I’m scheduled for the Sept. 29th LSAT. Ideally, I would like to take a course (actually, my husband the 2L is making me). Money is a little bit of a problem but I am realistic in acknowledging that this is probably a good investment in myself. My other problem is time.
The closest point for administration of LSAT courses is at UCLA (where I now attend). I live about 80 miles away – one way – and make that hump 5 days a week. Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing less of my car this summer. Blueprint offers a weekend prep course in the first weeks of September. I have a good friend that speaks highly of Blueprint so I was keying in a bit on it (he has also done very well for himself with a nice finaid package from a Tier One, so I know he scored well). Kaplan offers an online course, as does Princeton Review. The Blueprint weekend course is also nice in that it is cheaper, but like I said, I certainly acknowledge that spending the extra cash on a full blown or different course could be worthwhile.
My basic question then, is it worthwhile for me to blow my time (and money) to attend a full-summer course? FTR I haven’t sat the whole test yet (I’m waiting for the term to be over before I tackle it) but I’ve browsed through the free LSAT from the LSAC and do very well on (surprise!) everything but games. Granted I haven’t been practicing it much, but it has been a very long time since I’ve had to think in that fashion (I’m in humanities). I am not looking to get into Harvard, but would ideally remain in the LA area and attend one of the big three here (UCLA - USC - Loyola). Of course if I got a 178 or something (HA!) I would certainly not turn down a nice package to Boalt Hall.
If anyone has an opinion on any of these alternatives or the courses themselves, I would love to hear them. Also, any recommendations on logic games independent of the LSAT to get me back into that mode of thinking would be greatly appreciated.
My experience is with the GRE, not the LSAT, so take this with a grain of salt…
I raised my math score 100 points, and my verbal score 50 points, in one months time by using review books. I read test-prep book reviews on Amazon.com, picked out 2 books that got 4 or 5 stars, and worked through both. I read the ‘testing tips’ sections, and did the practices exercises. I also used the sample tests provided on CD-ROM, and followed the time limits as if I were in a real live test. (Another friend recommended the CD’s over paper tests, she found this medium very helpful). The majority of my studying was done in one week between Christmas and New Years, I was also finishing applications at the same time. YMMV, especially since you’re taking a different test.
Everyone I know who has done these classes has said they’ve needed the discipline of a scheduled weekly class. Sadly, no, a book cannot make you sit down every Saturday for a few hours. But take a sample test, you’d be surprised how motivated you get when you see your initial score.
My daughter took the LSATs when she was thinking of going to law school, and got such a good score she wound up teaching the prep class for one of the major companies. She says there are tricks that help a lot - if you are motivated. When she decided to take the GREs, she looked through the material her company had, and got a perfect score. She found the vocabulary list especially useful.
I’m a big logic puzzle fan, and when she was studying for them I bought a book to go through the logic games. I found my experience with puzzles was not all that useful, since they don’t start with the kind of information the LSAT games start with. It probably wouldn’t hurt to buy a logic puzzle book to get into the mindset a bit, but don’t end there.
Too find out if you need a course or not, take the test under testing condition and then see if that score is good enough for the law school of your choice. If your score is good enough or not more than 3 points away, I’d say you don’t need a course. The main thing to remember is not to kid yourself. If you are doing bad when you practice, you won’t do good come test day. Many people think that if they “do their best” during test day that it will somehow override the fact that they never did good in the past. If your score is not good enough, then a course can help.
Seeing how you do under timed conditions is important. The directions on the test read like a cruel and sadistic joke, “if you finish the test before time is up, go back and check your answers.” Hardly anyone will have time to check their answers, so see how you do under timed conditions.
Ideally, the best way to find the right course is to take a practice test once (under real testing conditions) take some free sample classes and then enroll in the one that makes the most sense.
I’m not in Kaplan or Princeton, but I’m taking a small course with someone who knows what he’s talking about. That is about all you need, someone who understands the LSAT inside out and can explain it to you.
The key to understanding the test is to understand what they are saying to you. Once you figure out the LSAT language, it will become much more doable. It is still three hours of the most boring and dense reading material on the planet. They literally take the most boring stuff they can find and make it even more denser and more boring. You would have to practice a lot so that you can read their material for that long without losing consciousness.
sugar and spice: I don’t need the discipline aspect of the classes so much as I think I might benefit from a group environment. I’m still up in the air about what I should do exactly. I have no problems motivating myself.
Voyager - do you have a recommendation on what kind of puzzle book I should get? Would anything do, or are there specific publishers that produce good books? I’m thinking of doing some matrix cryptography, I was pretty good at that in college algebra. It’s not the same as the games section, but I think they will help me to get into that mindset, if that makes any sense.
I have the latest 10 Actual LSATs from the LSAC; a week or so after finals I will aim to take a few a week. I will probably order another book next week and aim to take 20-30 over the summer under time constraints. My husband started taking actual LSATs at home 4 months before his test date, sometimes 2 a day - I “proctored”. He didn’t get the score he wanted (he got into a nice school anyways - Loyola has been very good to him, and I wouldn’t mind going there myself - his CrimLaw prof is possibly the most brilliant lady I’ve ever met) but I think he has test anxiety in a bad way. Fortunately I don’t suffer from that at all.
Lakai - thanks for your good luck wishes. No doubt I will need it.
I don’t have any advice, just good wishes. Personally, if I took a practice test and got a score good enough to get me into one of the local schools, I’d blow off a prep course (which is, perhaps not coincidentally, exactly what I did). But then, I’m lazy like that.
Thanks Campion. I will probably end up going that route if I score comfortably high enough. I’ll have to wait until Oh Shit Week (finals) is over before I sit down and sweat out a practice test.
I just used a couple of test prep books I got from Amazon or Borders, and I scored very well. I really think the LSAT is one of those tests that either suits you or it doesn’t - I would be surprised if test prep makes a huge difference in a person’s scores. Obviously you want to be familiar enough with the type of questions that you won’t be surprised when you actually sit for the test, but for the most part the LSAT seemed to me to be all about how you think. I really wonder how much one can change that through a class.
Paging twickster. Actually, try a Dell logic puzzle magazine, which should be available in a B&N or Borders. Actually any magazine will do - I don’t have a great preference for any. Cheaper than a book, and just as good. The puzzles are arranged by difficulty - if you get practice with the first two levels, that will be fine. The LSAT sample problems I did weren’t nearly as hard as the harder logic problems, and doing the easy ones will get you in the right mindset.
(Anecdotal: I’m at husband’s law school right now. His compatriot said that Kaplan raised his test score 15 points. I’m starting to think it may be worthwhile for me).
Kappa Publishing also puts out a couple of good titles: Official’s Logic Problems and Original Logic & Math (I think they’re still publishing the latter, but I left the biz over a year ago so I’m not positive). These aren’t sold at bookstores, but check any newsstand, drugstore, etc.
The first time I took the LSAT, almost on a lark, I didn’t do any prep and scored surprisingly badly. The second time, I took the Princeton Review prep course (I think it lasted about two months) and scored much higher. YMMV.
**Elendil’s Heir **- thanks for the info. My husband’s pushing me to do the full course heavily enough that I will probably cave and do it. Ah well - three days a week isn’t so bad.
