The LSAT Trainer: A Remarkable Self-Study System for the Self-Driven Student

by Mike Kim

Introducing a remarkable new self-study guide for the law school admission test... The LSAT Trainer. Your LSAT score is the most important part of the law school admissions process. It is far more important than your essays, your recommendations, your GPA, where you went to college, or where you come from. A top LSAT score can open doors for you that would be virtually impossible to open otherwise. Most people are capable of drastically improving their scores with the right preparation. Most people score about the same on the actual exam as they do on their first diagnostic. The LSAT Trainer is the most advanced and effective LSAT learning system ever developed. No other book has ever explained the LSAT with as much depth and clarity, or presented strategies that are as simple, intuitive, and effective. But that's not what makes The LSAT Trainer truly special... Other books are designed to help you understand The LSAT. And that's what we expect our academic books to do. But the LSAT is not a test of what you know. Arguably, a super-smart eighth grader with no advanced training but great reading skills and common sense can get a perfect score on the exam. The LSAT is a test of how you think. The LSAT Trainer is a workbook--it is specifically designed to help you get better and better at thinking through and solving LSAT questions. Lessons and strategies are carefully combined with pinpointed drills and hundreds of real LSAT problems to help you transform what you read about into what you can do. Other books can help you understand the LSAT. The LSAT Trainer will help you get better at it.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, School, Self Help, Education, Legal, College

600 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2013

Reviews

[Eden]

I read every page of this thing. You’d better believe I’m counting it towards my reading goal.

Edit: I got my score from a baseline in the 72nd percentile to an actual score in the 93rd. I think this study method worked well for me.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great "study-guide" for anyone interested in going to law and preparing to take the LSATs. Kaplan is quite good, as well; however, if you're looking for a different study-guide, this is your best bet.

[Natalia Barrero]

another lsat book finished! Yippee!

[Taylor Rios]

thank you mike kim for not breaking my bank and for taking my score from [redacted] to [redacted]

[Baelor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Full disclaimer: my review may be premature, given that I have not yet taken the LSAT. But performance on my practice tests has improved noticeably, and my approach to the test has changed as a result of this book.

Mike's approach is best described as naturalistic for each section. While he outlines question types and discusses specific strategies in detail, there are overarching general strategies that are particularly emphasized. The goal is to be comfortable enough with general approaches that one can flexible solve a large number of questions. Habit formation, in brief.

The books contains plenty of drills and practice questions, which is obviously important for building solid approaches/habits.

I would not use this book in isolation if one's scores are uneven. My sole problem section was LR, and while Mike's tips were useful, having a book of equal length as the Trainer that treats only one of the three sections obviously permits more focused and thorough study.

This book is helpful for all skill levels. It also does not need to be completed in the suggested time frame (I compressed it into 1-2 weeks) to be effective.

[David Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The best way to ensure success is to deserve it." This is a great source of LSAT prep for those who can't afford to drop thousands on an LSAT prep class. Definitely worth getting through the 600 pages.

[Amber VandeLinde]

I don’t care I’m logging this it took me forever to finish it and I’m behind in my good reads goal

[Riley Peck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read every damn word. I liked Mike. Super clear and just makes sense. Will update this review if my score improves bc of this (cross yo fingers)
Update: I literally got the same exact score but I think my the second exam was harder so perhaps this did help a bit hahaha

[Audrey Kang · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best one. i mean i only read this one. but it was great

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

does this count as a book???
Took me 6 months (technically) to read this

Haven't taken the test yet so can't say for sure but a good basic intro to everything LSAT - start with this

[Sarah Dadey · Rating 4 out of 5]

counting this toward my reading goal bc took 6 weeks of my life. did it actually help? TBD

[Reagan Faith Waggoner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, not a big fan

[Jiewei Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written like a self help book fr, but actually quite helpful. By far the best prep book I've ever used for any standardized test ever, and that's after all those SAT and SAT II books in high school.

[lilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don't necessarily agree with every point in the book but i can't deny that it's helped me and for that it gets 4 stars. but here are some issues i have with this book:

the most important issue is that he say to not compare two answers when stuck, and that it wastes time. i agree that for easy/medium difficulty questions you should be able to recognize the right answer without comparing it to the other choices. but for hard questions, you have to, especially when the right answer is only right because it's the best available option. the only way to know that it's the best available option is to compare it to the other options.

another thing i disliked was his definition of "some". he defines some as 0 or greater but i disagree. "some" inherently means more than one and this might be a small difference but it's an important distinction. if a question asks for some but an answer choice says "at least one" then it might not be the best choice if a stronger option exists.

i was also frustrated with a few of his random drills. most if them are helpful but some if them felt unnecessary and the fact that he didn't provide explanations for some of them just made me more upset. i got your lame drill question wrong, so tell me why.

anyways, i'm glad i read the book, i'd definitely recommend.

[caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

forgot to ever log that i read this and i need the help towards my reading goal 🙏🏼

[elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

girl i was nowhere near a 170🙄

[Vanessa]

does this still count as a book

[Julia]

Ready for my 180

[Katie]

Aside from a tutor, of all the available resources (physical or digital), I found this book to be the most beneficial and worthwhile. Thank you Mike Kim!!

