Test prep giant Princeton Review has been helping future law students prep for the LSAT for decades and is about the biggest game in town – but does that mean it is the right prep course for you? In this review, we take a close look at the Princeton Review LSAT prep course lessons, coursework and structure, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this prep course.
As this is a pretty lengthy review that covers a number of topics, above is a helpful jump-to table of contents for your convenience.
In the video above, we break down the major Princeton Review LSAT prep highlights, including quality of the study materials, pricing, video lessons, and more. Or, read on for more detail about the Princeton Review LSAT prep course.
All in all, Princeton Review has around 150 hours of online lessons throughout their online coursework. When following the course syllabus (which is not mandatory, but I recommend doing), the videos appear intermittently throughout the content, breaking up written lessons, practice problems and drills.
The video lessons offer test taking strategies, as well as explanations of concepts and problem types. I personally found them to be insightful and clearly articulated.
Generally, there is no actual person on camera providing a lesson, but rather a digital whiteboard illustrating problem solving strategies and other concepts with a voiceover.
If you prefer actually watching someone work through a problem on a whiteboard, then this may not be the video style for you. You never see your instructor. That said, I found the Princeton Review video lessons to be effective and well-designed (though not as good as Blueprint’s video lessons).
The graphics and dynamic whiteboard with the instructor voiceover are sharp, and have an effective way of conveying the message. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the video quality and lesson material, and found that despite not having an instructor to watch, it kept me engaged. I liked this more varied approach.
The rest of the coursework is comprised of written instruction in the prep books, dissecting the various types of problems and explanations of how to solve them, general test taking strategies, drills, and practice problems.
I found the material to be very comprehensive and detail oriented, and in fact, almost too detailed at times.
Princeton Review isn’t afraid to get into the weeds explaining the finer details of individual problem types and goes to great lengths to cover every single type of problem that may appear. It almost felt like they don’t want to be called out for missing a single detail, so they went borderline overboard on the finer points.
I think most students that are targeting a high LSAT score (which requires mastering just about very concept) will appreciate this, but might melt others’ minds if they are targeting a score more around the mean.
Between the digital content and hard copy prep books, there was a lot to like here. The quality of the coursework is rock solid, and Princeton Review gives you all of the necessary tools to fully prepare for the array of problem types you’ll see on the LSAT.
I was generally impressed with the quality and structure of the Princeton Review coursework and study materials, and put Princeton Review right up there with test prep mammoth Kaplan in terms of quality coursework.
The Princeton Review LSAT prep course options range in price from approximately $800 up to $4,000, depending on course type and whether tutoring is purchased.
Self-Paced Course: costs $800 and includes all the basic LSAT study materials you need to prepare on your own.
Fundamentals Course: costs $1,250 and includes everything the Self-Paced Course offers plus 30 hours of live class time.
LSAT 165+ Course: costs $2,100 and includes 65 hours of live class time plus a score guarantee of 165.
Immersion 165+: intensive bootcamp style course that includes over 130 hours of live instruction. Costs a shade under $4,000.
While definitely not the budget prep option in the LSAT category, the Princeton Review price points are right in line with rivals like Kaplan.
Though it may seem a little steep, this is the going rate for a top tier, full scale LSAT course. If budget is a major concern for you, however, you may want to take a look at LSAT Lab or Magoosh, which offer good value courses.
One of the first questions students ask when assessing which LSAT prep course is best, is how many practice tests the course offers. The Princeton Review LSAT prep course requires 6 full-length, diagnostic practice exams as part of its course curriculum.
In addition to these 6 diagnostic exams, students are also given access to another 80+ full-length practice exams from past LSATs.
This access is delivered through LSAC’s LawHub Advantage program, which is a subscription package that allows you access to a library of previously administered official LSATs (Blueprint and Kaplan offer the same).
Luckily, one year of access to this program is included with the Princeton Review courses ($120 value). This is a big plus as other LSAT prep companies make you purchase this separately.
But don’t get bent out of shape because you have to link over LSAC’s practice tests – in terms of practice test quality, there’s obviously no better option then taking official LSATs from the actual test administrators.
And the price of access is built right in, so at least for me, it didn’t matter.
Most importantly, the practice exams you get with Princeton Review are the real deal, from the minds of the test makers, so you know you’re getting top-tier quality practice tests.
There is no lack of practice problem explanations in the Princeton Review LSAT prep course. That’s for sure. There are literally thousands of them, each explaining why the correct answer for a given problem is correct, and why the incorrect answers are, well, incorrect.
For the full-length practice tests, the problem explanations are housed in PDFs from the dashboard.
For practice problem sets in the online coursework, the answer explanations are delivered digitally right after you finish your practice problem set.
In terms of quality, I found the answer explanations to be very detailed and helpful.
They are not just short, blanket explanations stating the reason why a particular answer is correct, but rather explain why the selected answer is correct and why the incorrect answers are incorrect, all while wrapping in concepts that have previously been covered in the coursework. I thought these explanations added real value.
The Princeton Review LSAT prep books that accompany their prep course are similar to their online content – that is, they are detailed, thoughtfully written, and honestly, almost too thorough. There are 5 hard copy books included:
The books track with and supplement the online lessons and materials, and together, make for an extremely comprehensive review course. The books provide well-designed drills, practice problems and lessons. They are detailed, analytical and very thorough, and you definitely feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.
While the prep books alone would not likely be sufficient to help you achieve the score you want, they do provide the necessary material in combination with the online content and in-class material to get you there.
The Princeton Review online dashboard is nothing to write home about. It’s incredibly basic and lacks any bells and whistles. That said, it does everything you need it to do – it provides easy and direct access to your coursework, practice tests, practice problem explanations and more.
