LSAT 180, 2004 Edition

Rating:
Summary: Games tips are helpful
Review: I bought this book to help with my games performance, so I can only discuss the quality of the games tips.

I'm not a fan of using any one "bible" or "system" to study, and I appreciated that this book didn't focus much on that. A lot of prep test books and classes can be very gimmicky (I should know -- I taught the SATs for The Princeton Review in college), but this one went easy on the cute acronyms. If you would rather follow a very detailed system, you may find this book unsatisfying. If you're like me and just want some new strategies to incorporate into your own way of doing the problems, this book could help.

Because it's written for the more advanced student, they don't waste lots of time talking about guessing and slowing down. Instead, they actually take you through sample problems and show you how to solve them, giving you general tips along the way. Their sample problems aren't necessarily exactly like the ones on the LSAT, but their tips can be quite helpful. I skimmed the book, absorbed the tips I thought might be useful, then tried them out on real LSAT problems. I found their emphasis on trusting my work, rather than wasting time checking all the possible answer choices, particularly helpful.

I didn't actually get a 180, but got close enough to make me happy (178). When I bought the Kaplan book, my practice tests were in the lower to mid 170s. I used it, along with real practice tests, for a few weeks, and ended up in the 177-179 practice range. All the improvement was on the games, and I do think Kaplan's book contributed in some way to that improvement. It's not a miracle solution, but it might help you boost your score by a couple of points if you're already doing well.

Rating:
Summary: Recycle your cans, not your questions
Review: I originally purchased the Kaplan 2003 LSAT Prep Book to prepare for the test, but due to circumstances beyond my control I needed to push my test date back a year. I was completely disheartened to see the amount of questions which were recycled in the 2004 LSAT 180 book from the 2003 book I studied from previously. Basically they took at least 1/3 of the questions in this book from their previous publications and simply relabeled them "difficult" to go along with the title of the new book and expectations of the reader. While the format of the book is quite nice, each sub-type of question has its own section, this in no way makes up for the sheet Kaplan tries to pull over the readers eyes by labeling the questions "tough".

Rating:
Summary: Very good book for preparation
Review: LSAT 180 is a great companion to the Kaplan LSAT preparation material. I used it in conjunction with Kaplan's 2004 LSAT Prep book and multiple Official Tests from LSAC. LSAT 180 really puts you through the paces, making the normal questions seem easy. I would definitely recommend it, but I think it's important to use it with the more general preparation material as the LSAT 180 has less information regarding techniques and approaches than the Kaplan 2004 LSAT Prep book. Using these books together with a number of official tests is a great self administered course in LSAT preparation. It definitely raised my score.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book for preparation
Review: This book is meant for the high-scorers. The Arguments section is very useful. The Reading Comprehension section passages and the Games section are not very LSAT-like, but still useful. If you already own the GMAT 800, be aware that the Critical Reasoning (Arguments) sections are virtually the same.

Rating:
Summary: Buy it for the Arguments section
Review: This book is meant for the high-scorers. The Arguments section is very useful. The Reading Comprehension section passages and the Games section are not very LSAT-like, but still useful. If you already own the GMAT 800, be aware that the Critical Reasoning (Arguments) sections are virtually the same.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Resource to Have
Review: This is not a good place to start with your LSAT studies unless you have a Bachelor's degree (or higher) in Computer Science or Philosophy (or both).

However, if you have spent a few weeks, or even months, already studying for the LSAT and find most of the questions on any given previously released test fairly easy, this is a good book to take you to the next level. Kaplan 180 shows you how to read a little bit closer, analyze formal logic, and interpret complex statements so that you can wade through the questions that suck up your time and leave you ambivalent.

If you can get through the 20 Logic Games provided in this book in under 9 minutes per game, getting most of the answers correct, then you should be able to handle any game on the actual test with ease.

The Logical Reasoning portion of this book I find somewhat weak, as most of the "difficult" example questions presented in Kaplan 180 were fairly easy for me to knock down. Though the questions weren't excruciating, the explanations for them are thorough and provide insight that will give you an edge on test day if you pay attention closely.

I haven't gotten much into the Reading Comprehension portion of the book, but from what I have seen, the passages they've chosen are particularly dense and will help with your ability to understand what the real LSAT Reading Comp passages are getting at.

Keep in mind that none of the questions in this book are actually from real LSATs, so some of the wording and subjects in the questions are peculiar and confusing (but not because they're necessarily difficult).

Overall, I recommend this book as an ancillary resource to "The Next 10 Actual LSATs" "10 More Actual LSATs" and "10 Actual LSATs." Furthermore, make sure you pick up the Logic Games Bible and Logical Reasoning Bible by PowerScore. I personally am taking TestMasters and, if you have $1250 lying around, highly recommend this course as your primary preparation.

Good luck!