<p>My D is planning to take the LSAT in October and wants to take a course that will teach her how to take the test. It seems that Kaplan is pretty much the only choice in Memphis, at least as far as test-taking courses that I have heard of.</p>
<p>So my questions are - have any of your sons or daughters taken the Kaplan LSAT course, and if so, what did they/you think of it?</p>
<p>My S1 took the Kaplan course because it was the only thing available when he decided he wanted to take the LSAT 6 weeks before the test. It wouldn’t have been his first choice, and he didn’t love it, but he did do very well and graduated from law school last month My D took Powerscore and thought it was extremely helpful, especially in learning how not to try and out-think the test. She, too, did very well and starts law school in September, but in the end felt that after taking the course and learning the strategies, the key to her success was just drilling the sections over and over and over again. It is also critical to become comfortable taking full length tests prior to the actual test date. I did a quick google search and see that Powerscore offers course in Memphis.</p>
<p>I have not heard many people saying great things about the Kaplan course. My D took the powerscore on line course and thought it was great. Some on line courses are not run as actual live classes, but the powerscore one was. You had an instructor lecturing, and assistants answering questions in “private chats” during the lecture. If you want to, you can watch the class again if you need to reinforce the lesson, also if you can’t make the actual class time, you can watch it later. Of course if you take that option you don’t have the advantage of the class being live, but it is better than missing the class if you just can’t make it.</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about Kaplan. You just have to keep up with it and do the practice tests.</p>
<p>Most kids I know self-studied with the PowerScore ‘bibles’. I have never heard of even one prospective law student who found an in-class course very helpful.</p>
<p>You might want to have her check out
</p>
<p>There are a lot of discussions on the best prep by students who are currently in the thick of it. There is also a lot of other helpful (though sometimes snarky) information for her. Probably a better place for her to look then here, which is much more focused on undergrad issues.</p>
<p>Most of the law students to be that I run across (I’m a lawyer) DO take an in-class course. I know there was a really frequent poster on this site back when I was first here who actually taught for Kaplan (I think it was Kaplan and not PR). My son took part of a Kaplan course before he bailed on the whole law school idea. Maybe it depends where you live and/or are in college. Most of the young people I know, including my son, also took an in-class course for GMAT.</p>
<p>My D did find the in-person Powerscore class very helpful. Just using the “bibles” didn’t help when she was entrenched in “her way” of attacking the questions, especially in the logic games section. Actually seeing the instructor break down the problems went a long way towards her understanding of how to approach the exam. In the end, she missed 1 on the logic games section of the test, so I’d say it was effective.</p>
<p>I liked the powerscore bibles, but I didn’t take any classes so I can’t help you there. I never ended up taking the LSAT but I raised my score on practice tests by like 15 points using the logic games bible to learn strategies for solving those, I can’t recommend them enough.</p>
<p>According to my daughter, the advantage of Kaplan is that it will teach you a system and will provide a schedule. If your D is capable of self study, it is better to synthesize the ideas from Power Score and focus on the areas where you need to improve. She did very well doing the latter, but as she said, she was also teaching high school students at the time so she was capable of analyzing her own strengths and weaknesses and sticking to a schedule. She also used a lot of free material provided by Steve Swartz [LSAT</a> Blog | NYC LSAT Tutor | Logic Games | Logical Reasoning | Reading Comprehension | Study Schedules](<a href=“http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/]LSAT”>http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/) and downloaded tons of real LSATs. </p>
<p>She is heading to Columbia this fall, so I guess her system worked.</p>
<p>Agree with runnersmom. S took Powerscore in-class, was very happy with the result.</p>
<p>Our S self-studied and was happy with his result. If he decides he really DOES want to go to law school, he may retake if he doesn’t get into the law schools he’s interested in. Currently, he is working full-time at a good job, so not in a hurry to get back into the classroom.</p>
<p>Mine self studied for the LSAT and scored high enough to receive full tuition to Law School. He is, however, paying to take a course for the Bar. We gave that to him as a graduation present as he had also received full tuition to undergrad and saved us a fortune.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, pretty much everyone I’ve ever known takes a course for the Bar exam - it’s pretty much impossible to do without one. Law school just doesn’t teach everything you need to know and that was true 33 years ago when I graduated from law school. My S1 just graduated from law school and the Bar Review course is the first time he’s been exposed to Criminal Procedure, Corporations and a slew of other subjects. Also, if you don’t go to school in the state in which you are going to take the Bar, the odds are you never learned the law of that jurisdiction. </p>
<p>Again, as for the LSAT, many students have the discipline to self-study and are able to decipher the strategies and methodologies necessary to do well on the exam. Others need the structure and ability to ask questions a course provides. YMMV. Self-studying worked for my D when she decided to retake the exam, but she already had the materials, her lecture notes and access to all the online materials provided by Powerscore. She’s headed to Chicago in the fall.</p>
<p>I have never heard of Powerscore, so thanks for letting me know that it’s a reputable option. Anyone have any suggestions as to how to choose between Kaplan and Powerscore?</p>
<p>D is pretty disciplined but has done some self-studying on her own and feels that she is “stuck” and would do better with some assistance. I think she also wants to be sure she has done everything she can to get the best score possible.</p>
<p>The key to the LSAT is practice tests. I would pick the option which gives you the ability to take the most real past tests as practice tests.</p>
<p>I think that Kaplan offers free live practice tests for everyone. in hopes of them signing up for their class.</p>
<p>Amesie, I can’t enumerate the differences between Kaplan and Powerscore except that if my S had been able to take Powerscore instead of Kaplan, he would have. It just has a great reputation for LSAT prep. The Powerscore Bibles are considered the benchmark for prep books (or at least they were up until the last cycle) and our experience with the live classes was very positive. Once signed up for the course you get access to many online materials as well, and access is available for a substantial period of time. My D took the LSAT last June, having had the course and retook it in October, using a lot of the online materials to study for the second test.</p>