I am signed up for the testmasters course starting in July 9 (for th september lsat) and I have a question. I suppose it is for people who have taken testmasters, but any prep course I might be similar...
It says on the site NOT to do any practice before, but I have been reading the powerscore bibles and doing questions about 2 months in advance.
Has anyone taken the course and will this set me back?
I just can't stand only studying 2 months for the test...I need to prepare much more than that because I need a really high score (well, don't need but want).
On another note, is Testmasters really that good? I want to know if I am wasting money or if it will produce results for me. Thanks
Testmasters and powerscore bibles... Forum
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in my eyes
- Posts: 80
- Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:00 pm
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superfly80
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:44 pm
I haven't taken Testmasters, but I wouldn't take that advice about not practicing on your own before the class. When I took Kaplan, there were some people in there who weren't practicing anything outside of class and homework (which was also plenty). They were saying that they'll take the LSAT a year from now, etc. Those students didn't really improve too much. A course can teach you strategies, but it can't teach you to utilize these strategies in the short period of time permitted for a question. It also can't really teach you what your particular weakness is and what you need to get done to get the answers that are wrong right. If the powerscore strategies work for you, just use them as supplements for your course strategies.
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Ma$e
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:02 pm
The problem with me will not be putting the work in. I basically will do every question available and go through the powerscore bibles ad naseum.
I would guess that I have put in 3 hours per day for the past 2 weeks. I am not seeing much improvement with the logic games to be honest. I'll finish the powerscore bibles, but I am better with my own methods for now.
Does anyone else find re-writing the rules tedious? It doesn't seem to help me at all, when I write them I still look at the rules as they are stated in the games. Basically I look at them whenever there are implications and they are needed. I bought the LG bible hoping it could help me with the questions I have difficulty with but the only questions I can't get are answered in the bibles by doing "quick hypotheticals" that are really not quick at all...and there is no space to be drawing all these hypotheticals either.
I will be doing all the homework for the course for sure, I just hope it can get me easily into the 160's...I usually get around 18-20/24 on the LG section when I time myself, and then around the same on the other sections when timed.
I would guess that I have put in 3 hours per day for the past 2 weeks. I am not seeing much improvement with the logic games to be honest. I'll finish the powerscore bibles, but I am better with my own methods for now.
Does anyone else find re-writing the rules tedious? It doesn't seem to help me at all, when I write them I still look at the rules as they are stated in the games. Basically I look at them whenever there are implications and they are needed. I bought the LG bible hoping it could help me with the questions I have difficulty with but the only questions I can't get are answered in the bibles by doing "quick hypotheticals" that are really not quick at all...and there is no space to be drawing all these hypotheticals either.
I will be doing all the homework for the course for sure, I just hope it can get me easily into the 160's...I usually get around 18-20/24 on the LG section when I time myself, and then around the same on the other sections when timed.
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jess5290
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:21 pm
I am just finishing a Testmasters group course and my opinion about the course in general is pretty mixed up. The books are great...lots of homework...but if for some reason you missed class... you missed out on lots of information/strategies not written in the books.
About my instructor, he's 22 years old and scored a 177 on the June 2006 lsat. Yea I know what you're thinking...he's really young...but Testmasters ensures all new instructors go through extensive training with Robin in Cali.
As far as location/time/days, the class met Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-10 in the Hyatt. The classrooms were really nice yet poorly lit and parking was about $6 per class...unless you parked at Sears for free!
In regards to the course material itself, like I said before not too bad. Each class is dedicated to specific types of questions with the usual combination of RC and LG or LG and LR. Similar to other prep courses, there are 4 diagnostics which take place on Saturdays. Now, I don't know if other prep courses do this but Testmasters also schedules classes on the Sundays following the diagnostics. Although this sounds great, trust me it's not the case. During this particular "class," the instructor goes over specific questions. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to answer individual questions and, depending on whether or not your instructor has favorites and if so, whether you're part of that exclusive circle, you might find yourself forced to call the Help Line for everything....but like I said, this doesn't have to be the case.
I was scheduled to take the test next week, but I found myself in need of more time. My course started in April and it was just the worst timing, since finals and all this other school stuff was in the way. I couldn't finish as much homework as I wanted to and I started to fall behind...wwwaayyy behind...on homework.
Would I recommend the course? Probably not. I mean, the books are helpful but I regret paying for a group course. I feel that maybe I would've gotten a lot more out of private tutoring sessions than I have through this course. But, of course, not everyone is the same and others might prefer/like Testmasters.
I'm not quite sure how private tutoring works, but maybe you can just purchase the books and go over them with a tutor. Bottom line, if you want to spend more time practicing, maybe you shouldn't take a group course. Private tutoring, although somewhat expensive, is usually tailored to your schedule and you focus on your weaknesses.
