Admissions Books

This is a very helpful book on Reading Section. One of the very few available ones on the market. I don't understand why there are so many books conserning LR and AR, and almost none conserning the reading. Reading was my most difficult section (as it is for many students- passages are long time is not enough, same problem..) and if there was more on the market about it I would have purchased it. Anyhow, this book is well written, explanatory, enough exercises.
The reason why I rate it with 4, not 5 stars is because it is not LSAT specific, but it also tells about MCAT, GMAT, etc. Which is important when it comes to the length of passages in the excercise section which takes up 130 out of 180 pages from the book. There are passages of different lengths from 30 to 80 lines, covering the formats of the passages given on GMAT, MCAT, etc. But what we need for LSAT - are passages of 55 - 60 lines so we can properly time ourselves and as we all know on the LSAT - TIME IS EVERYTHING.
In conclusion: helpful book - get it.
P.S. If the publishers get to see that - consider improving it.

I was preparing for GMAT and was very in Reading Comprehension. This book was helful to me especially the LSAT passages which were difficult compared to GMAT passages. explanations were good.

I have reviewed the first 3 chapters which contains explaination given by the author to tackle the reading comprehension questions.But to co-relate the theory(explaination given by author) to the practice questions is practically not possible.

MY CONFIDENCE HAS NOT INCREASED BY ANY CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! READING THIS BOOK.

I've read this book for LSAT prep. While the selection of passages is excellent, crafting of questions is simply a bad joke. To be precise, it is mostly the answer choices that makes this book time-wasting, if not skill-diminishing. The answer choices in this book are just not the kind of choices that appear in an actual test. Especially annoying is that many "right" answer choices can be right only after a very very long stretch of logic, which NEVER happens in a real test.

This book helps the reader learn the correct way to annotate and outline the paragraphs on the reading comprehension section of the GRE*MCAT*LSAT*GMAT. It was very helpful.

This book was ill-suited to prepared ANYONE for the August 2002 MCAT. The other review was obviuosly written by a Kaplan Mole. No way was it that good. They did not prepare me for how the MCAT was organized, nor how the questions were asked. I floundered and stammered through the test.

My score was a 32 on Practice Test IV, I was going for a 36. I'll be lucky if I don't have to take it again.

Good luck.

the exuberant review is probably a product of the writer's own elation at his/her score. this book is merely another in the long list of practices you can trudge through on your way to mcat perfection. taking the test in both april & august of 2002, i found the MCAT45 passages completely irreverent of typical aamc style--not neccessarily a bad literary decision, but not a true indicator of the mcat. some questions may border on the convoluted/esoteric side. however, they are managable if you have a good grasp of all your review material. i found them comparable to the princeton review practice tests A-D. conclusion: buy this if you have finished all your review material & want to keep working, if only to keep you in the habit.

This was the most valuable of the many books I used to prepare for the MCAT. I started using it when my diagnostic scores hit 34; at that point most of the material out there was a waste of my time. I really need super-hard passages to practice on. I worked through every passage in this book, which usually meant doing it once in the appropriate amount of time, then spending a few hours re-learning the very hardest material. By the end of my prep, I wasn't attending my Princeton Revew course anymore; I was just working alone with several supplementary textbooks for 1st year med students, and these really difficult passages.

It's an illusion that any one course or book will prepare you for the MCAT. What I did was chart my own course through the material. I regularly assessed what material I knew well, and what material I needed to really zero in on. No book or prep program can know as well as you do what material you don't know. Be *active* in your prep. Remember that doing passages is not enough; you have to learn the material at a higher level than you needed to for your pre-med courses.

Another thing to keep in mind is timing. If you're getting solidly in the mid 30s, you should stop wasting time figuring out which passages to do and which to skip. The fastest way through is to do all of the questions in order. I had 5 minutes or more left in each of the sections except writing sample.

The key thing, the absolute key, is to regularly prepare with passages that are killers. That way the actual exam feels easy, and you get practice reasoning through the toughest stuff. For every single passage you do, and especially the hard ones, if you get the answer wrong or had to guess, review the material associated with the entire passage. Frequently you'll have to re-learn it at a deeper level. Build rules of thumb as you go, and keep track of them on paper. I found it useful to keep track of the sorts of questions/topics I got wrong, and build a list of heuristics to get them *right*.

