Manhattan LSAT's philosophy centers on the belief that to score in the top score bands, one must move beyond the "tricks" and learn to think clearly and quickly. It is generally impossible to score in the top percentiles by categorizing and memorizing the test - instead, one must learn to approach the test flexibly. One must also strike a balance between two competing emphases: test-taking strategies on the one hand, with in-depth content understanding on the other. In our experience, many test-prep companies offer the former without the latter, an approach that often leads to disappointing results. We have encountered many students who have learned certain "test-prep tricks" but do poorly on the actual exam because, without sufficient content understanding, they misapply these tricks.

This does not mean that we abandon the tricks. Instead, these are taught alongside lessons on what the LSAT is testing, how arguments work, and how top scorers solve logic games and read like a law student. Finally, we do not promise or even expect that you’ll have seen every twist and turn the LSAT may throw at you on test day. Historically, the LSAT continues to evolve, and we believe that strict-executors of the tricks find themselves at a disadvantage compared to those who focus on the core of the test and learn to adapt.

It’s true that our courses are designed for people who are looking to score in the top percentages on the LSAT. However, students of various ability levels have found our courses beneficial. Typically, we assign relevant chapters in our books as homework after a class session, however if a student is feeling that classes are too tough, he or she should read the relevant chapters before each class in order to get more out of the session. This has proved very helpful for some students. Students can also watch the class recordings before each session to help them get the most out their classes.

Some students have found it better to work one-on-one with a private tutor to make sure the material is taught at a pace and depth that works for them.

No. We offer something substantially different: if you attend at least 11 of the 12 classes and do the work, then you can take our class again for free, space permitting. Similarly, if you didn’t attend the majority of the classes or were unable to keep up with the work load, you can take our course again for $399.

Why do we do this?

1. Score guarantees are not what they seem. If you read the fine print about score guarantees, you’ll see that you have to do a great deal to qualify. In many instances, you cannot miss a single class, you must do all the HW, have it checked, etc.
2. Everyone’s goal is different. What if your score improved one point – is that satisfactory? Is five points enough? What if you’re shooting for a 15 point gain and your scores rise only 10 points? We want to help anyone who has not yet reached his or her goal, and is willing to do the work. Also, a six-point increase means very different things for the person initially scoring a 150 and someone starting at a 169! We specialize in people looking for top scores, and often they come to us already sporting robust numbers.
3. Simply improving isn’t hard. If your score doesn’t improve a few points after doing a series of PrepTests, something is off! Exposure to the LSAT is in itself a way of improving your score. Just because your score at the end of the class is slightly higher than it was when you started doesn’t mean that it’s a score you’re happy with. We designed our policy with this fact in mind.
4. It’s a waste of time. Managing a score guarantee program generally entails a lot of work on the part of the student and the company. HW needs to be checked, diagnostic tests need to be administered, etc. Throughout our course, all of your class time will be spent working on LSAT content. We won’t spend your class time ensuring that you’ve met our requirements.
5. You need to do the work. There is an unavoidable fact about LSAT prep: if you don’t do the work, you won’t improve your score. While our teachers are phenomenal and our curriculum is top-notch, you need to do the heavy-lifting. We guarantee that we do our job, but it won’t matter if you don’t commit to the work as well.

The primary difference is the caliber of instruction; our Teachers are paid $100 per hour to start, as compared to $25 - $30 per hour. As a result, we are able to maintain much higher standards for our Teachers. Our Teachers must have scored in the 99th percentile (about a 172, depending on the curve) on an officially-administered LSAT, compared to a 163 at our largest competitor. In addition, candidates must be outstanding teachers to be hired; historically 1 out of 10 candidates (all of whom have a 99th percentile score) receives an offer from us, based upon our rigorous interview and auditioning process. New Teachers then receive 100 hours + of training before being given their own class or private students. To meet our Teachers, take a look at their bios.

Because of the abilities of our Teachers and the training they receive, we are able to provide a more ambitious curriculum that focuses on the actual academic content of the LSAT to help students get higher scores. But it all begins with the value we place on high quality instruction.

Though a few other companies maintain a similar score threshold for their Teachers, there are distinct differences between Manhattan LSAT and other LSAT prep companies.

