Welcome to Prep Program Prison.

KAPLAN

  • PROMOTING SHORTCUTS

  • BAD TIMELINE

  • BAD PRACTICE HABITS

“Regardless, if you’re going to take the LSAT in a few short weeks, you’ve got some work to do.” - Kaplan website on their “30 day” program.

Why a program run by people presumably somewhat knowledgeable about the LSAT would encourage people to try and make significant improvements in 30 days before a test they’re putting pressure on… beyond me

Kaplan’s LR method is this:

Step 1: Identify the Question Type
Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus
Step 3: Predict the Correct Answer
Step 4: Evaluate the Answer Choices

Um… what? Identify the question type first? Isn’t your job to fully understand the document presented and be able to answer any question about it? This is a shortcut, you end up looking for one thing instead of just reading and understanding the passage, and it ends up wasting time because your comprehension won’t be as solid. Just read and understand the document… then read the question. This also promotes anxiety around certain question types which is just dumb (see: advice). Kaplan goes on about types of questions a lot and it is a huge waste of time. Just read and understand the document. Stop doing extra work by trying to short-cut.

I also have to mention the truly comical advice I found on their website under “How many times should I practice the LSAT?” Kaplan’s answer was, “Students should plan to practice the LSAT at least 10 times.”

Lmaoo huh? Like what does that even mean? 10 questions? 10 timed PTs? 10 hours? 10 classes? Either way, none of those options alone are enough studying for most people, so what are we talking about? To correctly answer that question… students should plan to practice LSAT indefinitely, in a myriad of ways, until they are consistently happy with their timed PT scores.

PRINCETON REVIEW

  • EXPENSIVE

  • MISLEADING NAME

  • GUARANTEED IMPROVEMENTS

They are not affiliated with Princeton University. They just knew it would make them sound respectable, especially to people who don’t realize that they have no affiliation with Princeton University. No real harm there but not off to a great start.

I don’t completely hate Princeton Review. They do have some good advice on their website under “Law School Advice.” But, of course, they have issues. They offer much less free LSAT-specific advice than Kaplan, you pretty much have to sign up to see their approach. From what I gathered on Reddit (which should be taken with a major grain of salt), many people call the classes “a scam” and regret having bought them, which is unfortunate considering their LSAT 165+ class is TWO to FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS. For a “guaranteed” 165+… note that a 165 is only an 89th percentile score. With a 165 and 3.5 GPA, your best bet for full tuition is not going to be a comparatively great school to where you could go for free if you had a 172/3.5. That’s only a 7 point improvement in a world where 20 & 30 point improvements happen. It is just a whole lot of money when you could be doing prep on your own with free services, or with something cheaper AND better if you really feel like you need one-on-one (me, LSATDemon). And people are paying 4k to get a 165? That is just insane.

It feels predatory to me because these people know the LSAT, right? So surely they know that a 165 isn’t even that great, and that you can’t just blanket a score promise to some people starting at 155 and some starting at 135? So what is the deal? They want your money, that’s what.

7 SAGE

  • 11 POINT INCREASE?

  • NO PREP TESTS TIL THE END

7Sage isn’t as abominable as Kaplan, they do seem to provide very comprehensive study plans. However, quality over quantity. What you should be spending your time on is practicing questions and reviewing your mistakes, not sitting in some 7Sage grammar class. They also boast this 11 point increase, but that honestly isn’t amazing. It could be a life-changing increase for sure, but if your diagnostic was a 150, why settle for a 161? If you can get a 161, I bet with time you can get a 165, and then a 170. Going back to my point about spending time on the wrong things, 7sage saves full times PTs for the end. This is a mistake if you ask me. That gives you no time to practice ignoring the clock, and only doing untimed PTs won’t give you a true sense of where you’re at. How will you know if you need more time to study if you haven’t PT’ed this whole time? They are an affordable option though, if you’re dead set on paying one prep company or another.