Note, though, that the name of this book is misleading. Since VR scoring only goes up to 13, the highest score possible is 15 + 15 + 13 = 43. For the writing sample, the highest score possible is T. So, yes, I got a 42 T, which is one point below the highest score possible. But here's the thing: I'm bright, but I'm not a genius. What I am is extremely motivated, and I worked extremely hard from November to April preparing for this test. Great scores are possible. This book isn't the whole package; you'll have to build your own whole package -- but include this book in it.

obviously not everyone who reads this book will get a 45. That said, this was the only book i used.
No one book will get you a 45. to get a "45" you need to be in the 37-45 range knowledge-wise and get really lucky on test day. This book is good (and i'd reccomend it to everyone) for teaching you NOT to freak when you get hit with a nasty passage and for teaching you how to think when background knowledge can't help you out. I know that in my free mcat test prep program, i will encourage all of my students to get and work through this book- you just need to be very clear that this is not what the MCAT will consist of, and that after suffering through this book, the real test will be that much easier.
To be honest this book is EXACTLY what is says it is. It's brutal and it will help you a lot if you're in the top group of test takers and a marginal amount if you're not. I ended up with a 15PS 15BS and 13VR for a 43S. Did this book get me that score? heck no. did it help somewhat? yeah. spend the 20 bucks here and ditch the worthless 1500 dollar prep course (i never took any form of paid-prep). if you enroll in rough classes and review your textbooks, you can do as well if not better; just be realistic.

Having just taken the MCAT I would definately reccomend that you dont use this book. The material it covers just is not applicable to the MCAT. The book definitely has difficult questions but I didnt see a single question like this on the MCAT. Your time is better spent taking real practice exams instead of working on these problems. If you do buy the book dont be discouraged if you have trouble with the problems because this is NOT an accurate reflection of the real MCAT.

I received this review book approximately a month before I took the PCAT, and I am convinced that this book helped me get into pharmacy school. If you are rusty in all PCAT subjects, I would recommend the book, but start studying early! It's true that there is quite a bit of information packed into this book. Thankfully I only needed the book for review of a couple subjects, but it certainly did help me with those. I especially appreciated the review questions for each section, as I learned quite a bit from my own errors and I could see how well I was doing in each category. Each answer to the multiple choice questions gives an explanation about why a certain answer is correct, and I know for a fact that at least one of the questions in the book was exactly the same question I saw on the exam itself. I will agree that the questions at times can give you a sense of hopelessness, as they are challenging. However, I found that preparing for much more difficult questions and getting used to those was the best thing I could do in preparation - it gave me a more in depth understanding of the subject matter which could then be applied to the questions I encountered on the actual PCAT, and it made me much more confident so that I was able to take the actual PCAT in less time.

Book was purchased for our daughter. Since it is a study guide we will have to wait and see!!

If one wonders about the disadvantages of a monopoly, look no further. Yes, there are other books, but only this company has complete access to the actual test, and since they have the corner on the PCAT test, test takers are at its mercy--and this book shows no mercy.

Use it if you want to lose all faith in yourself: by this, I mean, select a problem that you might think you are able to solve. Then wallow through the minutes wondering why you cannot figure it out. However, eventually, you'll get to the simple fact that there are more typos in this book than drug companies have defense lawyers.

It is a variety of errors though so at least you don't get bored. Sure the easy ones pose no challenge such as "Look at the molecule above" when there is no molecule.However, there are so many other errors that I have begun to doubt whether or not we will be given a fair playing field during the actual test.

Fortunately, I am able to ask a very friendly organic chem teacher who can explain to me the errors if I am unable to solve them myself.

I am truly starting to understand why so many California schools are doing away with such standardized tests.

A recommendation: increase the exorbant test prices $1.00 and hire someone to actually try the tests before you send it to the publisher. Embarrassing product for this "one- of- a- kind company."

I won't waste time proofing this posting as it would be iconic..err...that is ironic.

Kaplan is infamous for writing these long exam prep books. Honestly I really couldn't sit down and read the whole thing. I have it more as quick reference on something I need help with. I found the PCAT prep from Audiolearn more helpful--which is very complete. If you really want to buy this book, buy it used!

I just took the PCAT on 1/20/07 and everything that the book says you should review was on the PCAT. This book was very helpful with the material it reviews. It also had great tips as far as getting through analogies and reading comprehension. I didn't find the review for the essay too helpful. The biology and chemistry review sections were helpful, but if you kept your notes in great order from general biology and chemistry, I wouldn't bother buying the textbook.

This book has great questions and is a fantastic companion to the review book. Some quesions on this book are repeated in the review book and CD so beware. Otherwise, a great book that will help solidify your test taking techniques and fill in gaps in your knowledge base.

