Prospective Law Students - What LSAT material did you study with?

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lazyj10

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I'm likely to enroll in law school for the fall of 2011 and will take the LSAT probably in June or October. My question is what study material did you useand would you have used it again?
Also how much time did you give yourself to study then sit for it?


Any other helpful details would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks.
 
testmasters 180 for a private course. I also used the bible series(logic games bible, reading comp bible, and whatever the other section is i forgot been awhile).
 
blueprintprep.com

If there is no live class in your area, Testmasters is the closest equivalent, but it is expensive. If you're disciplined enough to do an online course,try Blueprint's which is the cheapest and IMO the best.

Starting in the 150's, Blueprint got me scoring in the high 170's, though I supplemented the class with a lot of self-study. The key to acing the LSATin my opinion is to take a class, then take as many actual tests under timed conditions as possible, going over each of your wrong answers very carefully aftereach test. But of course on test day I had to get a bad case of the flu. I still managed to score in the low 170's though.

My advice is to take a class ASAP. Then buy all of the recent tests which are $8/each, do them, and then do the Kaplan 180. Only learn test-taking methods from1 source and stick with them, i.e. don't take a Blueprint class then buy the Powerscore Bibles.

You can learn the LSAT. It just takes time and effort. How bad you want Yale, Stanford, or Harvard should dictate how much of your life you actually put intostudying for something that won't help you in law school.
 
Thanks for your input. I can see going one route and sticking with it versus bouncing around on books/study aids. Makes sense.

I don't know how feasible the live courses would be for me because of my current occupation.

Anyone else have any input?

How many times did you take the LSAT?

Avg score?

How many places did you apply?
 
I took a Kaplan Prep course at Wake Forest November 2008 when I was still in college...the prep course was only a month, paid like $1200 for the course, and wemet in class i believe twice a week and maybe two Saturdays per month. At the time, I was taking 21-credit hours because I just changed my major and planned ongraduating May 2009 which I did. Took the December 4th 2008 LSAT and scored a 155.

155 is pretty good to me, considering I was taking seven high-level business classes, was an R.A. that required me to work a minimum of 20 hours per week inthe office, plus everything else a typical college student would do. If I could do it all over again, I would have studied wayyy more. I rarely took practicetests and only studied for the LSAT when in the prep course. I got into Ohio State, Wake Forest, and Capital. I only applied to these schools because I eitherwanted to go back home (Columbus, Ohio) or stay in North Carolina.

I've heard the logic bibles were pretty useful when studying for the LSAT, even though I did not use them myself. I decided to join Teach For America whereI now teach high school math in Northern Mississippi. I went this route because I did not receive a full scholarship to law school. Close, but I didnt wantanymore loans.

I think I still have all of my LSAT stuff back home in Ohio if you want it, I just gotta tell my parents to search for it..


Edit: You're probably why I'm on NT during the say and not teaching math. We had a snow day today in Mississippi, so no school FTW!!!
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I'm most likely only going to take it once (they avg, your scores, don't they?) since I'm doing this on short notice (relatively to others), so itlooks like the books may be the best bet.
 
Beats gave some great advice. Personally, the courses are generally good for learning the basics/methods and forcing you to develop a consistent studyschedule. If you are a quick learner and can easily motivate yourself to study, you can save yourself $1000 bucks and buy some books from Barnes&Noble. Isecond the recommendation for the Logic Games Bible.

Whether you decide to take a course or not, taking actual tests is crucial. You can buy them in packs of 10 on Amazon. Stick with the more recent tests (thereare around 60 released). Older ones have many problem types/trends that are less used/obsolete on recent tests. You MUST go over wrong answers and learn whythey are wrong. The LSAT can be learned.

I would take the test in June. If something goes wrong/you under perform/are sick/etc, you can always re-take in October and still be fairly early with yourapplications. Depending on how much time you can dedicate per week and what score you are aiming for, I'd give yourself somewhere from 2-5 months to study.

Most schools now take the higher score, but some of the top schools (top 10) will average. Some schools will take higher score if you just give them anexplanation for what went wrong that indicates why your lower score is not really representative of your abilities.
 
