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Blueprint vs TestMasters LSAT
We take a close look at the Blueprint and TestMasters LSAT prep courses to determine which is better in this detailed comparison
Crushing the LSAT and getting a top tier score is key to getting an admissions letter from your dream law school. We all know that. But at the outset of your studies, how do you decide which prep course to go with? In this comparison guide, we take a side-by-side look at two of the most popular LSAT prep courses out there, Blueprint and TestMasters, to see which is best for you.
Why Blueprint Is Better Than TestMasters For LSAT Prep
To see how the LSAT prep courses from Blueprint and TestMasters stack up, let’s highlight the study materials and features that each is known for, first starting with Blueprint.
Blueprint Courses Are More Affordable
Unlike other prep courses, Blueprint offers students a large swath of course options to choose from. These range from their basic Self-Paced course all the way up to their Private Tutoring packages.
Starting with their Self-Paced package, this offering boasts the essentials for a DIY-er. This includes video lessons, practice questions, full length practice exams and a set of hardcopy prep books. One of their most popular options, this package costs around $200 per month.
At the next level up, Blueprint provides its LiveCourse. This package builds on the essential Self-Paced course, but adds 30+ hours of live class time through a virtual classroom. This Live Online option runs for around $1,300.
One of Blueprint’s engaging video lectures
Next is the company’s 170+ Course, which includes a minimum score guarantee of 170, as well as 40 more hours of live class time. This package is best for students seeking an elite score in order to get accepted into a top tier law school.
Lastly, for those students that are looking to absolutely obliterate the LSAT and get into a top 10 school, or just need the guidance of a helping hand, Blueprint offers a private tutoring package. This package gives varying blocks of private 1:1 access to one of Blueprint’s LSAT experts, but doesn’t come cheap. Prices start at a little over $2,700 and go up from there.
When comparing Blueprint’s self-paced option directly to TestMasters, the Blueprint format is considerably cheaper, which can be a pretty big deal. In addition, Blueprint’s Live Course is about $275 more affordable than TestMasters analogous course (which is discussed further below).
So in terms of cost, whether you’re looking for some online, DIY study OR live online class work, Blueprint is going to give you more bang for the buck.
Quality of the Blueprint LSAT Study Materials
Although they offer a healthy variety of study resources, Blueprint’s LSAT course is all about the online content. Their live classes and books are extremely good in their own right, but it all starts with Blueprint’s video lessons and other online materials – i.e. everything in the self-paced program.
The video lessons are engaging, informative and downright attention grabbing. Your instructor appears onscreen, and as they give their lesson, cool graphics, animations and digital effects appear around them.
For visual learners, these are a godsend. You get to watch your instructor on camera and pick up their nonverbal cues, while also getting to see the key notes and helpful visuals that make retaining material a lot easier.
A sample Blueprint practice problem and explanation, showing their sleek interface
These lessons are short and engaging, and after each video lecture (sometimes two back-to-back) you are given a quiz to make sure you are retaining what you just learned. These short diagnostics are a great means of reinforcing the information you just received and making sure you’re on track.
In addition, after every lesson on a topic, you are given some homework, which includes practice problems and drills. In terms of quality of these practice questions, they are unrivaled as they are all real, previously used LSAT questions from past exams. However, almost every LSAT prep company uses these same materials today (including TestMasters), so that’s not exactly special.
More importantly though, I loved HOW Blueprint delivers this practice work. Their digital interface is clean, intuitive and very engaging. You can strikethrough answer choices, use a lifeline (like eliminating two answers), and see how you are performing compared to your peers. It is an incredible online program.
Beyond the online content, the Blueprint classes are also rock solid. TestMasters is known for their live classes, but I found Blueprint’s to be just as good. The instructor of my live class was crazy knowledgeable about the LSAT and was really funny as well. He kept things light and was always down to answer any question a student had, whether during class hours or after.
And on a final note, I was really happy with Blueprint’s hardcopy prep books, though they aren’t the highlight of this course.
