Customer Reviews

Barron's LSAT: Law School Admission Test

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have explored (bought or borrowed) almost every prep series out there on the market. I got to Barron's last and I must admit it was very disappointing. I have reviewed both the 12th and 13th editions and they are very similar so if you really love this series just buy one not both.

Now since I don't like this series I will say this, do not try to learn their techniques they truly are rubbish. The explanations are very short and do not give you much insight. Also I really just laughed out loud when I read through the logic games and their suggested set-ups. OMG, if you do these set-ups first off they will eat at your time (way too elaborate) AND they will confuse the heck out of you! It took more energy to try to follow the suggested format then to just use commonsense and guess (assuming the question is just that difficult).

The one positive I will note is that the questions in the diagnostic part and the sample tests are "closer" to real LSAT questions when compared to Kaplan but that isn't saying much. In my humble opinion official LSAT material paired with Powerscore truly is the best stuff on the market for those of you (like me) who are "teaching" ourselves vs. classroom instruction. If you insist on using this just use it for more practice tests but know that these are "easier" than the real deal so your score will tend to be inflated.
** gave this two stars simply because the tests are better than Kaplan, but again that is NOT saying much.

So I took a prep course (some might call them MASTERS of TESTing) a year ago when I first took the LSAT. Not blaming them for my score, but their pacing can leave some behind and not everything they cover is essential, despite their mountains of statics proving otherwise. Didn't like my score and so I decided to take the test a year later but to study on my own. Tried a few other books but their pacing was too slow or over-emphasized topics that were really supplementary at best. I found Barron's, thumbed through the diagnostic test and analytical reasoning sections and knew right away that I'd finally found something worth studying with.

They set the book to take approximately 5 weeks. I spread it out longer for myself (about 7-8 with a day or two breaks in between) but the explanations and layout make it easy for you to review the highlights of a lesson after you've completed it. They inter-mix explanation with problems samples and are thorough in breaking down the reasoning of the answer. They even go so far as to break down the wrong answer choices. After each section, the following diagnostic test focuses on the themes of the last section with an abundant supply of problem samples. You can easily work through them in one or two sittings or save some for later review. Finally, it has two full test at the end to compare your progress to the first diagnostic and compare score progression.

For anyone studying on your own, either after prep-course experience or for your first shot, this book is critical to your success. I felt like I finally learned crucial steps for sections that were previously problematic for me because of reviewable, well paced, sections and simplified, accessible explanations. With each diagnostic test I took, I saw my score improve vastly (10+ points between the first and last), and felt that I finally understood the reasoning behind each problem set. There's a lot of books that claim to have an edge but Barron's LSAT definitely has the best combination of pacing and explanation. After preparing with Barron's I really felt confident going into my second LSAT. It is insightful to problem types you'll actually encounter and when to just move on. This was definitely money well spent.

This book is of incredibly low quality. Do not buy it.

My biggest complaints:

For starters, the strategies outlined for the various question types are lacking in substance and, especially for the logic games, are absurdly time-consuming. You could spend the entire 35 minutes re-creating just one of the charts or diagrams that they claim you should use for the logic games. You would be better off just guessing than following their methods.

The practice tests at the end of the book are laughable. The questions are full of spelling and grammatical errors and many questions have NO correct answer, in many cases as a direct result of these errors. Many of the questions are confusing and are of obviously lower quality than those on the two actual LSAT tests that are also included in the book. The explainations offered are also laughable - one sentence "explaining" which is the correct answer and no information about why the other answers are incorrect.

(see Practice test 3, section 1, question 12 for a good example - there is NO correct answer and they do not explain how they managed to choose one over the others).

Trying these practice tests will drive you crazy and you won't gain any skills to help you with the actual test. This book was not properly thought out and it appears not to have been edited at all.

Again, do not buy this book.

If you really want to be prepared for the LSAT do not invest time or money into this book. The questions are of poor quality, and are inadequate representations of what you will see on the LSAT.

Superior options include:

LSAT prep course
doing as many real LSATs as possible
powerscore logical reasoning/logic games bibles

I agree with the other reviewers who mentioned the time-consuming models that this book suggests to solve the puzzles. They take awhile to set up, let along to actually complete to solve the problem. I also agree that some of their reasoning for their choosing one answer over another was fairly vague.
I bought this book because I wasn't taking a course-I self-taught. I still went into the LSAT feeling unprepared because I couldn't get my time up. This is the first and only book I've tried, though, so I can't say how it is compared to others. I can only say that my experience lines up with what other reviewers seem to be saying.

There are so many LSAT products available, it can be a daunting task to pick just one. Fortunately for me, I picked the right one. The Bobrow book/course were outstanding. I had college friends who took other courses and used other materials and were disappointed with their LSAT scores. I got the highest score of all my friends, and it was all thanks to the Bobrow book and prep course.

I would highly recommend this book and course to anyone looking to score high on the LSAT.