Originally Posted by Kobefan23

Beats gave some great advice. Personally, the courses are generally good for learning the basics/methods and forcing you to develop a consistent study schedule. If you are a quick learner and can easily motivate yourself to study, you can save yourself $1000 bucks and buy some books from Barnes&Noble. I second the recommendation for the Logic Games Bible.

Whether you decide to take a course or not, taking actual tests is crucial. You can buy them in packs of 10 on Amazon. Stick with the more recent tests (there are around 60 released). Older ones have many problem types/trends that are less used/obsolete on recent tests. You MUST go over wrong answers and learn why they are wrong. The LSAT can be learned.

I would take the test in June. If something goes wrong/you under perform/are sick/etc, you can always re-take in October and still be fairly early with your applications. Depending on how much time you can dedicate per week and what score you are aiming for, I'd give yourself somewhere from 2-5 months to study.

Most schools now take the higher score, but some of the top schools (top 10) will average. Some schools will take higher score if you just give them an explanation for what went wrong that indicates why your lower score is not really representative of your abilities.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
The money isn't really an issue. The outlay for the CPA exam was quite expensive too (review course, each test, application, etc etc). I can study from abook no problem and would even do a CD-rom based course if it was worth it. Working while trying to accomplish this will be somewhat difficult but notimpossible. I'll look into those books since they aren't that expensive.

Doubt I'll be in a top 10 school because my college GPA wasn't exactly stellar for various reasons. I'll probably apply to 2 (Columbia/NYU) anywaywith hopes of luck.

Thanks to everyone thus far. I'm trying to gather information from a plethora of sources.
 
Originally Posted by LazyJ10

Originally Posted by Kobefan23

Beats gave some great advice. Personally, the courses are generally good for learning the basics/methods and forcing you to develop a consistent study schedule. If you are a quick learner and can easily motivate yourself to study, you can save yourself $1000 bucks and buy some books from Barnes&Noble. I second the recommendation for the Logic Games Bible.

Whether you decide to take a course or not, taking actual tests is crucial. You can buy them in packs of 10 on Amazon. Stick with the more recent tests (there are around 60 released). Older ones have many problem types/trends that are less used/obsolete on recent tests. You MUST go over wrong answers and learn why they are wrong. The LSAT can be learned.

I would take the test in June. If something goes wrong/you under perform/are sick/etc, you can always re-take in October and still be fairly early with your applications. Depending on how much time you can dedicate per week and what score you are aiming for, I'd give yourself somewhere from 2-5 months to study.

Most schools now take the higher score, but some of the top schools (top 10) will average. Some schools will take higher score if you just give them an explanation for what went wrong that indicates why your lower score is not really representative of your abilities.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
The money isn't really an issue. The outlay for the CPA exam was quite expensive too (review course, each test, application, etc etc). I can study from a book no problem and would even do a CD-rom based course if it was worth it. Working while trying to accomplish this will be somewhat difficult but not impossible. I'll look into those books since they aren't that expensive.

Doubt I'll be in a top 10 school because my college GPA wasn't exactly stellar for various reasons. I'll probably apply to 2 (Columbia/NYU) anyway with hopes of luck.

Thanks to everyone thus far. I'm trying to gather information from a plethora of sources.
Click to expand...


what was your undergrad gpa?
 
i did the kaplan class summer before my last year, saw about a 10-12 point difference from my first diagnostic to my actual LSAT score. Took the LSAT 1 time,i'm not sure, but i heard that some schools will average your scores, others will take the higher. I applied to Howard, Louisville, Ole Miss, Richmond, andNortheastern; accepted everywhere.
 
i too used powerscore- mainly cuz they offered a expedited program in the evening so i could work still. First time i took the LSAT was my senior year ofundergrad, scored 148, too the powerscore class about a year and a half later, scored 170 on the feb 09 test. Couldnt really shoot for too many top tierschools due to a crap undergrad gpa (you dont even wanna kno :/) but was able to pull a full ride still at a decent school. Word of advice for thoseconsidering law school- its not a joke, its highly competitive once your in your first year, and beware of the snitches and gunners, people lose their damnminds when that curve aspect to grading is introduced.
 
I took Kaplan course and saw a 14 point difference. If you have the money I highly suggest it.
 