That said, I really benefited from doing tons and tons of questions. I would get this book but also spend some extra cash on getting more questions and full length tests with answers/explanations and grading scales to really asess where you are.

Good luck!

The Kaplan MCAT workbook gives a couple helpful hints when taking the MCAT. The hints are about how you take the test and some information about what the MCAT is, but says nothing about what you should study. The workbook, however, has some work sections and a practice test that do reflect the real MCAT. If you want practice test though, actual past tests have been released which you can look over.

I'm so glad I found this book! Yeah, I'm great at organic chem and calculus, but I HATE taking multiple-choice tests! But Kaplan's workbook let me practice, practice, practice, until I had the test-taking strategies down pat. And those questions I did get wrong were immediately clarified by the detailed explanations.

I found the kaplan book to be pretty good in exercises for the mcat. Definitely not a place to start studying. But when you're more experienced, then it is wise to hit this book. Has one full test and a few sectional exams. It would be better to just enroll in a prep course and get the full experience.

The Kaplan MCAT workbook gives a couple helpful hints when taking the MCAT. The hints are about how you take the test and some information about what the MCAT is, but says nothing about what you should study. The workbook, however, has some work sections and a practice test that do reflect the real MCAT. If you want practice test though, actual past tests have been released which you can look over.

This is a great study deal for the $. I just received my cd for Christmas and have been using it this past week. I love it. It has the sentence completion, organic chemistry, calculus and essays. They even gave me a list of 75+ essay topics that were interesting to look through. Thank you, thank you. I use the study guide to help me with my text books. Not sure why someone would not recommend this other than they don't want you to get it. I'll still do good on the real test in January. This study cd helped.

I liked the CD ROM and sample tests. There were a ton of questions organized just like the real test. I could go through each section independently and review every question I missed. I used the topic that was given and studyied from my text book when I missed a question. I thought this was the best way. I had no problem finding the answers and I studyied the topic when I missed the topscore question. I guess that's why I did so well on the pcat. It timed me and had a neat feature that helped pace me through the test. The qestions were a little harder I thought, but that helped me find my weaknesses. I used it and my text books together and I did well on the real PCAT. Hope to see you in pharmacy school! Go wildcats!

Loved this review! only down fall was that it was on the computer when the original was on paper and it doesn't contain explainations at all. However, it WILL prepare you for the PCAT. I studied off and on for it and scored in top 10%. However, I did attend an MCAT review course a few months prior. These questions were harder than the real pcat but definietly felt prepared. Uesd this in conjunction with Peterson's Pcat success which gives explainations but easier questions. honestly use this, petersons, and try to get a really hard review course (such as an MCAT), and you'll do fine. Also you only get three tests and same questions on each test or section you do until you change the test.

The sample questions in this software are basically the same type of questions you will encounter in the real test, but they are just a little bit harder. Therefore, it does give you the practice you need before the real PCAT test. If you could do all or most of the problems correctly in the software, you should be able to do fine in the real test. However, this software does not come with answer explanations at all, which I think is an essential part of a good test preparation. Remember, in the real PCAT test, you only have 35 seconds in average to answer each biology and chemistry question. If you do all the calculations in chemistry part, you will never be able to finish it within such a short time. Therefore, you need to know the shortcuts to find the correct answers very quickly. A good PCAT preparation book or software is supposed to serve this purpose by teaching you all these smarter ways to do the problems; this software, however, obviously fails to do so. I would recommend Kaplan PCAT Prep instead of this one.

I just received my copy about an hour ago. Installed and tried out a couple of exams. There is no explanation for answers, no learning mode, etc. Little user control over exam administration. Has not been updated for new version of the PCAT. If you don't care about why an answer is correct or not, go to the official PCAT website and use their practice exam. At least the questions on the PCAT website are more complex.

I'm writing about the newest edition of this book, not the old one that others seemed to have reviewed. I found this book to be very helpful, especially with the feedback from admission officers and students. It gives you the confidence you need to apply to a college even if you aren't a straight-A student, and it gives you insight into what the admission officers really want. Most importantly, you will probably learn a thing or two about a college you might not have heard of before or considered.

I feel that this guide might be misnamed. B students at strong schools where most of the students are college-bound probably could go to "more reputable" schools than the ones listed here. Not that reputation is important in itself, but one thing that's usually true is that a school that is hard to get into will (usually) have students who have better study habits, and your child's peers have a lot more influence over how seriously he or she takes his/her education than pretty much anything. For the most part, I think a B-minus or C student could have more luck with this guide than a solid B student.

