Master the LSAT (Prep Course Series)

For one thing, the single most difficult part of the LSAT has to be the "Games" section. You know: "There are 6 businessmen seated around a table: Jacobs, King, Lewis, Meyers, Nathan, and O'Connor.
O'Connor always sits between Jacobs and Lewis
Nathan cannot sit next to King....etc.

Unless one is a member of Mensa, and enjoys these kinds of puzzles for pure recreation, one is unlikely to score well on this section of the test. BUT, having said that, the Games section of the test is probably the one area where you can most improve your ability. The authors realize this and devote more of "Master the LSAT" to this section than any other.

There is one point on which I disagree with the authors. They recommend that you create a kind of shorthand for the conditions of each game. I think that this is a foolish waste of time. After all, as you are not allowed to bring any scratch paper with you for use during the test, you will have to use the test booklet to draw any diagrams to aid in solving the problems. Therefore, since you will be writing on the same page as the question and conditions are printed, there is no need to add the additional step of rewriting the conditions in shorthand,IMHO.

As for the rest...It is presumed that we have all taken a course in critical thinking and composition, so we should have some proficiency in analyzing an argument and reading comprehension. Still, the authors do a great job of pointing out where the creators of the LSAT will attempt to trip you up through obfuscation, strange wording of conditions, etc.

My advice, like so many others here on Amazon, is this: Buy this book at least two months in advance of your test date, buy the "10 Actual" book from LSAC, and study at least two hours per day. One attorney told me: "If I had known how important that stupid test was, I would have begun studying a year in advance."

One other trick: When you first attempt the practice questions DO NOT observe a time limit. Then, little by little, try to improve your speed. Why? Well, I'm a guitar player, and I've never mastered a difficult song by first attempting to practice it at its normal speed. You begin by playing the passage so slowly that you cannot make a mistake and only then do you increase the metronome. Get the idea? Well, I've already said too much. After all, on a percentile basis, I'm competing with all of you, right?


Probably the best money can buy   June 14, 2003
Aleksey Stepnoy (San Marcos, CA United States)
90 out of 94 found this review helpful

I took a practice LSAT test (one of the real ones) and received a low 160. I guess it's still above average, but I felt like I was guessing on most of the questions and always running out of time. Since 160 is still a decent score I wasn't sure how well a prep book would help me. I'm used to reading prep books that give you a bunch of common sense verbose paragraphs and you end up wasting your time. (I'm currently studying for GREs and half of Kaplan's 2003 GRE book is worthless).

Having said that, this book is priceless. I'm currently studying the games section, a little each day, and the games are becoming very easy. Usually I get perfect scores on each one. The key to a game is to have a concise diagram, whether it's on paper or in your head. This book teaches you precisely how to do that. Even though I received 15/24 on my games practice section, I feel like I knew absolutely nothing, relatively speaking, compared to what there is to know about the stratagies for the game section.

The book devotes over 150 pages to explaining those strategies, with a huge number of practice problems for each type of a game. After the problems there are always good explanations (not perfect ones, a few were unclear and took some time to decipher). After going through a lot of them, I now get everything right, and the problem becomes time. The book recommends skipping one game section on the test and devote 12 minutes to each one. But to anyone wishing to get a perfect (like me) that's impractical. Which is the reason the whole diagram drawing that the book teaches you is a win/loss situation. I'd say the best way to go would be to learn all the diagrams and then learn how to connect the dots in your head for the test - there's simply no time to draw all those things.

The other sections of the book are equally generous in their information and explanation. Additionally, the language the book uses flows very fluently. I've not been bored studying this book at all, it's actually kind of fun.

The most important thing to realize is how imperative it is to buy this several months before the test. And don't forget to get the LSAC's 10 actual LSAT tests.


I've read nearly all of them. This one is truly the best.   November 20, 1999
69 out of 73 found this review helpful

I took the Kaplan course, and I read "Cracking the LSAT" from Princeton Review, and I sincerely believe that this book is the best preparation tool money can buy. They REALLY get in-depth on Logic Games, and help show how the test-makers try to trick you on Logical Reasoning. Also, unlike other books, this one uses questions from previous tests. I scored in the 99th %-tile, and while there is no substitute for practice with several previous exams, I give large credit to this book for my success.


Amazing Results!   July 1, 2000
29 out of 32 found this review helpful

This book was invaluable in setting up a good study program to tackle the LSAT because it provided step by step analysis of each LSAT section and taught me how to tackle questions logically. I followed the authors' advice, studied hard and learned how to master the difficult logic games section. The book's analysis of the logic sections and clear explanations of answers in the practice sections were excellent. Since I had been out of school for many years, I needed all the help I could get. Today, I received the LSAT results from the 12 June test; the score surpassed my expectations. Buy this book, pay attention to the advice and study, study, study. You won't be disappointed!