Honestly, it’s probably Blueprint’s own fault for making the online portion of their course so electric, but these books are just OK compared to the video lessons. It’s just hard to get yourself up for reading another chapter when the alternative is watching a super high quality video.
All in all, we loved Blueprint’s coursework, especially their online study material.
As mentioned above, Blueprint’s video lessons are at the heart of this course and play a large role in why they rank so highly on our list of best LSAT prep courses.
These video lessons are the perfect, digestible length and feature some of the best production value we have seen. The screen is constantly filled with little cartoon animations, diagrams, and other catchy visuals that suck you in and hold your attention.
Another view of Blueprint’s LSAT video lessons
I also really like how these video lectures are short and don’t drone on and on like you get with some lessons (which TestMasters lectures sometimes have a tendency to do). The bottom line is that LSAT prep can be a grind, and having and instructors with some serious wit and humor can make all the difference.
As compared to other video lessons we’ve reviewed, Blueprint blows them out of the water. In our team’s opinion, these videos are best-in-class for material comprehension and retention. Visual learners take note of this.
Why TestMasters Is Better Than Blueprint For LSAT Prep
Now that you better understand the highlights of the Blueprint LSAT courses, let’s flip the script and discuss the major reasons why you may want to select TestMasters to help you prepare for the LSAT.
TestMasters LSAT Course Options & Pricing
Relative to Blueprint, TestMasters’ offerings are pretty simple. They provide a Live Course and an Online Course. That’s it.
The Live Course is most directly analogous to Blueprint’s Live Online course and takes place in an in-person setting or online, usually over 15 separate 3-hour sessions. You meet up in the evenings online via Zoom or at a classroom on campus or hotel conference room and go over your lesson for that week (sometimes twice per week).
This adds up to about 45 hours of in-class time, with another 100 hours of work outside of class. This package runs for right around $1,575, which is pricier than Blueprint’s Live Course.
A look at TestMasters’ online LSAT video lectures
The other option – the Online Course – is similar to Blueprint’s Self-Paced course. This package gives you access to 150 or so hours of prerecorded video lectures from TestMasters founder Robin Singh, and the other basics of any self-paced program like practice problems and simulated tests.
That said, while the two courses look the same on paper in terms of features, the delivery is very different. More on this below. This TestMasters self-paced Online Course comes in at around $1,275 – a bit pricier than the Blueprint option.
If you are looking for cheaper LSAT prep options, be sure to check out the LSAT courses from Magoosh.
Our Evaluation of the TestMasters LSAT Classes & Study Materials
Clearly, the biggest selling point of the TestMasters course is their series of live classes. This is where TestMasters earns their reputation. They are offered all over the country and give students a chance to learn from and interact with an expert LSAT instructor that has learned Robin Singh’s methodologies.
The classes are fast-paced, intense and jam packed with tons of great info. But as these are covered in a little more detail below, let’s discuss the other aspects of the TestMasters course.
While TestMasters’ live classes are superb, the recorded lectures you get with the Online Course don’t even come close to Blueprint’s lessons. Whereas Blueprint employs a lecture style that directly addresses you, the student, the TestMasters video lessons are just recorded lectures from some previous class.
I am not a big fan of this for a couple reasons. For one, it’s like sitting in on a class, but you can’t ask questions, be called on for your input, or pick your instructor’s brain. And with those limitations, you get the worst part of live classes – other students asking dumb questions, long pauses as the instructor waits for a student he called on to give a response, and generally unscripted lectures that eat up more time than is necessary.
Where Blueprint’s lessons are succinct, choreographed and streamlined, TestMasters’ Online Course lessons are anything but.
Another view of a video lesson from TestMasters, led by founder Robin Singh
In addition, while Robin Singh is clearly an LSAT genius, I’m not sure that directly translates to the best teaching style. He cold calls students for answers, takes long pauses, then goes into warp speed when he really wants to get a point across.
