Review of Powerscore's LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible

Question

Pros : 
1. Difficulty - The size, additional topics, and complexity of some of these extra chapters definitely make this book much harder than the Powerscore CR Bible.
2. Extra Topics - While the extra chapters will specifically cater to the LSAT, reading them can strengthen your overall CR skills and allow you to see these questions from a different, and perhaps better, angle.
3. Discussion - This book does a fine job at explaining each section and reinforcing the material with practice exercises and real test questions.
4. Product Quality - Although a minor issue, the pages and book cover are of good quality.

Cons : 
1. Intended Use - This is an LSAT guide, so some parts of the book are unnecessary and distracting. 
2. Size - Totaling 542 pages, this book is absolutely massive and heavy.
3. Price - Prices range from 40 to 65 dollars. That's expensive. 
4. Exhaustion - The amount of time and energy it takes to fully absorb this book's contents will exhaust you. The conditional reasoning section is particularly frustrating.

Overall Assessment : 
This is a very, very large and time consuming book. For most people, this guide is simply too big and expensive to justify a place in their GMAT library. Besides, Powerscore already offers a CR guide specifically geared toward the GMAT. However, a number of high verbal scorers have used the LR book and highly recommend it. There's certainly something special to this book, and it should be emphasized that this is the most powerful guide for mastering CR and LR concepts.

If you are unable to commit to the LR guide, then this will not put you at a disadvantage. Simply use the Powerscore CR guide and you should be perfectly fine. However, if you're aiming for a very high verbal score, and have the energy, time, and money to do so, then the Powerscore LR Bible is probably the right choice for you. This book goes beyond the GMAT and will give you an advantage on test day.

gurpreetsingh · Answer

Thanks a lot for the review and I would like to add my comments as well.

powerscore CR bible is a wonderful book and a must read.
The best strategy is to read powerscore Cr bible 2 times and then practice OG12 and Og verbal.
If possible do OG's twice. We have many tests - powerprep(og overlap exists), gmatprep, mgmat tests.
If we still feel we need more practice then only we should use LSAT CR and that too just practice questions. Make sure near the exam get used to Gmat CR using OG's.

Since most of us work full time its not advisable to do stuff out of scope. The time spent on Ds/Sc will benefit more than spent on extra stuff.

Just my opinion.

BM · Answer

Thanks for the input, gurpreetsingh!

I agree with you about the Powerscore CR Bible. It's magnificent, and I recommend this one above all others almost every time. The quality and price simply cannot be matched by any other GMAT guide. Plus, it's actually an enjoyable read.

With that said, I still favor the LR guide for special cases.

conquistador · Answer

It looks like you used LSAT a lot for your prep. I just ordered the RC book and will get this one too. What about the Superprep? You wrote a review for that too, but is it too much after the RC and LR books?

BM · Answer

I incorporated three LSAT books into my GMAT studies. The SuperPrep is decent, but most would consider this excessive. Wait until you finish the Powerscore guides before making a decision. And don't forget to also use the Manhattan SC guide.

And, if it's not too much trouble, tell us what you think of Powerscore's LR and RC guides!

And, if it's not too much trouble, tell us what you think of Powerscore's LR and RC guides!

dokiyoki · Answer

I am currently reading one. A little Verbose but a good book especially if u dread CR (atleast I do :oops:

)

onedayill · Answer

Don;t be scared of CR... There should be only one thing in your mind: "Just Do It"

At least, I have this in my mind.

dokiyoki · Answer

Thanks onedayill, I guess the only way to fight fear is to face it ! The ridiculous part about CR is that our (author & I) point of views just do NOT match !! :stab

Btw, interesting profile pic.

onedayill · Answer

That's true...It always happens

Thanks for Pic.

AbhiJ · Answer

I find the idea of following a book just because someone with V51 recommended it, a bit flawed.

This is confusing correlation with causation. Nobody knows how much the particular book helped in achieving the score.

For that matter I read a recent debrief of 750+ score, where the author found following the CR strategies tough/time consuming and he just went by his gut feeling.

BM · Answer

I see your point and have edited the original post. Thanks! Still, I wouldn't focus on that one line too much, as it's not about one high scorer (singular) who used the book. It's about high verbal scorers (plural) who used the book and expressed their enthusiasm for it. And while you're correct that nobody can quantify how much a book helped them to score on the test, the point is that it helped them. :wink:

But you're free to choose whatever method works best for you. Regardless of what you decide, I wish you luck!

matjon · Answer

Wow!

It feels great to see that technology is also concern about the Bible contents and there are really existing web pages that are generating it on easy and modern way. Through these,we are gonna be accessing the Bible verses and phrases more easier.

I hope that it is also available here in my country.

Thanks.

mike9428 · Answer

Hi friends,

I have a Powerscore LR book and I heard the LR book is very much similar to the CR book but only with extra chapters. Can anybody tell me which chapters that I should include in to study for the GMAT CR section? I am trying to cut some of the material in LR that will not be tested in GMAT. Thanks heaps.

BM · Answer

Hi, mike9428. The answer that you're looking for can be found in the following thread (scroll down some to find it): i-recently-stumbled-upon-two-articles-on-the-similarities-97730.html

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