Customer Reviews

LSAT Workout (Graduate School Test Preparation)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The toughest collection of LSAT questions I've ever seen. Not for the faint of heart, but if you're shooting for a top score, this is definitely the book to get. If you can work these logic games, then anything you see on the real LSAT will seem tame by comparison.

This book is meant to be a "hardest of" LSAT questions and on this level, the book is what it's advertised to be. However, the questions are hard for all the wrong reasons. (Note that the book contains only made up LSAT questions, not actual questions from administered LSATs).

On the LSAT, there is exactly one right answer and exactly four wrong ones. On a weaken question, exactly one answer will weaken the answer at all and exactly four answers will not weaken whatsoever.

This book attempts to make questions difficult by putting in multiple answers that could debatably be right. Then in the answer, they will equivocate with statements like 'this will weaken only in situations that...". No. On the LSAT, wrong answers on a weaken question never weaken ever. Period. Just because something doesn't weaken in 100% of cases doesn't matter. If it even weakens somewhat, it weakens. This book doesn't seem to understand this.

So, yes, by putting in multiple possibly correct answers, this book does contain some very difficult questions. Because now you are debating between two answers, each of which weaken and you're trying to decide which one does it more of the time than the other.

This is great for mental exercise, but isn't something that shows up on a real LSAT.

The logic games are also convoluted and totally non-representative. Again, great for a mental challenge. Not really useful for LSAT prep. If you want some more totally unrepresentative, but hard games, check out the purple REA LSAT games book.

One thing I did like about the book is the way they broke out questions by the "trick" type rather than just the question type. For example, there is a section on scope shifts in the conclusion, scope shifts within premises, which I thought was a good way of emphasizing what an LSAT taker should be looking out for. Too bad the questions they put after those short tutorial bits were so poorly constructed.

I recently decided to take the LSATs (and possibly apply to Law School). I have virtually no prior knowledge about anything related to LSAT but just went out and purchased this book b/c it was published recently and the Princeton Review's familiar name. Let me just say that I was in for a shock. This book starts you off w/ several drill sections starting w/ logical reasoning. Like any good future lawyer, I just started working through these w/o reading any of the prefaces and/or tips section. I scored above 95% in my GRE verbal section so I did not think the LSAT would be that hard. I was throughly shocked because I could not even get 1/2 of drill questions right. The explanations did little to help me see the "right" answer. I've since taken a practice exam (a real test from prev years) and was surprised once again to find that the questions are indeed much easier(I can't stress this enough) than the ones found in this book. At this point, I'm not sure this book will help b/c some of questions are so convoluted (I'm convinced some of the questions deliberately try to mislead you which supposedly LSAT questions are not) that you will scratch your head for days.

The LSAT Workout is like a chaser to the nastiest tequila that you've ever tasted: it is necessary. This book takes everything you think you learned in Cracking the LSAT and really extends on it. Remember: Cracking the LSAT is like liquor and LSAT workout is like beer. Liquor before beer and you're in the clear. Beer before liquor and you'll get sicker. Don't do the LSAT Workout until you have fully completed Cracking the LSAT. Once you get done with these two books, you are ready to start hammering away at the LSAC books and LSAT practice tests. I noticed that one person found this review not helpful, so let me elaborate:

This book has a ton of practice problems. It is meant to sharpen your LSAT skills. However, you can't improve your LSAT skills if you haven't acquire them yet (meaning that this book is not for beginners). This book is an advanced book. I completed the book and got a good bit of questions wrong, but I did get some right. The questions are probably the hardest you'll ever find, so it can provide a good assessment of where your weaknesses are. The questions that trip you up are where you need to improve. It doesn't matter if these are the hardiest questions in the world. If the Princeton Review can confuse you, the LSAC can too.

I think this book is similar to the Kaplan 180. I just got Kaplan 180 a few days ago and... after looking at it, the format is similar to the LSAT Workout. The LSAT Workout has a few more pages and maybe more questions. The LSAT Workout focuses on three things in the Args: Drawing Conclusions, Language Shifts, and Interpretation of Evidence. These sections are organized so that you can address why get questions wrong. For example, the Language Shifts sections gives you every type of Arg where the question they ask uses a different word than the word in the argument. This book doesn't really explain anything. The little information it has is meant to be a review. The LSAT Workout is solely meant to be used for the problems. The Princeton Review calls this book the gap between learning the material (ex. Cracking the LSAT) and taking actual LSATs. If you are looking for advanced explanations, this book is not it. I would recommend Kaplan's LSAT 180 (although that's the only Kaplan product I would recommend. The Kaplan Comprehensive Program and Kaplan Logic Games Workbook are inferior to Cracking the LSAT).

