Usefulness of LSAT books & materials?

Question

I got a copy of Powerscore CR and RC for the LSAT for free. These books are massive compared to the Powerscore CR for GMAT. I was wondering if these books were useful at all. I have 8 weeks until my test date and I've already finished Powerscore CR (GMAT) and PR Verbal Workout.

I'm kind of saving the OG stuff for later, and I also have 1000 series, but I hear these oftentimes have incorrect answers and obviously there are no explanations.

Should I use these 2 new books or use some other stuff?

bipolarbear · Answer

The Powerscore LSAT LR Bible will definitely prepare you for critical reasoning, however it is overkill as it might prepare you TOO well if you study it from front to back. If you're aiming for an 800 though and have plenty of time it would be worthwhile to look over the sections that give you trouble (i.e. the specific type of questions that you find difficult such as weaken...etc). I have not read the LSAT RC Bible but any additional RC bible can't be too bad. I'm in favor of the MGMAT RC guide since it knows you can't underline/mark up the text. I'm not sure whether or not the LSAT guide is aware the text is digital so you'll have to make some changes.

LSAT in general will prepare you very well for the verbal section though the questions are much more difficult and for most people it's not worth the extra time.

LSAT in general will prepare you very well for the verbal section though the questions are much more difficult and for most people it's not worth the extra time.

bb · Answer

I am surprised this thread did not get more traction. :shock:

There is a whole generation of hardcore GMAT prep folks who have been using LSAT materials, but that was mostly pre-PowerScore and Pre-Manhattan GMAT generation, so they are few and scattered. I have heard of these books being used for GMAT: 10 Actual LSAT Tests PowerScore LSAT Logic Games PowerScore LSAT Reading Comprehension Master the LSAT My guess is that you don't have/need to use these unless you are looking for a 750+ score. The only case i can imagine is if you are stuck at 720 level and it is very important to get over the 750 barrier into the 99th percentile land.... Kind of like the GMAT Club tests for Math, these are for GMAT verbal - toughest material only if you need to perfect the score. My recommendation would be - use them only if you ran out of other material as not all material will be relevant.

optiquezt · Answer

This is a great and timely topic.

I think the idea of using LSAT prep to supplement GMAT prep is kind of like a Venn Diagram problem. There are items that are:

1. Unique to GMAT (Sentence Correction)
2. Shared by both (Logical Reasoning = Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension)
3. Logic Games and formal logic problems in the Logical Reasoning section which are not that relevant to GMAT students. But, if you have a nack for Logic Games, I see them as useful mental exercises to stretch the mind before a study session.

Reading Comprehension is pretty much 100% the same as for LSAT as for GMAT.
The logical reasoning ones are a little tricky because there are formal logic problems, unnecessarily hard for GMAT students, mixed in with the other logic problems, which will be more familiar with GMAT students. (Was that last sentence constructed correctly?)

That having been said, the Powerscore Bibles are all solid materials. BTW, if you look hard enough online, you can find paper versions of every LSAT ever administered.

Also, as someone who has taken the LSATs in the past, I can definitely say it has been a big help. I've been able to largely ignore a) studying for the verbal section and b) spending money on verbal study materials. The one area I've had to supplement is in sentence corrections. But this has allowed me to focus on Quantitative, which is my weaker area.

I'd be interested to know if any other former LSAT students have had similar experiences as well.

topher · Answer

Thanks everyone for the comments. I will use the LSAT Powerscore RC book. I'm not going to read everything, but I will try all the exercises and read the answers. I've read a little bit of this book and so far:

1. Yes, they assume you can mark up the test since LSAT is paper/pencil. It looks like they even devote a whole chapter to how you should mark up each RC passage.
2. Many of the RC passages deal with law-related material, whereas GMAT doesn't have any of that. LSAT passages use law, science, social/humanities topics, and economics topics. So most of the passages are relevant except for the law-specific ones.
3. The main advantage I see in using this book vs. 1000RC is there are answer explanations and you know that the answers in the book are correct. I will supplement with 1000RC/GmatClub explanations as well.

