I took the August 2001 LSAT prep with Princeton Review in L.A. because I didn't know any better.

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THE FIRST WEEKEND
The first day of class you'll take a diagnostic test. Don't panic if you don't do well; that's what the test prep class is for. The next day, you'll be placed into a class, with no more than 8 students in each class and be introduced to your instructor.

At this point you can either luck out and get a good instructor, or you can get a mediocre instructor who barely got a 168 (the minimum LSAT score for PR teachers). You will also receive a copy of the LSAC booklet (which is free anyway, but a nice gesture), a few other PR booklets on choosing law schools, a study manual, a "Big Book of LSAT's," and free six-month subscriptions to TIME magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

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THE FOCUS OF THE COURSE
The meat of the course is not the lectures, of which you'll only have eight anyway, unless you get a really good, experienced, instructor. That's because class lectures last only three hours and some of that time is taken up by students' questions or reviewing diagnostics.

The meat of the course is not on the LSAT manual, either; you may get a few tricks from it, but it's woefully incomplete.

The real meat of the course is in the enforced studying using actual LSAT tests--all packaged neatly into the "Big Book of LSAT's" that I mentioned earlier. Get a timer and time yourself assiduously. Do all of the practice LSAT's, drills, etc. Review them and pay close attention to the ones you missed; keep an "error log" if possible. Read complex periodicals like The Wall Street Journal every day if you need to boost your Reading Comprehension speed. Don't be shy about asking your instructor for extra practice material, if necessary.

And that's it, really. The instructor and manual cannot help you much beyond their quick-fix tips; you'll do most of the heavy lifting by yourself.

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DETAILS
You get a $50 discount if you pay in full by credit card. You can get a pro-rated refund if you transfer/drop the course by the second week, minus a $150 fee. You can get the full refund if you drop by the day before your first class session.

If you don't feel prepared for the LSAT after taking the whole course (and not missing any homework or classes), you can take the Refresher class for free. It's just a rehash, though, so it's not much of a guarantee.

You can miss class sessions and have your instructor help you make up one class for free. If you need more than one make-up, you start paying extra for your instructor's time.

Instructors are available via phone/email and sometimes in person, if you need extra help outside of class. Many will also stay late or show up early for your regular class sessions to help you out.

You get access to PR's LSAT review online. It's of limited use (i.e., it's just the Big Book of LSAT's with annotations) and doesn't work on slow computers, though.

The Big Book of LSAT's consists of the last 17 LSAT tests, with the oldest four being chopped up by category and labeled "drills" (e.g., Reading Comprehension Drills). You can beg for more LSAT's from your instructor if needed.

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ALTERNATIVES
For people hellbent on getting 172+ LSAT scores, I recommend either intense studying by yourself (order old LSAT's from LSAC at www.lsac.org) or TestMasters (see below).

If you want to be extra safe, I recommend the more-intense, pricier ($1150) TestMasters. Their instructors all scored 171 or higher, and it's only a little more expensive than PR's $999 price tag.

(By the way, I went from a very good LSAT on my first diagnostic to a near-180 LSAT on the real thing, but I attribute it mostly to an anomalously good PR instructor and the long hours I put into studying the LSAT by myself. I probably could have gotten a 180 had I taken TestMasters. I am not an employee or affiliated with TestMasters, but I know people who took it, and they swear by it.)

www.testmasters180.com

Recommended: No