep the nights I have my courses and am concerned about getting worn down/not having time to do HW between classes). I also think Manhattan's private tutor sessions between classes could be very beneficial. However, I have heard more positive reviews about Testmasters overall and wouldn't want to waste money on a class that isn't "the best." Thoughts?

[TrunksFan1]

I took the Manhattan course, so I can attest to the fact that it is very well thought out and that their instructors are incredible. I will say that, despite how convenient the once a week class sessions are, I wish I went with the Testmasters course because of how frequently it met. Everyone has different learning styles, but I feel like being able to meet multiple times a week would have made me a little more disciplined with the material. I also feel like it gives you time to pinpoint specific issues with sections as they come up. When you have only one meeting a week I feel like its so easy for everything to kind of blur together.

[potuslarry]

IMO the point of taking a course is basically as a commitment device so that you actually put in the time and effort necessary to bump up your score in a structured way. Because of this, it seems to me that a class that meets more should generally be preferred to a class that meets less.

I did testmasters and had a great time. I have to say that I feel like the individual instructor really makes or breaks an LSAT prep class. My guy had a perfect combination of being clear, willing to explain things in multiple ways, and being funny enough/interesting enough to keep people's attention. Knowing what I know now, if I were you I would look up the instructors of the courses you are considering and seeing how much experience they have and what kind of feedback there is for them.