I won't be getting the MGMAT RC or Powerscore RC (for GMAT) as my RC is already ok and now I have this book. I may use the Logical Reasoning Bible sparingly since I've already finished the Powerscore CR Bible (for GMAT).

optiquezt · Answer

Topher,

I'd recommend doing the law/humanities/social science problems as well, even if they seem unrelated to the GMATs. Even if they are topically different, it really is about the mental exercise. The more you do, the better you'll get elsewhere.

And besides, you don't think you'll encounter items related to law, humanities, social sciences in business school?

topher · Answer

Yeah I plan on doing all passages in there. The thing I like about these questions so far is the answers are CLEAR. They use real past LSAT questions and it's not like MGMAT CATs where 2 answer choices look ridiculously similar. From what I gather, the real GMAT is also similar to the LSAT in this respect (clear answers).

phoenix09 · Answer

Are LSAT RC passages/questions similar to GMAT?

pleonasm · Answer

I can vouch for the LSAT CR bible - there's a wealth of information about how to tackle CR problems in that book. Frankly, if you can read the first 5-6 or so chapters, understand and implement every technique in those chapters - you'll hit a jackpot in GMAT CR. Not to belittle other books but the CR bible is a joy to read as well.

No clue about the RC book - I need to take a look at that sometime.

No clue about the RC book - I need to take a look at that sometime.

NorthQuebec · Answer

seems like overkill, but honestly if you are shooting for 760+ then yeah its worth it.

BM · Answer

I'm considering Powerscore RC, but it might interfere with my quant and SC studies. If I choose to go for it, I'll write a brief review later.

shadow · Answer

dont know how good the powerscore RC is, but i do recommend the powerscore LSAT LR bible... it does seem like overkill at times but it prepares you very well for the gmat

bb · Answer

Here you go: another-question-on-powerscore-cr-and-lr-86056.html

BM · Answer

LSAT passages are much longer and, I find, more complex. The question difficulty for both is roughly the same, though I have encountered a few LSAT RC questions that are very hard. Also, the LSAT includes topics not tested on the GMAT, such as law.

With that said, I think LSAT questions are good practice.

klusener · Answer

1] So if i have powerscore CR and RC book for gmat and have read them ( off course i have leisure time ) which LSAT books should i go thru.

2] One of my friends is doing LSAT's and i can get some powerscore books from him ( i wont be going thru them in the early phase of my gmat )

3] he has 36 or so official lsat's or something from kaplan , would it be worth while to go thru RC's and SC's of those ?

thanks,

shadow · Answer

i think the CR is more useful than the RC - only because RC really depends on you and how you ultimately interpret the passages.

if you time yourself using strict LSAT time limits (it's been awhile, so i'm not sure what they are now), then yes i think it would be worth it if you could take the RC sections fully timed and answer them. the caveat is that the LSAT covers some topics (like law) that the GMAT doesnt cover. however, i think you will still get the basics from these practice tests. i would only say save these LSAT tests towards the end of your study cycle. if you are weak on the basics, then the LSAT tests wont help you as much.

klusener · Answer

Thanks mate.

all of your replies were very useful . I will keep the lsat stuff , but wont use them as of yet.

just one more query , how different is lsat lr from gmat cr ?

zf123 · Answer

Is this the thread for those of us studying for both?

I'm finding LSAT LR slightly more challenging than GMAT CR, but I'll know better when I tackle OG. so far just going through mgmat cr book. I'm finding my Powerscore LSAT bible and Grouped by Question type book helpful for supplemental material.

Why is GMAT so protective of their questions? You can buy every released LSAT so it's almost impossible to run out of real practice material.

Posted from my mobile device

bb · Answer

i think this thread is mostly for those who are looking for additional hard practice questions and are turning to LSAT.
If you are taking both, and do well on LSAT, you have nothing to worry about on the GMAT Verbal section...

conquistador · Answer

Lots of useful info here. I'm probably going to buy LR, but it looks very expensive. Too expensive.

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Usefulness of LSAT books & materials?

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