However, there is a better guide for the "mid-range" student called Finding The College That's Right For You by John Palladino. (Again, probably most appropriate for students with an average lower than a strong B to C+ or C) It's much, much more thorough than this title and defends its reasons for choosing the colleges it recommends very well. This book (Tamara Orr's) is very spotty when it comes to discussing the individual schools. Some of the entries (such as Auburn's) are informative while others are too short and unhelpful.

I think Orr's book can be useful. For students who are not secure about their chances of getting into college at all, who are scared they'll fail out of college, or who just don't want to go, this book offers some confidence boosting advice in the front section. Also, while this book includes a few schools that are well-established as great choices for students who need nurturing as well as good enough for A students(such as Eckerd, Goucher, Agnes Scott, Guilford), most of the schools are ones that aren't listed in the other guides. Therefore, it can be a supplement to Finding The College That's Right For You or Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope.

Very limited comments and list of schools. Did they have to pay to get into this? You mean the rest of the schools are either bad or only accept A students? Come on - I want my money back.

I actually think this book should be called A College Guide For "C" Students. For the most part the schools were not put forward in a way that made them look at all appealing. Not nearly as helpful or hopeful as Loren Pope's book, "Colleges That Change Lives"

Weaver's book may give insight into the law school application process, but it lacks as to what pre-law students must do to adequately prepare themselves for the experience. For example, while he mentions that students should major in a challenging field, he does nothing to offer reasons that go beyond the common sense that applicants must try to distinguish themselves from others. Further, this guide is somewhat outdated. His stance against web sites loses out when we realize that updates have been made to the LSDAS. I would recommend that students would do better to spend their money on a LSAT preparation book than to get information from "Game Plan."

This is a thorough book explaining the law school application process in detail. Includes checklists and timetables, as well as suggestions as to how to minimize the damage of grade fluctuations in a college record and the effect of medicre LSAT scores. It also provides strategies to employ in applying to law school for those of us without stellar LSATs and high grades. A section on a Texas case that laid bare the mysterious methods of law school admission committees was especially helpful. It is a little clipped in places and sometimes too glib, but is a good source of information.

This book provides the type of common sense advice that you could probably get from your father, a teacher, or a guidance counselor. It substitutes vagaries for hard advice. You probably already know that you need a good GPA and LSAT score to get into law school. You probably know that you should start considering law schools early so that you can request and prepare applications. You also probably know that law schools want a good personal statement and strong recommendations from professors.

Instead of spending your money on this book, I would buy a LSAT preparation book. There is nothing in this book that you can't figure out on your own.

I found this guide to be extremely helpful in certain areas. For choosing schools, Weaver classifies schools as "national," "regional," "subregional," or "local." These categories are very useful in analyzing one's job prospects coming out of each type of school. He warns against using absolute rankings beyond the top dozen schools in U.S. News, identifying these as "national" schools. In addition, Weaver relies on input from law students to determine whether this elite set of schools changes over time.

For writing recommendation letters, you will be hard-pressed to find a better guide anywhere. In addition to a detailed section that weighs the pros and cons of different types of recommenders (professors, employers, famous people, lawyers, and others), there is a very handy appendix which contains UTEP Law School Preparation Institute guidelines for faculty and employer recommenders. I used the appendix very often when soliciting letters and communicating with my recommenders.

Finally, I'm sure you've heard the standard story about what law schools consider in evaluating applicants, but you may doubt its accuracy. If you're looking for confirmation of this story, this book has an appendix that contains portions of a Supreme Court opinion regarding the law school admissions process.

In short, I strongly recommend consulting this guide when choosing schools and working on applications.

I got this book so I could have a GMAT prep book to read from my palm device. When sending to mobile device, it will fail on page 195 with an error stating there was a converter problem. If you intend to use on a palm device do not bother.

I liked the book. It guided me and showed me shortcuts with the math. The Sentence correction section explained grammatical concepts very succinctly, so I could understand and keep the rules with me for future reference.And, I know the different structures now by heart, because they were consistently presented with concise but complete explanations. I learned a lot in record time. Actually, this book was a sound investment for me.

It is not clear in the write up that you can not print this file. The introduction of the book even notes the importance of printing this (dog ear it, write on it etc...). It is noted that this is an e-book anyway. I have written to amazon with hopes of a refund as I am VERY upset and feel it was misrepresented. What is the point of a prep book if you can not write on it! Yes, 630 pages is a lot to print... but that is my call

I liked the book. It guided me and showed me shortcuts with the math. The Sentence correction section explained grammatical concepts very succinctly, so I could understand and keep the rules with me for future reference.And, I know the different structures now by heart, because they were consistently presented with concise but complete explanations. I learned a lot in record time. Actually, this book was a sound investment for me.