Our classes are capped (18 in person, 25 online with two teachers) so that teachers can teach and students receive the attention they need. Testmasters, Blueprint and Powerscore run large classes (you can see up to 30-70 students) in lecture style halls. We train our Teachers for 2-3 months and our teachers-in-training must sit through an entire course, do the HW, and complete curriculum projects to develop true mastery of the material. Testmasters and other competitors run weekend or week-long trainings.

Our Teachers must have 99th percentile scores, Blueprint requires 98th percentile.

Our audition process is the most rigorous in the industry and far less than half of applicants make it to the final stage where we fly them to NYC to come teach in front of us. Fewer than 10% of those candidates who make it to that stage are then hired. We pay our teachers $100/hr + prep time. This is significantly higher than all our competitors, and allows us to attract and retain the best teachers. Blueprint, Testmasters and Powerscore pay $60 - $75/hr, etc. Paying a teacher more doesn’t make them teach better, but it does allow us to attract and retain the best teachers in the country.

Our competitors have curricula that require 100 hours of lectures. Former students of Testmasters have told us they do not receive strategy guides – you must attend the class to learn their systems. The Manhattan LSAT Strategy guides are written to be your second teacher. During class, our students focus on wrestling with the LSAT, not taking notes to memorize a system.

These other companies ask students to come to many more classes. This generally indicates an emphasis on explaining as many questions as possible. We take a radically different approach: dive deep into questions and use class as an opportunity to engage students in real dialogue to improve their critical thinking. Our competitors require numerous and lengthy lectures to convey the multitude of categories they use to dichotomize the test. The Manhattan LSAT curriculum is focused on understanding the test, not memorizing it. Manhattan LSAT classes are more efficient; they’re designed to make you engage with the material and the teacher, and our curriculum focuses on teaching you to do what top-scorers do.

There's a big assumption here! More teaching = More learning? First of all, some companies pad their hours, including practice tests as part of class time, so do your research. But, the real question is why does an LSAT course require 80 or more hours? From reports of "refugees" who come to us after taking one of these longer courses, the teachers in these long courses tend to focus on explaining as many questions as possible. We don't see presenting explanations as an effective approach to teaching students to master the LSAT - we focus on teaching a class that makes students think (explanations can be found on our online forums).

When we say 36 hours of class time, we mean 36 hours of a teacher teaching – and teaching well. In addition, you will have the ability to attend another 24 hours of live instruction per our Online Review Sessions. If that won't keep you busy enough, you have another 40 hours of recorded HW review classes, special prep test review sessions, and online labs you can use to get more help. Also, you are entitled to 30 minutes of Office Hours each week which is one-on-one private tutoring time. Along with the homework you’ll need to do, we’ll keep you plenty busy! Most importantly, we believe that 1 hour of great teaching and learning is better than 3 hours of sitting and listening to a lecture. If you’re not sure, attend the first session of our course for free and see for yourself!

Absolutely. The course is structured to cover all three sections tested on the LSAT, plus a brief lesson on the essay. Our advanced curriculum addresses the latest LSAT trends. That said, do not expect significant score increases without doing a significant amount of work. We believe that, like with most things in life, what you get out of this course will depend on what you put in!

Each student comes into the program at a different level and with different goals, making improvement “averages” ineffective and misleading. For example, someone might come into the course having done no preparation whatsoever, and improve his or her score by a large margin (i.e. a 20 point increase from 150 to 170). Another student might start off already scoring around 170, but he or she ends up with a 175. Both students see extremely positive results, having achieved their desired score improvements. Clearly, score improvement averages don't tell the whole story. They don't accurately reflect what you really want to know: how satisfied students are with our courses.

Some people choose LSAT Interact (our Self-Study program) because their schedule makes it difficult to attend classes. But, often people opt for it because it fits their study habits. Self-Study can be highly effective if you are the type of student who can stay focused and motivated. LSAT Interact is particularly effective because it is fully interactive and forces you to think. Take a second to reflect on your college study habits – did you keep up with your homework? Did you procrastinate and cram the night before exams? Could you concentrate while listening to a recording (ignoring distractions like the phone and internet)? If you answered yes to these questions, then Self-Study can be a great option. About half of our students are studying on their own with our books and Interact Lessons. If you’re on the fence, go for LSAT Interact. If you later decide you’d like to upgrade, you’ll only pay the difference.

