Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I tried out a couple of books and this one was by far the best. The questions are hard, but explained thoroughly, and the diagrams he suggests for the games section are the simplest and way more effective than the Kaplan ones, that suggest there is a way to beat the games. There is no way to beat the test. This book points that out and instead suggests ways of managing it.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I scored in the 99th percentile on the LSAT, and I do not believe I would have done so had I not had the benefit of this excellent guide. If you are only going to buy one guide to preparing for the LSAT, buy this one. The Kaplan and Princeton Review volumes are helpful as well, but I don't hesitate to declare this one the cream of the crop.
Rating:
Summary: Exactly what I expected--results!
Review: If you've got the motivation to keep after it, this book will easily replace the $1,000 course you thought about taking. It may "only" be 500+ pages, but it's easily 30-50 hours of learning material, and with the "10 Actual LSATs" book, you should have everything covered. There are probably lots of books like this one, and I haven't tried any of them, but I can say I've been very pleased with this oneo, particularly with it's difficulty. It may focus on typical LSAT test-questions, but it is generally harder, and also goes a bit beyond what the LSAT requires. By stretching my brain, I think it has better prepared me, because the practice tests seem pretty easy after working through this. I took a practice test one month ago and scored a 158. Now, 300 pages through this book, I'm scoring around a 172. I hope you can improve as much as I have!
Rating: 
Summary: Great place to start!
Review: This book is excellent to use along with actual tests, such as those found in "10 Actual, Official LSAT Preptests." This book explains the reasoning behind the types of questions and pinpoints ways to see the fallacies, helping you to answer the questions more rapidly. I used this book and the official preptests book for self-directed prep and was accepted at 3 schools and on the waiting list at 3 others. If you don't have [money] for commercial study courses, I would recommend this option.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but no substitute...
Review: ...for studying the actual LSAT Preptests. You'll find the advice presented for the analytical reasoning section contains the basic methods that are found in the Kaplan and PR books, i.e. methods for weakening and strengthening arguments, etc. No revelations there. Also, this book relies more heavily on "tips" such as ruling out answers containing "similar content." Some of the recent LSAT questions are now hip to this technique and actually have "similar content" on all the answer choices. Basically, 90% of analytical reasoning questions break down to finding the conclusion and linking the premises to the conclusion. The sections on Logic games are somewhat spotty. The book does a nice job explaining linear games, e.g games with 3 slots, for variables A B C. However, it doesn't do a great job with grouping games, which appear frequently on recent LSATs. The techniques in the book will give you a basic plan for doing the games sections. However, one of the best way to do well on these games is to do a ton of previous logic game sections so that you can solve them quickly and rapidly. Typically, each game hinges on getting one or two big deductions, after which the whole game falls into place. You'll need to solve each game in under 8m 45s to finish this section on time. So, get cracking on piecing the individuals rules to get that big deduction. Oh, and the book spends way too much time on circular, diagramming, and mapping games, which almost never appear on the recent LSATs. Order the recent Preptests and you can see for yourself. Reading comp - not much info here will help you than what you can find in the LSAT/LSACD guide tells you. Best advice, is to map out the passage so that you rapidly refer back to it. The software accompanying the book is useless, as they are not real LSAT questions. Overall, I found this book better than the Kaplan and PR books, as they seemed to be expanded advertisements for their classes. If you're tight on cash, skip this book, order the "Official LSAT Prep Test with Explanataions" and the other recent LSAT Prep tests.
Rating:
Summary: Over Hyped
Review: This book is longer than the Princeton Review and Kaplan, but that doesn't mean there is more content. I found this book to be very repetitive and the author doesn't write the best. The explinations for problems aren't top notch. The book contains a lot of fluff. Also, just because it says, " Real LSAT " questions, doesn't mean that every question in the book, is from LSAC. Keep that in mind, and the two practice LSATs on the CD-ROM aren't from LSAC. A thing I found positive about the book is that it has several drills, but that's about it. It's pretty much the same as Princeton Review and Kaplan, all the same principles, just in different terminology.
Rating:
Summary: Best Study Guide I've Found
Review: This book is great it simplifies the LSAT to a level anyone can master. I have looked at other books and currently own 7 study guides for the LSAT and this one tops them all. It is straight forward, and realistic. An enormous help!
Rating:
Summary: A good starting point..
Review: This book is useful in beginning your preparation for the LSAT. Its strength is in the area of explaining logic and reasoning. After completing the book, I enrolled in a LSAT prep course, and what I had learned in the Kolby book served as a great foundation for further improving my skills. The book's primary shortcoming is that is dated -- many of the questions used as examples in the book, no longer appear on the current LSATs. That said, many of the principles explained in the book will serve you well in your overall preparation. I you are self-preparing for the LSAT, I DEFINITELY would follow the book up with as many recent practice tests as you can find.
Rating:
Summary: It helped me get accepted to Law School
Review: I recently received my acceptance letter!!!! Alleluia!! This study guide has fundamentals and rules that will absolutely help you quickly rule out bogus answers and increase your ability to hone in on the correct answer choice. How? By giving you insight on how the test-writers muddy the relevant information and bait you with seemingly good answers that are wrong. Understanding the test's structure, problem-types, and pace are also keys to your success. The several mentor sessions help you to apply what you have learned. The program of study, clarity of examples, and exercises, are plenty and excellent. Get this one and you will improve your successability. Best wishes!
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't believe my eyes!!!!
Review: In December of last year (2001) I started seriously thinking about LSAT prep. I intend to start law school in Sept. 2003. In January I took an online diagnostic test and scored 151. I was disappointed because I didn't expect to start from such a low point.
So I came online to amazon and read many reviews to many books. Impressed with how people spoke of "Master the LSAT" I purchased it. Starting in late January I worked through what I would consider a small part of the games section. I didn't get a chance to spend much time on it as I was in school at the same time. Really, I would say I spent minimal amounts of time working on it. In addition, it's now April 16th, and I haven't been able to touch it for the last month and a half. But I still felt confident. I hadn't even gotten to finish the games section but I felt in timing myself for the exercises and in reading the books I got myself into better "LSAT mentality." Yesterday I took another diagnostic test -- I got a 160!!!!!!!!! This was an incread of approximately 33 percentile points. I am now confident that if I continue to work with this book and take practise exams I will score extremely well. My original goal was 165 but now I intend to shoot higher. I am recommending this book to all of my friends who will be writing the LSAT. Do yourself a favour and buy it!!!
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