Originally Posted by ShoxBb433

Originally Posted by LazyJ10

Originally Posted by Kobefan23

Beats gave some great advice. Personally, the courses are generally good for learning the basics/methods and forcing you to develop a consistent study schedule. If you are a quick learner and can easily motivate yourself to study, you can save yourself $1000 bucks and buy some books from Barnes&Noble. I second the recommendation for the Logic Games Bible.

Whether you decide to take a course or not, taking actual tests is crucial. You can buy them in packs of 10 on Amazon. Stick with the more recent tests (there are around 60 released). Older ones have many problem types/trends that are less used/obsolete on recent tests. You MUST go over wrong answers and learn why they are wrong. The LSAT can be learned.

I would take the test in June. If something goes wrong/you under perform/are sick/etc, you can always re-take in October and still be fairly early with your applications. Depending on how much time you can dedicate per week and what score you are aiming for, I'd give yourself somewhere from 2-5 months to study.

Most schools now take the higher score, but some of the top schools (top 10) will average. Some schools will take higher score if you just give them an explanation for what went wrong that indicates why your lower score is not really representative of your abilities.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
The money isn't really an issue. The outlay for the CPA exam was quite expensive too (review course, each test, application, etc etc). I can study from a book no problem and would even do a CD-rom based course if it was worth it. Working while trying to accomplish this will be somewhat difficult but not impossible. I'll look into those books since they aren't that expensive.

Doubt I'll be in a top 10 school because my college GPA wasn't exactly stellar for various reasons. I'll probably apply to 2 (Columbia/NYU) anyway with hopes of luck.

Thanks to everyone thus far. I'm trying to gather information from a plethora of sources.
Click to expand...


what was your undergrad gpa?
Click to expand...
Not great. My major was a bit better, luckily.

I'm sure I'm a long shot but I'm hoping other things (CPA, letters, personal statement, etc) help make up for a not so great GPA from undergrad.
 
taking my 1st LSAT this june...i won't be graduating till 2012 i just wanna see where im at...how long is the score is valid?
 
^Curious, why are you taking it now? Score will last for 5 years I believe, but there really is no reason to take it this early. This is not a test that youcan go into without heavy preparation.You can take a practice test or two for a few bucks and get a sense of where you're at. Plus, a potentially low scoremay hurt you when you are applying in a few years. Unless you will have no time to prepare two years from now, there is no benefit to taking it now.

LazyJ: How far removed are you from UG? The longer you've been out of school, the less weight the admissions committee will put on your GPA. If you startedout poorly freshman year, an upward trend is definitely a positive as well. Largest soft factors: URM/Diversity, Personal Statement, Work Experience.

One last comment on the courses. I feel they have an upper limit on their usefulness. They are GREAT at teaching you how to diagram problems, how to manageyour time, showing you all the problem types, etc. If you've never studied/looked at the LSAT before, this should increase your score by 5-10 pointsnaturally. Once you to get to higher scores though (160's-170's), it becomes much tougher to increase your score and in my experience, the gain fromthe courses ended there.
 
Im taking mine in June, considering i have a fairly low GPA (3.4) I have to do extremely well to get into some T1 schools im looking at. I can always justsettle and attend a state school and get a heavy scholarship tho.
 
Originally Posted by ShoxBb433

Im taking mine in June, considering i have a fairly low GPA (3.4) I have to do extremely well to get into some T1 schools im looking at. I can always just settle and attend a state school and get a heavy scholarship tho.
Click to expand...

On some really real....by the looks of your avy you're a black male? With that gpa, anything above a 160 will get you in a T25 school. Guarantee.
 
Originally Posted by keithsweatsjordans

Originally Posted by ShoxBb433

Im taking mine in June, considering i have a fairly low GPA (3.4) I have to do extremely well to get into some T1 schools im looking at. I can always just settle and attend a state school and get a heavy scholarship tho.
Click to expand...

On some really real....by the looks of your avy you're a black male? With that gpa, anything above a 160 will get you in a T25 school. Guarantee.
Click to expand...


Yes I am. My top School is Vanderbilt so I'm shooting for like a 170. I figure if I study from now till June consistently I should be able to pull it off.
 
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