Let me know if you have any particular questions...
Good luck
About my instructor, he's 22 years old and scored a 177 on the June 2006 lsat. Yea I know what you're thinking...he's really young...but Testmasters ensures all new instructors go through extensive training with Robin in Cali.
As far as location/time/days, the class met Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-10 in the Hyatt. The classrooms were really nice yet poorly lit and parking was about $6 per class...unless you parked at Sears for free!
In regards to the course material itself, like I said before not too bad. Each class is dedicated to specific types of questions with the usual combination of RC and LG or LG and LR. Similar to other prep courses, there are 4 diagnostics which take place on Saturdays. Now, I don't know if other prep courses do this but Testmasters also schedules classes on the Sundays following the diagnostics. Although this sounds great, trust me it's not the case. During this particular "class," the instructor goes over specific questions. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to answer individual questions and, depending on whether or not your instructor has favorites and if so, whether you're part of that exclusive circle, you might find yourself forced to call the Help Line for everything....but like I said, this doesn't have to be the case.
I was scheduled to take the test next week, but I found myself in need of more time. My course started in April and it was just the worst timing, since finals and all this other school stuff was in the way. I couldn't finish as much homework as I wanted to and I started to fall behind...wwwaayyy behind...on homework.
Would I recommend the course? Probably not. I mean, the books are helpful but I regret paying for a group course. I feel that maybe I would've gotten a lot more out of private tutoring sessions than I have through this course. But, of course, not everyone is the same and others might prefer/like Testmasters.
I'm not quite sure how private tutoring works, but maybe you can just purchase the books and go over them with a tutor. Bottom line, if you want to spend more time practicing, maybe you shouldn't take a group course. Private tutoring, although somewhat expensive, is usually tailored to your schedule and you focus on your weaknesses.
Let me know if you have any particular questions...
Good luck
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Ma$e
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:02 pm
thanks for the advice everyone. Yeah I haven't utilized many of the strategies in the LG bible...I basically use the strategies to set the problems up, but it can only take you so far. I am glad that it is not supposed to be anyting like powerscore because then I am at least getting my money's worth.
I am not planning on missing ANY classes or diagnostics. I know you probably weren't either though jess. I have mine set for July though september, and then I write the september LSAT. I think I'll be as ready as I am going to be by then, seeing as I have studied about 2-3 hours per day for the past week and intend to continue on my own until I start the course.
The scheduling is no problem for me, and they really cannot throw too much work at me. I have a job where I can do a ton of homework on about 2 or three days and I have decided that in order to score over 170, my summer is pretty much a writeoff and will be devoid of fun.
Having said that, I actually enjoy studying for this, and I have every practice test. I plan on attending all the classes, doing all the diagnostics and doing every practice test that is available.
I have another question Jess..how big was your class?
I am in Toronto and I can't see my class being that large because it is at UofT in a building where the rooms are fairly small.
I am not planning on missing ANY classes or diagnostics. I know you probably weren't either though jess. I have mine set for July though september, and then I write the september LSAT. I think I'll be as ready as I am going to be by then, seeing as I have studied about 2-3 hours per day for the past week and intend to continue on my own until I start the course.
The scheduling is no problem for me, and they really cannot throw too much work at me. I have a job where I can do a ton of homework on about 2 or three days and I have decided that in order to score over 170, my summer is pretty much a writeoff and will be devoid of fun.
Having said that, I actually enjoy studying for this, and I have every practice test. I plan on attending all the classes, doing all the diagnostics and doing every practice test that is available.
I have another question Jess..how big was your class?
I am in Toronto and I can't see my class being that large because it is at UofT in a building where the rooms are fairly small.
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jess5290
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:21 pm
Well, my class was pretty small before school let out mid-May. By small I mean about 10-12 people. Around May, we started getting people from different universities/states...ya know coming back home for the summer. So now there's about 20-23 of us...not that bad...but of course the fewer people the better since it becomes more of a private tutoring course.
About the classroom size, I don't think it says too much about how many people are actually in the class. Just figure that testmasters probably reserves the classrooms in advance without having a specific number of students enrolled...you could join the course even after the first class. Our room was a reasonable size until more people joined and now it's a bit crowd. One of my friends took the course in Miami last spring and mentioned the class consisted of about 35 students.
Don't worry about it. Attend the first class and take it from there.
About the classroom size, I don't think it says too much about how many people are actually in the class. Just figure that testmasters probably reserves the classrooms in advance without having a specific number of students enrolled...you could join the course even after the first class. Our room was a reasonable size until more people joined and now it's a bit crowd. One of my friends took the course in Miami last spring and mentioned the class consisted of about 35 students.
Don't worry about it. Attend the first class and take it from there.