Don’t get me wrong, he is an LSAT master and his methodologies work – I just wasn’t the biggest fan of the online lectures. However, I will say the production value is really good for being a recorded live lecture. The picture is sharp, the camera shots switch frequently for engagement, and he makes great use of the whiteboard. So the delivery is solid.
And in terms of practice material, you will use roughly the same material that you get with Blueprint – that is, official LSAT material from past exams. Both companies license these questions and tests from the makers of the exam, LSAC. So the quality of the practice material is equal.
As I noted above, while not crazy about their online video lessons, the TestMasters in-person classes are the star of the show. The beauty of TestMasters’ live classes is that they cover just about every major metropolitan area in the US. If you live near a city with 500,000+ people, there’s a good chance there will be a TestMasters live class there this year.
These live class sessions are money. Across 15 sessions you will get spoon fed all of TestMasters’ top rate curriculum. Their study plan is on point, and the instructors they employ are even better.
I found our instructor to be very smart, energetic and passionate about making sure students understood the concepts being taught. She’d frequently pause to make sure everyone was on the same page and give people time to process and ask questions.
The in-class lesson plan is built around a series of lesson books that were written by Robin Singh. As mentioned, he is an LSAT genius and his LSAT strategies are unflappable. The lectures follow these books and give some great insight that you can’t garner from the written pages.
All in all, after a full review of each prep option, we give the nod to Blueprint as the all-around better LSAT prep course. Their curriculum, live classes and prep books are rock solid, and their video lessons are next level.
That said, TestMasters does win in some specific categories, and if you’re looking for a feature-by-feature breakdown our findings, see below:
Quality of Study Materials – Advantage: Blueprint. The quality of Blueprint’s online study content is too good not to give credit where it’s due. Their online video lessons, drills and practice problem bank are some of the absolute best we have seen in LSAT prep.
Pricing & Course Options – Tie. While the Blueprint self-paced Online Anytime course is more affordable than the TestMasters Online Course plan (by a few hundred dollars), the TestMasters live classes are a hair cheaper. All in all, the pricing is close enough that we deem this a tie.
Books – Advantage: Blueprint. This was very close, as we really liked TestMasters’ lesson books, but the Blueprint prep books are more helpful. While the content of both courses’ books is very informative and high quality, the format and styling of the Blueprint books make them a little easier to understand and digest.
Live Classes – Advantage: TestMasters. While we really like the Blueprint live classes, this component is the star of the TestMasters show. TestMasters’ live classes provide tons of great strategies and content through solid instructors that are LSAT experts.
Practice Tests – Tie. Another tie here, as both companies use nothing but real LSAT questions from past administrations of the exam, which are licensed from LSAC.
User Experience & Interface – Advantage: Blueprint. By a mile. TestMasters doesn’t even come close on this one, as Blueprint’s digital platform is about the best around. Their dashboard and overall program are sleek, modern and very user friendly.
Extra Resources – Advantage: Blueprint. While we liked TestMasters email support (which promises 24-hour turnaround time), the supplemental tools you get with Blueprint are much better. The performance reports, online review sessions (akin to office hours) and online exam proctoring are especially noteworthy.
Content Access Period – Tie. This is generally a wash, as the Blueprint LSAT access period totally depends on which package you sign up for, while TestMasters offers 4 months of access.
Score Guarantees – Tie. Both courses offer a higher score guarantee, which we were happy to see, as this provides students a nice insurance policy.
Which LSAT prep course costs more, Blueprint or TestMasters?
Blueprint generally offers more affordable pricing than TestMasters. Both their self-paced online courses and live online classes are cheaper.
What is the main difference between the Blueprint and TestMasters LSAT prep courses?
The main differentiator between these two courses is the style of video lectures for their respective online courses. Blueprint uses an engaging, 1:1 approach to video lessons, while TestMasters’ video lectures are from prerecorded classes.
Which LSAT course is better, Blueprint or TestMasters?
While Blueprint gets the slightly better overall score in our ranking system, it is a close call and both courses win in different categories.