If you’re looking for a cutting-edge dashboard with clean, modern design, and a mobile first approach, this is not for you. But if you just want the meat and potatoes dashboard, which I personally prefer, it is perfectly serviceable.
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Like the dashboard interface, the user experience is no frills, but effective. The sections of the course, including practice tests, coursework and resources, are easily navigable and intuitively designed.
The coursework lessons are taught in modules in the form of popup windows directly on the page. You click a lesson, it pops up in an on-page window, and you work your way through the interactive lesson, clicking buttons, rearranging lists and hovering over explanations.
The coursework content is divided into two views, making it easier for you to digest the study material based on their learning style:
The subject type view breaks the coursework out into groups based generally on the sections of the LSAT. The three sections of this view are Arguments, Reading Comprehension, and Global Strategies.
This makes it really easy for you as the user to focus in on subject types that they need to practice. For example, if you’re struggling with reading comprehension, you can easily drill down to and work through that section from this view.
The alternative syllabus view takes you through Princeton Review’s course in an ordered structure. This structure generally starts with foundational principles and builds on them throughout the lessons.
So, assuming you’re studying the LSAT for the first time, I’d suggest following this filtered view of the content. There are 24 units of coursework and the online, interactive syllabus structure generally tracks with the books. No matter which view you choose though, the coursework is ultimately the same.
My personal opinion is the split content views are a nice feature, but not that special. Most students will likely end up picking one view like I did (the syllabus view) and following that.
But all in all, it’s a pretty nice and easy-to-use experience. Again, it’s not the most modern or cutting-edge user experience I’ve seen in reviewing courses, but it’s serviceable.
The resources section of the Princeton Review LSAT prep course online content is a little thin. It contains only the course syllabus, the problem explanations for practice tests, and book corrections.
It strikes me as odd that the practice problem explanations are listed as a resource, as they are such a critical element of the overall learning process and course plan.
I’d like to see them have their own section, or even be incorporated right into the material, but at the end of the day, the content is there all the same, just lodged in the resource section – not a big deal, but worth noting.
It would be nice to see some additional resources here as well, such as more general test taking tips and strategies, but overall the resource section is sufficient.
Each Princeton Review LSAT prep course option, apart from the budget self-paced course, comes with classroom instruction led by an LSAT expert. The Fundamentals course offers 30 hours of in-classroom, instructor-led lessons, while the LSAT 165+ Guaranteed course has 65 hours of in-person instruction.
The Princeton Review instructors are all gurus, with most having scored in the 98th percentile or better on the exam. These are people that know this exam inside and out and have mastered communicating the techniques necessary to ace it (similar to the Kaplan and Magoosh LSAT instructors).
Each instructor will be different and have their own strengths and weaknesses (and quirks), but I found my Princeton Review instructor to be extremely knowledgeable and a strong communicator. She definitely seemed to care about each student’s success and hitting their target score.
The in-classroom coursework is generally the same as you would receive through the books and online content, however, it offers you the chance to
I personally found the in-classroom experience to be beneficial.
In addition to the in-classroom prep, the Princeton Review course options also offer access to your instructor by phone and email to ask questions about difficult problems or challenging concepts.
I tested this instructor access and found that Princeton Review was true to their word – my LSAT instructor responded within 6 hours to my query. Not bad considering this wasn’t her day job and likely also had numerous other students asking questions. Just don’t go abusing this feature and you should get some benefit from it.
The classroom component also offers the opportunity of four live, proctored exams, simulating the real test day experience. There is no better way to prep for the actual exam than sitting through a proctored practice test, and I found this experience highly useful.
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While the test prep course we purchased did not come with private tutoring, the top tier package from Princeton Review that comes with 1-on-1 personalized tutoring sessions includes dedicated time with the same folks that teach the in-person course. I strongly suspect you would get the same level of responsiveness and knowledge that I experienced through the in-person class, but on an individualized level.
If you’re the type of student that needs a little 1-on-1 time to fine tune your skills or get that extra couple points on your score, the tutoring option is likely right for you. In addition, the Princeton Review personalized tutoring option is a (relative) value, starting at roughly $1,800, while rival Kaplan’s private tutoring course options start at approximately $3,300.
Online course content is accessible for 365 days after purchase, which for most students should be plenty of time to get their prep completed before sitting for the exam.
At this time there is not a mobile app for the Princeton Review LSAT course; however, the course can be accessed by logging in from your mobile phone or other mobile device.
Princeton Review does have a money back guarantee. Now, there are two options to consider regarding the Princeton Review guarantee. The first gives you the option to retake the course within 90 days of completion if you are not 100% satisfied.
The second is a guarantee in the event your score does not improve, provided that the following eligibility criteria is met:
Within 7 days, the course price is refundable. Shipping costs are nonrefundable, and the costs of shipping for the return of any materials is at your expense.
The short story is that you can’t go wrong with Princeton Review LSAT prep. In my opinion, they offer excellent content across both hard copy books and their digital platform, including lessons, drills, practice problems and explanations, and full-length practice tests.
Although I found their online dashboard and user experience to be a little basic and outdated, it’s my opinion that their instructors are very knowledgeable and that their coursework effective.
Throw in the score guarantee, and you’ve got a solid all-around package for the price. If you’re looking for a traditional prep course from an industry leader with a demonstrated track record of success, this course is likely right for you.
The Princeton Review LSAT prep course costs between $800 and $4,000 depending on whether you want live classes and/or tutoring.
Yes. The Princeton Review LSAT prep course includes a subscription to LSAC’s LawHub Advantage, which gives you access to all past LSATs.
Princeton Review is a solid all-around choice for LSAT prep. One of our favorite courses among LSAT prep providers, they provide a robust curriculum and effective set of lessons.