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

[kaiser773]

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.

[recipro]

Knowing a bit of formal logic is definitely helpful for the logic games section.

As for whether two months in enough time to get a 165, I'd say probably, but this really depends what you're getting now. (Some people start off getting 145 on their first test, so obviously it's a lot more work to pull up to 165, whereas some people can get 170+ their first time writing the test.)

[Tron]

Yo homies,

It seems like OP has gotten most of his questions answered, so here's mine: How do I prep to get a 180?

I'm currently taking a Blueprint course which is actually very good and I feel like I'm learning a lot but, as with most courses, it's geared toward helping average-ish people get above average-ish scores... Not necessarily helping me get a 180.

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. Thanks!

(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?)

[GoldenBears]

Man, consider yourself lucky with almost 3 months... I'm taking the GMAT on August 15th, and I just got back to Berkeley yesterday, and I start tutoring on Tuesday... less than 3 weeks of prep. Hopefully that'll really force me to study though.

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.

[Misfire]

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Anything TPR or Kaplan puts out, either through their courses or books, is worthless at best, and detrimental at worst.

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Please don't generalize. I'll grant you TPR's "Cracking the LSAT" is absolute garbage. It's an out-dated book that the company keeps re-releasing because it sells. The newer book, "The LSAT Workout" is really really good.

[ QUOTE ]
The Powerscore Bibles are very good, and PS licenses real LSAT Q's for their materials (TPR and Kaplan do not).

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Untrue. TPR and Kaplan both license real LSAT questions for their course books.

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I would suggest working through the 2 bibles, then doing at least 20 timed practice tests. If after all of that you still think you could use some help beyond just practicing, look into a weekend course with either PS or Testmasters.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're going to drop the cash to take a class (which I highly recommend doing), pony up and take the long-form class rather than a weekend crash-course.

[Misfire]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[ QUOTE ]
(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?)

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[Misfire]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[BeL0wMe]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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.

[BeL0wMe]

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g







I think you get the idea.

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Noah do these come with explanations? Or is there any way to get the explanations. It was my understanding that you could get the answers to these tests but no explanations, which kind of defeats the purpose of doing practice tests.

[XXXNoahXXX]

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g







I think you get the idea.

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Noah do these come with explanations? Or is there any way to get the explanations. It was my understanding that you could get the answers to these tests but no explanations, which kind of defeats the purpose of doing practice tests.

[/ QUOTE ]

No explanations.

You need to be doing real tests, but if you're not at that point, then I guess you need some guidance. It can be hard to teach yourself the logic puzzles because its kind of like teaching yourself a new language just by staring at a book written in that language.

Try the Powerscore Bibles or books others recommend first, then move on to these.