Customer Reviews

McGraw-Hill's LSAT, 2011 Edition (Mcgraw Hill's Lsat (Book Only))

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The tests in this book are not legitimate LSATs and it shows. Quite frequently the "correct" answers are not flawlessly accurate or indisputable; the subject matter of many of the passages is laughable (alien invasion anyone?). The diagramming recommendations are far too complicated to actually be useful. I've seen far better suggestions for sorting out the logic games questions in other books and even for free online. There are so many LSAT prep books out there: do yourself a favor and don't use this one! So far my favorite one is published by the LSAC who actually make the LSAT, so perhaps look at that one. I'm just grateful I checked this book out of the library and didn't actually waste money on it!

This seems to be a trend with this series of books. I've come across one confirmed error in the book so far but after reading reviews on earlier products I'm quite sure that there are others as well that I assumed I just wasn't understanding because everyone says that LSAT stuff is so difficult. I'm very disappointed that I cannot confirm my score. That being said, the information in the book seems to be sound, as far as tips and hints to use when taking the LSAT, it's just that the writers of the book cannot answer their own questions correctly which means you cannot easily get an accurate LSAT score from taking the tests in the book. I used their tips and strategies to find the errors in the book.

At a glance, this seems like a helpful book...answer "explanations", practice tests, and a team of infallible Harvard grads behind it. Where could you go wrong? How about everywhere?
I'll ignore the typos and poor writing. Though I shouldn't forgive such errors in a $40 book, those are things I could tolerate if the content made up for it. It doesn't.
The explanations are often useless, such as "it can't be x." Okay, but why can't it be x?
The logic games diagramming is decent at times but only when it mirrors the Powerscores format. Otherwise, the diagramming methods they use lead to wasted time and inefficiency.
The main issue I have, however, is the lack of logic. Fortunately, I had begun my study with official LSAC material and Powerscores. Some of the "correct" answer choices rely on exactly the flawed logic the LSAT employs to attempt to stump test takers. Luckily, I was prepared to find these flaws, but if this had been my first or only resource...let's just say I'd be paying a visit to McGraw Hill. For instance, in one practice question, the "correct" answer relies on the false assumption that when an author proposes a few claims, they believe ONLY those claims to be true. The question-writing is amateur at best. At its worst, it can be misleading and destructive to your LSAT goals.
I'd recommend Powerscores (although they each contain about 200 pages of fluff) for a general idea of how to approach the LSAT. After that, stick with the real thing. The people at Law Services are tricky, but they are consistent.

I only tried the Logical Reasoning (Arguments) section of this book and it just drove me crazy. The title of this book should change from Mcgraw-hill "LSAT" to Mcgraw-hill "LSRT"(Law School Rejection Test) becuase if you rely heavily on this book for your LSAT preparation, your score must fall somewhere between 130 and 140 and that will get you nowhere.

The 2011 LSAT review has helped me to get my head around the questions and to more easily select the correct answers. I would not attempt this test without such preparaton.