What does a person do when they are faced with one of the most difficult standardized tests administered? When I was faced with this issue, people were throwing advice at me: study on your own, take a prep course, don't study at all so that you can go in pressure-free (That one had me laughing for an hour -- pressure-free? Please.) However, being the completely anal and competitive person that I am, I decided to take the prep course. I made this decision for several reasons.

I tend to work best when I'm under the gun, so to speak. Nothing motivates me better than a deadline. So, with homework assignments to complete for each class and practice tests to take, I was forced not to let things slide. I'm ambitious but I have a wicked tendency for putting off the inevitable (don't even get me started on law school applications. Maybe another time when the pain of the process has healed.) This kind of structure, I believed, would enable me to get the best possible score on a test that is designed to break you down (sounds melodramatic but, trust me, when you see it, you'll know). I didn't believe that studying on my own would produce the same results and the idea of going in unprepared gave me hives just thinking about it.

So, now, that I have made the decision to take a prep course, I had to decide which one to take: Kaplan or Princeton Review. There are other choices. Prepmaster and PowerScore come to mind. However, since I had previous experiences with Kaplan and Princeton, I only focused on these two. Explore the alternatives and find what's right for. Which brings me to my decision. Why Princeton Review? Well, I had taken their course for the SAT (or SAT I, whichever you prefer) and was quite satisfied with the results. I liked their approach: they treat the test as a cave to be mined rather than a mountain to be climbed. Which means they teach you tricks to beat the test rather than teach you how to improve your reading ability.

Kaplan seemed to take themselves too seriously. I took their summer course when preparing for the New York City Science High School Exam. I scored well on the exam and got into my first choice (Stuyvesant) but that instructor and class had me so wired and tense, I'm surprised that I didn't faint when I opened my test booklet. I didn't need any more tension or stress so I decided to go with The Princeton Review (TPR) and here is the breakdown and result.

The Wheres, Whens, and How-Longs

I took the LSAT course for the October 1999 at Hunter College, which is located in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Classes were scheduled on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. I am at a loss for the instructors' names.

The Course Dismantled

There were two instructors. One instructor focused on the reading comprehension section and analytical reasoning section (also known as games -- like calling it that makes it more fun. Right. Sure.) The other instructor focused on the logical reasoning, or arguments, section. The class size was small, with 9 or 10 people in the class -- a feature of TPR classes that allows for instructors to provide individual attention.

Each class was approximately 2 to 2-and-half-hours long. Intermingled with these classes were three testing sessions, using real LSATs and administered under timed conditions. The course was about 7 to 8 weeks long.

Critique

Before I decided to take a prep course, I found a previous LSAT and tested myself to see how I would do and what I needed to do to get the best score possible. I did pretty well on that test. I scored in the mid-160s (the range of scores for this exam is 120 to 180). I was in a good position but not where I wanted to be. However, when I took the tests, which were spread out within the TPR course, my scores began to decline. With each of the three tests, my score got lower until I was straddling the 150s to 160 fence. Definitely not where I wanted to be. I eventually ended up being two points above the score that I had when I took the test myself.

I can honestly say that I did all the work that was assigned and made an effort to understand the mistakes that I was making. I also went to the instructors when I had a problem. And, that's where the problem was. With the instructors. They were both intelligent and personable people who seemed genuinely interested in teaching. However, the impatience that was sometimes displayed by the instructors when someone in the class (including myself) didn't understand a question or grasp an explanation was unnerving. Who wants to approach someone after a class with a question when that instructor spent the majority of the class sighing and rolling their eyes in disbelief? Eventually the class broke down to a point where no one in the class wanted to go out on a limb to answer a question.

The Breakdown

Overall, The Princeton Review is a great company that does a great service by offering test prep to students wanting to get into the best school. However, the quality of the courses differs from teacher to teacher and city to city. My best friend took TPR at the same location that I took it but with different instructors and raved about it -- she's off to Tulane Law in the fall. So, if you register for the TPR course, find out the names of your instructors. Find out as much as you can about them before the course starts.

A good source (though I would approach with caution, as some people on this source have a major attitude) is the Princeton Review Law School Discussion Board (http://discuss.review.com/forums/Conf_ThreadList.cfm?CFApp=6&un=1ohrr9t). Start a thread and see what happens -- sometimes you'll get a serious response (I've seen it happen) and sometimes you'll get a response from a lonely science-experiment-gone-bad with nothing better to do on a Saturday night. It is also a good source for information about the admissions process and nagging application questions (I would suggest coming to me first with law school questions. That discussion board should be a last resort. The very last resort.)


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