You have a few options. You can:

a) Do a One-on-One Private Tutoring program in which your teacher will use private tutoring, books, and class recordings to create a completely customized program.

b) Enroll in LSAT Interact, our Self-Study course, and use the syllabus to structure a study plan using the books, class recordings, and various other online resources.

c) Enroll in the full course, attend whatever sessions you can make it to, and use the class recordings, Interact Lessons, and your weekly Office Hours sessions to stay on top of your class work.

If you attend class and keep up with the required homework, you should be ready to take the official LSAT about 3 weeks after the course is over. We expect that you’ll use that time to do additional practice tests (that’s why we include 28 with your course materials), review them, and spend extra time on your weak areas. Keep in mind that if you’re in an accelerated class that ends shortly before the LSAT, it will be that much more important to keep up with the homework during the class.

Office Hours give you the opportunity to work one-on-one with a trained Manhattan LSAT teacher. This is your chance to ask specific questions about homework problems, difficult concepts, or even your practice exam progress. In short, this is your time – you ultimately decide how it is used. 30-minute weekly sessions are included with our instructor-led prep courses, and students who purchase Self-Study courses receive 1 to 4 30-minute sessions, depending on the package.

All Office Hours sessions are conducted through our interactive live online classroom (Elluminate). When you sign up for a session through your Student Center, you will be given instructions on how to set-up the platform used for Office Hours. The online classroom features live audio and a shared whiteboard. (Students without access to a microphone will talk to their teacher over the phone).

Office Hours are offered at a variety of times to meet the varied scheduling needs of our students. To see which time slots are available, login to your Student Center, click on the Office Hours tab, and proceed with the sign-up process. Note that for course students, unused Office Hours do not roll-over to subsequent weeks. If you do not use it, you lose it! Also, you must cancel more than 24 hours before your session to be able to reschedule. Otherwise, you forfeit the session for the week.

No. The material covered in the Games Intensive Course is all included in the Complete Course. We separated this material into its own course as some students are only looking for help in the Games section.

The Games Intensive Course is ideal for students who already have a very strong foundation in the other sections of the LSAT. If you need help in all areas of the exam, we would recommend the Complete Course.

Aside from the obvious difference of meeting in person versus online, the courses cover the exact same material and include the same sets of materials.

Key Differences: The content covered and the quality of instruction are exactly the same in our in-person and online courses. There are, however, a few logistical differences between the in-person and the online courses:

a) Online courses are led by two instructors instead of one, to allow for substantial interaction among students and instructors.

b) The process for making up missed class sessions is different for in-person and online courses.

c) Online courses are a bit less expensive than in-person courses.

All the curricular materials listed below are included in Manhattan LSAT’s class tuition. These materials can also be purchased separately in our Online Store.

• 3 Manhattan LSAT Strategy Guides– Logic Games, Logical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension
• Manhattan LSAT Practice Book I (PrepTests 41-50) - 10 exams
• Manhattan LSAT Practice Book II (PrepTests 51-60) - 10 exams

In addition to the exams provided in the two Practice Books noted above, Manhattan LSAT course students receive access to soft copies of every single PrepTest ever released by LSAC since the exam has been in its current form.

Note about LSAT Interact Topic Specific Courses (ie. LSAT Interact: Logic Games): these do not include all three strategy guides, but rather just the guide relevant to your specific course of study. To receive all three guides, consider signing up for the Complete version of LSAT Interact. To see more information about LSAT interact, check out our self-study course details.

Private tutoring is a great option that allows for tremendous flexibility and customization.

A tutor will design an LSAT Course to fit your strengths/weaknesses and timing needs. He/she can provide structured review on your weakest areas or provide a customized curriculum covering all sections of the LSAT.

All of our private tutors are also Manhattan LSAT instructors, which means they were subject our incredibly scrupulous hiring process. No matter who you are paired with, you can be assured you will be receiving one-on-one instruction from a world-class teacher and foremost expert on the LSAT exam. If for any reason, however, you are not comfortable with your assigned tutor, we will accommodate you as best we can (according to availability).

If you’re having a hard time deciding between tutoring and a class, you can always take a class and then add on tutoring during or afterwards.

