Going to take the LSAT in October, just started prep yesterday...

[Misfire]

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To above poster, I think that private tutors are the way to go. I'm shooting for 760+ on the GMAT (but, like you might as well be shooting for 800). Private tutors move much quicker than the class, can adjust to your level, and can help you with the harder questions on the test and actually have homework sets specifically for people going for perfect scores.

15 hours of private tutoring with Princeton Review is $1600 compared to $1500 for the class, so it's a steal. I'll let you all know how it is after I start.

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I tutor GMAT for TPR as well. The tutoring has to move really quick, so make sure you keep ontop of the prework and the homework. They should give you a copy of GMAC's big orange Official Guide book, which has a bajillion actual GMAT questions. It's great for practice, but don't use the answer explanations in the book. They get way more into the actual math [censored] than you'll actually need to beat the test. TPR's methods work much better at dumbing down the test.

[Misfire]

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I know that Kaplan and PR have books for people who are trying to get in the 99th percentile; do any of you have experience with those? Any recommendations would be great.

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I prepped with Kaplan 180, which is their "advanced prep" book. At the time I thought it was really good, and they do present you with some fairly challenging questions. Now that I've been teaching LSAT for a year and a half, I can see the shortcomings of the book. First, there's no method to be taught, just a bunch of hard questions and "well, here's how we figured it out." Not much help for synthesizing abstract info for the real deal. So much of the LSAT is recognizing patterns, which they totally neglect. Second, much of the material doesn't match what LSAC actually does. For instance, they'll present a game that, inthe setup, gives a clear indication that it should be an ordering game, but then none of the clues nor any of questions have anything to do with the order in which elements should be placed. The proper setup, in fact, disregards the order entirely. LSAC would never write a game like that.

TPR's LSAT Workout that I mentioned above is better. It doesn't get into the method as much as I'd like, but it has good introductory information about every concept it's about to throw at you. The questions are realistic, but much harder than anything that will ever appear on the LSAT, which is the idea.

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(EDIT: Oh yeah, I got a 166 on the first practice test I took and I had no knowledge of the LSAT whatsoever at the time. That was 3 weeks ago; I think I'm going to take another practice test tomorrow. Also, my *real* goal is 178, but when you're shooting for a 178, you might as well be shooting for a 180, right?)

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That's a decent starting score, but you still have a steep climb to get to 180. I've seen bigger score improvements, so it IS possible, just VERY difficult. All I can suggest is to overprep. Don't just be satisfied with getting answers right. See if you could explain to someone else why the answer is right and, more importantly, why the other four answers absolutely MUST be wrong.

[BeL0wMe]

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This might be too late in the game to be helpful, but here goes. I had a math background, and had taken a formal logic course in college. I know I gained a lot of speed on the test by breaking down many of the logical reasoning & analytical reasoning questions in these terms. So, if you have a math or computer science background, it might be worth it to go through the introductory chapter of a formal logic book.

Another thing that some of the prep companies tell you to do, and I found helpful -- get a (well-written / major) daily newspaper and (i) do the SuDoKu puzzle (logical reasoning) and (ii) critically read the editorials (break them down -- purpose, thesis, etc.; all the question styles that are asked in reading comprehension). It doesn't take very long, and helps you practice for the test in a way that doesn't feel like you're practicing for the test.

Good luck.

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Kaiser what did you score on the test? Also thanks for the tip on Powerscore. Unfortunately I missed the deadline for the Testmasters course, but I will be signing up for the Powerscore one starting August 3rd. I've heard mixed to bad info about the Kaplan/ TPR stuff, so I think this will be the right choice.

[Scotty.]

It's all going to depend on you. Some people are just pretty good at it.

I asked my brother to pick me up a book, and he got me the McGraw-Hill one. I took a diagnostic, scored 161. I read the book and took 2 practise tests over the course of a week and got 166 and 170. I took the real LSAT and got 165. Meh.

It is going to depend a lot on your natural abilities, but if I can do it in a week, it is most certainly possible for you to do it over several months.

[Grey]

I think I'm going to take this in September too. Just tried a couple preptests and scored in the mid 170s. Hopefully I can improve enough to get a 180 so some good law school will ignore my bad GPA.

[Grey]

Sweet just took preptest 13 and got a 178.

[XXXNoahXXX]

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Sweet just took preptest 13 and got a 178.

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On behalf of everyone else,

I hate you.


Sincerely,

Noah

[Grey]

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Sweet just took preptest 13 and got a 178.

[/ QUOTE ]

On behalf of everyone else,

I hate you.


Sincerely,

Noah

[/ QUOTE ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODdGhOOUOpI

[cgrohman]

You're fine. I used to teach for Princeton Review. They are fine. Testmasters is exper though.

[Tron]

Just took my second practice test and got a 172 and I figure there are 5-6 points lurking around that I will be able to get by not making careless mistakes... Which I will avoid by cultivating discipline, which I will do by taking tons of practice tests.