[Norah Catlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

didn't like the plot

[William Jongeward · Rating 5 out of 5]

hard launching studying for the lsat. someone pls hire me so I don't have to do this

[Kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would absolutely recommend this book for anyone prepping for the LSAT :*

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a wonderful book that fit my study style! thanks mike <3

[Makayla MacGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, engaging guide on the LSAT. Kim's strategies and drills were so invaluable and the lessons were perfect - digestible as well as challenging.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this is a review after reading and studying the first 8 chapters, which are all about how to identify flaws in an argument. I had absolutely no problem identifying the flaws in the flaw drills that he provided. I can see exactly why the arguments are flawed. However, when I got to the logical reasoning LSAT practice questions he provided, I bombed them. Now, I strongly believe that common logical sense (and not studying or even knowing logical terminology) is key to success here, but although I have it and can show WHY arguments are not valid (and make a great case for it), I just cannot apply it in a standardized test question format using Mike's methods. In fact, the biggest problem with this book so far is that he doesn't breakdown exactly how to answer an LSAT LR question with specifics. And it's also a HUGE problem when you go over Mike's explanations for the questions and you are STILL stumped. I just could not see his reasoning whatsoever. So when I get that feeling, an overwhelming amount of anger overcomes me and greatly discourages me from taking the LSAT. I literally want to vomit all over it. Oh, and I spend like 5 minutes PER QUESTION, so I will obviously not finish in time LOL. My brain just gets stuck on the longgggg and drawn-out, UNNECESSARILY COMPLICATED, sentences. Whenever I read those, they are DISTRACTING, and I'm like "Why the f*** can't this moron just make it simpler?" Although I understand exactly what the main point is, the words take up too much space in my field of vision and that alone greatly distracts me. There are just so many problems with the LSAT that I can write a thesis paper on it. Also, because this test angers me and could be a danger to my health, I probably should just stay the hell away from it.

So there's no doubt here that I will need a fall-back plan if I am to ever have any sort of worthwhile career (being unemployed right now and going nowhere in my mid-30s), and the one thing that comes to mind is being a paralegal. I have an ABA-approved paralegal certificate, but I'm going to take a few more elective courses at my local community college before applying for an internship to land me a job in the field. This is plan #1...the quickest route to a stable salary.

Now what's really funny is how a professor in one of my paralegal courses actually pulled me aside the last day of class and offered (yes, OFFERED) to write me a letter of recommendation to law school. I never asked him for one. And I was honored, to put it mildly. So if I would be great for law school but bomb the LSAT, what does that tell you? The LSAT absolutely should not, and cannot, be the prime determinant for getting accepted. No way, no how.

Plan #2 is applying to a non-ABA accredited law school here in California (yes, they have these). They are approved and accredited by the state bar, which really would limit you only to practicing in CA (or perhaps a few other states), but who cares? I have no issues with that. Hell, if a graduate from that kind of law school can get a job as a superior court judge (which did happen), and you didn't need to take the LSAT at all...AWESOME! And the bar exam is NOT like the LSAT. I am a million times better at applying law to a scenario and facts of the case than I am at trying to answer ludicrous, standardized multiple choice questions.

And that's that. If none of my options work out, I totally fear that I'll end up working against the law than for it. In any event, if you want to be thrown to the wolves, get Kim's book. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll put Mike Kim in my thank you speech we have rrl been through it together.

[Boone Ayala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel a little weird listing this as something I “read,” in part because it’s a non-traditional work and in part because it still has sections on Logic Games which I happily skipped. That said, I did spend a fair bit of time with it and I read everything that’s still relevant, so I’ll count it towards my goal.

Mile provides a good introduction to all kinds of questions. His general approach to the test, and to all standardized tests, seems right to me: trust your instincts, “train your elephant,” focus on wrong answers over right, etc. Sometimes his exercises felt a little useless to me, but normally that was a sign I was already doing what he was trying to teach me. I would recommend this book as a good introductory primer to the LSAT.

Maybe the most important piece of info for prospective readers: over the course of reading this book I’ve improved my prep test score by ~7 points. I’ll continue to train and employ these strategies going forward.

[MIKE Watkins Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lsat book
pros:

1. Has a lsat vocabulary section that is very helpful

2. The logic reasoning sections of this book are superior to the logic reasoning power score bible in terms of the various drills, explanations, and approaches it provides for handling these problems. The book showcases not only the categories of LR problems you’ll deal with on the LSAT but also the forms they come in. These forms consist of.... 1. Mistaking a puzzle piece to be enough to make the entire puzzle 2. Compare apples to oranges 3. 1+1=3. The book also shows you how a great test taker would resolve the problem you solved step by step.


Cons:

1. But when it comes to the LOGIC game section (which is for most the hardest part of the LSAT) I recommend reading the first section, and using some of the drills but that’s about it. It’s like a tale of two cities.. the Reasoning section is superb while the logic is underwhelming. The later LG sections aren’t organized and they simply provide too many diagrams/ methods of resolve LSAT problems. On the surface that seems good because it provides you with numerous ways of handling problems but it’s actually not good because you can only spare 8-9 minutes per each logic section. So you can’t afford to waste a lot of time contemplating what diagram would be best to utilize for each game.

1A. On the logic section primarily the author doesn’t provide nearly as much feedback on how to correctly solve each problem as he does for the LR and even RC (easiest part of the LSAT) sections. Often times you get a sentence or two that briefly explains what went wrong/ why his answer was right.

2A. A lot of the logic problems in this book are way harder then the ones in the LSAT practice test books... and if the goal is to work smarter and not harder this is counterproductive. What makes this worse is that as previously mentioned there are one or two sentences devoted towards explaining these super hard problems and if I’m being honest I feel like some of these problems had the wrong answers to them.

[Annie Rosenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt like Elle woods when I read

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

During my LSAT prep I used this book and some of the Powerscore books as well. I liked the different perspective this book offered compared to Powerscore, especially for the games. I also liked the format of this book compared to Powerscore. There were lots of call-out sections highlighting the detailed information and making it easy to review.

The last thing I liked about this book was the approach it took in terms of ordering and layering skills. Not 100% perfect (no single LSAT material will be for you), but definitely essential to be brining my score up 10+ points since my first benchmark test.