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I meant to post this in the lounge. Sorry! Anyone know how I can get it moved?
For the LSAT, I used LSAT for Dummies and another prep book. I did good enough, but not awesome.
I'm graduating in May, and doing what BrooklynRocks said above for bar prep.
If you are very self motivated, you can probably do it on your own. Buy a review book and take lots and lots and lots of practice tests.
If you want a little more guidance, do Kaplan or another test prep. I felt like a fell in between. I knew I'd do the prep tests, but I wanted the inside scoop about taking the tests, so I found a one day program that walked through all the test sections. Then I just took as many tests as I could until the test. And I rocked it : )
I have the PowerSource Bibles, so I'll give those a go and see how things go. :) Thanks ladies!
I took it twice. First time I studied on my own, did practice tests, etc, but didn't raise it much beyond my initial practice test. I just looked it up, and if I'm recalling the number correctly, it was roughly 90% percentile. I retook it 3.5 years later (alas, not 5 or the first would have been wiped clean) and scored 98 or 99% percentile after studying with TestWell. They do really well with people who are aiming for the very top score. It really helped me nail the logics and improved my arguments section.
If you want a test prep class, I'd suggest considering TestMasters over Princeton/Kaplan, which are the well known prep groups (I don't think TestWell is available in most areas or I'd recommend it). If you study on your own - I strongly suggest you buy the actual tests to practice on (PowerSource Bibles, which you have, are good). Also study as you'll take the test. By that, I mean get into the habit of taking practice tests at the same time in the morning as the test will be, and have someone proctor you (friend call out time, etc.) Give yourself plenty of time to study for it as well (which I'm guessing you're already doing by asking now). If the logic problems are giving you trouble, take as long as you need on a few to be SURE you are right, then start to amp up the time.
I like to think the extra few points on the lsat made a difference of where I got into, gave me the extra edge. I remember I used this online calculator that told me where I was likely to get into based on my grades, quality of my college, and lsat score and it was fairly accurate even to school that I got waitlisted at. I loved my grad school, so it all worked out!
It feels like a lifetime ago but I just went to the halfprice book store and bought an old version of the kaplan prep book. The test doesn't change enough year ot year to worry about having this year's version. I think it cost me like $15? I studied for about 2 weeks before. I was fine. :)
I took the LSAT with about 5 weeks of prep and used a Kaplan book. Their "method" wasn't all that useful to me but that practice tests were. You can by books of former LSAT tests from LSAC off Amazon pretty cheap, that helped. The best thing is just to take a bunch of practice tests and time yourself. Once you get used to knowing when to move on to the next question you're fine. For some reason, I totally enjoyed the LSAT. I might be crazy.
I was given a review book by a friend who was a year ahead of me, and then I also purchased a pack of practice exams to do as well to get a feel for the questions and the timing, etc. I was a pretty relaxed studier since I was abroad the month before the LSAT, but I knew the goal #s I needed to hit to up my chances for acceptance at my preferred schools and I went from there. Take some of the exams drawn out, just to become really familiar with their structure, and then do some full simulation exams to get used to the way it will be on the day of. Best of luck!
Thanks so much everyone! Everybody is being very supportive with the exception of my sister. She is 100% against me even taking the LSAT. UGH!
I bought two or 3 of the previous test books from LSAC. I bought a digital timer from Target and timed myself on every single test (after a handful of non-timed tests). I studied several nights a week after work for 1-2 hours (usually 2-3 sections), and took a full timed practice test every single weekend. I also went over the wrong problems and took them again/looked at why I got it wrong. I did that for several months. I was able to bring my score up from 147 (previous year's real test score) to 165 timed practice test. My dad died 3 days before I took the LSAT this past Oct. - I should have cancelled but didn't and my score sucked!
Oh, I forgot to say that the first time around I studied for like a month half-ass - not enough time/hard core enough.
I wouldn't advise anyone to go to law school right now (and I actually enjoyed law school). If I had not met my FH in law school, I would consider it the biggest mistake that I ever made, with pretty far-reaching consequences.
If you are set on going, I would recommend Kaplan. If you aren't happy with your score, I believe they let you take the class again for free. I think the course helped me, but I never did get the hang of the logic games.
The best suggestion I have is to take actual, timed tests. Use the released LSAT tests from the past. The timing is what I have heard that people have the most difficult time with. I took a class through the Princeton Review because my sister works for them so I got the class for free. That was a good way for me to get the concepts and the way of thinking down and then I took every test I could get my hands on.
Princeton Review lets you retake the class if you don't improve your score through them. The scheduled classes really helped to force me to study, and the massive books of practice questions and tests were great. The instructors were hit-or-miss.
I agree with jessjess, timing is so important. The questions themselves are not difficult. Anyone could score in the 99th percentile if they were allowed to take their time and mosey along through the test. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but the point is that the LSAT is designed to assess how well you can analyze problems under time pressure, and if you're not practicing with a timer you're not really practicing for the test.
There are strategies you should use in any timed test, the LSAT is no different:
Figure out how much time you have to spend on each question on average. If you get stuck, don't waste several minutes banging your head against it. If you've hit the allotted time and can't get it, move on. You can come back if you still have time later.
There are no deductions for wrong answers, so if you have 15 seconds left and 5 questions to go, don't spend those 15 seconds trying to answer one more question. Guess the last five answers, statistically you have a better chance at getting at least one right by guessing.
Similarly, if you're running low on time and you've got some questions with huge long question stems, do the short ones first. The long ones are not worth any more than the short ones, but they suck up more of your time and time = points.
If you're like me, you SUCK at logic games. I found that spreading my time evenly between all the logic games meant I'd bomb them all. Instead, I skimmed all the questions, picked two or three that I thought I'd have the best shot at solving, and focus my time on those, then spend mere seconds guessing the answers to the remaining question(s). Huge improvement in my practice scores.
@jayce: Thanks Jayce! Everyone says timing is what gets them the most!
Just read an article about an iphone app that apparently is supposed to help you study for the LSAT. Not sure if it's any good, but it is supposed to have practice games, let you see how others do on the same questions, and give you some study breaks as well.
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What, in your opinion, is the BEST way to study/prepare for the LSAT?