This book contains a good review in Math. However, in verbal section it contains only a few reviews and tips compare to those from Kaplan or Princeton review. Moreover, the questions seems to be easier than what you will face on real GMAT questions.

Hello,

I took the GMAT today and my GMAT score was 90 points lower than my lowest Princeton Review CAT score from the 04 edition of cracking the GMAT.

I made a 770 on both Powerprep tests (however my scores were highly inflated since I answer all of the questions in the ETS Guide before taking the Powerprep tests) and a 720 and 740 on the Princeton Review CATS.

I made a 610 (on diagnostic), 540, 570, 550 on the Kaplan CATs from the 05 edition.

I scored a 640 (46 math 31 verbal) and a 610 (41 math and 32 verbal) respectively on the Peterson CATs. I did not read the Peterson book.

Most importantly, my Peterson CAT scores were almost idential to my real GMAT score.

According to my unofficial GMAT score, I scored a 630: 46 on Math at 79% and 31 on verbal at 62% with an overall 79% ranking (or I scored higher than 79% of all the test takers).

Now if you want to know where you are at presently, take a couple of the Peterson's CATs.

However,I have more work to do if I want to get accepted into a top 10 MBA program for the Fall 2006 semester.

I bought this book along with a book from Kaplan and one from Princeton Review. This book was by far the worst of the three of them.

I had high hopes. It was recommended by a friend who said you could try out an essay and get it scored right away online. It turns out they used to have this essay part but took it away this year.

The rest of the book is OK, but not as good as the Kaplan book. Save your money....

Checking out the content of this book will reveal the fact that it's almost useless; Not only is the theoretical material incomplete (to say the least), but also the examples and test-like questions given are too easy.

However, the CD-ROM is the bonus and the heart of the bargain; it is one of the best I've used and it includes a feature that cannot be found elsewhere. By and large, the useful material on the CD are the tests - you get to take 6 full-length adaptive tests that are similar in level to the real GMAT. The extra-value of these tests is the feedback offered after taking them; you can get information not only about your general score, but also about the level of difficulty of each question you solved. The score you will get is a good approximation to the score you'll get on the real GMAT.

Bottom line - 5 stars for the tests and one star for the book.

The 2004 and the 2003 versions of the book and CD are identical, so you can be satisfied with a used version and save some bucks.

There was nothing unique about this book. I bought 4 different books to help me write my personal statement. They all said the same thing with the same insight. Talk about plagarism. They weren't word-for-word, but the gist was the same.

Save your money and buy only 1 book!

Avoid this one at all costs. These personal statements are laughably bad, almost without exception. Treating them as models for your own law school personal statement isn't wise; these things read more like poor college admissions essays written by high school students. The writing is leaden and awkward, the subjects cliched, and the editing sloppy. Also, it's worth noting that most of the applicants whose essays are featured in the book gained admission only to mediocre law schools. A better choice is "Law School Essays that Made a Difference," which features much stronger personal statements written by borderline applicants to top schools (Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, etc.). The writers managed to gain entry to these sorts of schools, sometimes despite so-so numbers, because of their exceptional personal statements. The "Anna Ivey Guide" and Richard Montauk's "How To Get Into The Top Law Schools" also have good info about the personal statement. Or avoid the law school advice industry altogether and get a book like "The Art Of The Personal Essay," an excellent anthology edited by Phillip Lopate; "The Best American Nonrequired Reading" series, edited by Dave Eggers; Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones"; and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird."

A helpful book! This book's real value are the excellent sections on
starting the writing process and understanding the basic types of questions that law schools ask. There are also separate chapters on secondary essays, like diversity and optional essays and wait list letters and a separate chapter just on recommendation letters.

Paul's book is really helpful. If you aren't sure what personal experience to write about in your personal statment, Paul discusses how to choose what to write about, which is really useful. He also tells you how to write a good outline so that when you actually have to write the essay, it's not so hard.

The advice on letter of recommendations is also very useful. Paul tells you how to choose the right recommenders and how to coach them so that your recommendations will really be an asset to your application.

There are also many sample essays which I found very beneficial. For this alone, the book is worth it.

I really recommend this book to anyone who's even thinking of applying to law school!