The questions, like other reviewers have mentioned, are jaw-droppingly difficult. Some people might think that it's good to practice with difficult questions so the easier (i.e. REAL lsat questions) questions will be a cakewalk. Not true - the logic provided in the explanations are so convulted and IRRATIONAL that you will second guess yourself on the real test too much. Try the actual LSAT questions, it's better to get 1 or 2 complex questions right rather than 20 easy questions wrong because you over-thought it. I abandoned this book as I was sifting through the Logical Reasoning section, feeling like an idiot and I finally realized that the book itself was the idiot.

I bought this book after studying extensively for the LSAT (my skills were well-developed). Long story short, it reduced my confidence and wasted my time.... This book is not representative of the DIFFICULT problems on the LSAT.

With questions that are overly difficult (logic games in particular), this book will waste your time... You will labor over interpreting ambiguous questions/solutions as opposed to practicing difficult, yet realistic problems... However, if you want a laugh (or cry), flip through the solutions pages of the Logic Games.

If you want to strive for the highest score, buy Kaplan's LSAT 180 book. This book is actually representative of the hardest LSAT questions, and it provides definitions that can actually be understood.

Even though the questions here are good practice because they are so difficult, the explanations offered are incomplete or unenlightening or both. As a study guide, it is a resounding failure. Some answers are unreasonable and some questions --like one about pushing buttoms to get certain results, and then figuring out how to do the same if one button stops working-- are ridculous because there is no way to answer a question like that in the alloted time unless you are a computer. As such, it has no practical value for the LSAT.

Do not buy this book to learn about the LSAT because you won't - you will only be confused and discouraged. One "piece of advice" that I found inappropriate (and symbolic of the attitude in the entire book) was where it says something like "let's face it, not everyone can score a 170." That may be true but it is the wrong thing to say in a book that purports to help you get there.

Some of the answer explanations read something like: "Yuck! Luckily the answer is "A" so you do not have to go further down the list."

Overall, I would only recommend this book if you are doing so well in practice tests that you are bored, it is a Sunday, there is nothing to do, you want a good challenge, and can tell the difference between difficult questions and absurd ones.

I have been studying for the LSAT alone now for 2.5 weeks before I start my Test Masters class in July. I have gone through a few books and 7 practice tests. I decided to hone my skills and picked up this book from barnes and nobles and right away I saw that I was getting most of the questions wrong though i was doing pretty well on the real LSAT tests. I came online to read reviews because I had based my poor performance on myself being tired but I knew this couldn't be the case.

The questions seem poorly written and on many there can be more than one right answer. You can tell that they are not real LSAT questions. The previous books i went through (REAL LSAT Questions) had a clear right answer most of the time. This book on the other hand leaves me scratching my head and very demoralized when a few days ago I scored really well on my LSAT test under real conditions. (Even after reading the explanation) I would not recommend it at all, I am giving two stars because they are challenging questions.

I'm taking Princeton review for the LSAT and the books provided for the course make the LSAT understandable and manageable. I purchased the Workout because I wanted extra practice material on the side. The questions are beyond convoluted. I think the book is a ploy to make students feel incompetent resulting in them signing up for a Princeton review course. I'm already in a course so the book was unable to fool me in that aspect because I know the deal about the components of the LSAT already and this book is not what the LSAT truly is. That's just my opinion.

Simply put, this book would challenge even the creators of the LSAT themselves. IT is very convoluted material and extremely difficult to understand. The length of the Logic Games setups alone are enough to eat up half the allotted time. While the Logic Games had value, the LR were preposterous. The answers were ambiguous, and the authors themselves validated that many of the answers were not only reasonable, but were as correct as others that were credited as answers. DO NOT get stuck on these. I only made it through about 7 LR drills, scored horribly and was confused as to the credited answer, and moved to the games -- which I believe holds the greatest value (and where I needed the most work/practice). While others have covered how difficult and unrepresentative these games are and criticized the book for it, I think the only value this book holds is the degree of difficulty and how unrealistic the Logic Games are. If a tester is able to decipher the confusing, and many times uninterpretable language and situations, it makes even difficult games on the real LSAT preptests look like a cakewalk. I found myself looking forward to the real LG LSAT games, and improving on these LG sections because the 'Workbook' made me critique every sentence and setup, despite how long it took, and it pays off in Real LSATs in time and accuracy. I was done with real games before I knew it. Some of the questions are irritating to say the least -- the push buttons and switch game is an example. Not a book you should start with, but to improve games if you are at intermediate level, I would suggest practicing with very difficult material like this to improve your deduction skills speed and accuracy on more reasonable questions you will face.