To see our prices and which books are included with a package, take a look at our tutoring page

The fastest way to get started is to call our Student Services Team at (646) 254-6480 to discuss your options. We will match you with a teacher and help you select the package that best fits your needs

Generally, sessions last for two hours. This is the time frame that our Teachers have determined to be optimal for one-on-one study.

Yes. At a few points in the course, we have written a question or logic game because we can focus it on a specific point that we want to make during a class. We’ve also written a whole slew of LSAT games for additional practice beyond the real LSAT games that we assign. Mostly we do this because it keeps our instructors in shape – if you can write a game, you can solve one! But, it’s also useful for our students, as there are actually not that many examples of certain game types. However, for HW, we always encourage students to focus on the real LSAT games we assign, and then our games serve as a supplement.

We assign 6 LSATs during the course, but we provide you with access to every single PrepTest ever released by LSAC since the test has been in its current form (5 of which we chop up for practice sets for HW). However, we encourage you to do much more than the 6 we assign. If you’re in one of our in-person locations, there will likely be some proctored exams during your course. If you’re taking an online course with us, we have a virtual proctor that you can use to help you stick to the official timing.

Yes, to save a few trees and to make the explanations interactive, we have posted them online. If a question hasn’t been explained, go ahead and ask for help. If you have a follow-up question, feel free to post again. That’s why we made the explanations available online!

Remember, the LSAT score is valid for five years, so it doesn’t matter if you will not attend law school in the next couple of years. But the longer you wait, the more time will have passed since your college “test-taking mode.” Preparation will only become more difficult with time and a full time job, so it truly makes sense to study and take the exam sooner rather than later.

Each session will have about 4 to 12 hours of homework, depending on which level of homework you decide to do (we show you how to customize the assignments to fit the amount of time you have). We recommend breaking it down to a few hours each day, rather than saving it all for the weekend. Cramming for 10 hours straight will result in decreased retention, brain fatigue and problems with your personal relationships and personal hygiene!

If you've purchased an LSAT Interact Self-Study Program, you choose your preferred shipping speed. For in-person and live online course students, we ship your materials upon registration, and you can expect to receive them about 2 to 4 business days after you sign up. If you sign up close to the start date of the course, we’ll ship your books as quickly as we can. For in-person courses in New York and a few other cities, you will receive your books on the first day of class. If you’re in New York and would like to pick up your materials early, you can stop by the office and get a head start; just call Student Services to arrange a time.

Typically, our courses meet consecutively. A skip date indicates that the class session will not meet during a particular week, and that the next class session will meet the following week at the regularly scheduled time. Hence, if your course has a skip date on the day that would otherwise have been your session #5, your class will continue with session #5 the following week.

Yes, all you have to do is pay the price differential. At that point, we’ll send you any additional materials that you’ll need for your class.

No. Topic specific LSAT Interact students may not upgrade to the Complete version without paying the full price for LSAT Interact: Complete.

LSAT Interact students may, however, upgrade to a live course by paying just the difference between their self-study program and the cost of a course -- regardless if they have LSAT Interact: Complete or a topic specific version of LSAT Interact

There are a few options available to you should you fall behind in class. If you have missed any of your class sessions, you can complete the corresponding LSAT Interact Lessons in your Student Center. We think these interactive lessons will be far more beneficial to you than the On-demand Course Recordings also available in your Student Center, but the choice is yours as to how you'd like to catch up. You will have access to these Interact Lessons and Course Recordings, along with other online resources, for three months after your course ends. These Interact Lessons and On-demand Recordings are available anywhere there is internet access.

If you’re enrolled in an in-person course, you can give Student Services a call to try to schedule a make-up class. If there is another course going on in your area at that time, we can try to arrange for you to sit-in on that class.

Additionally, course students receive one 30-minute Office Hours session each week. This session is a great time to review content you have not fully grasped yet.

If these options do not work for you and you would like to withdraw from your course, you can pay a $399 retake fee and enroll in an upcoming program.

Yes. You can transfer into a new class or retake the course entirely for $399, provided your new class is not sold out.

If you attended 11 of the 12 sessions of your original class, kept up with the homework, and need to take the class again for any reason, we’re happy to let you do so for free. If you need to purchase a new set of books in this situation, we can offer you a 15% discount.

We offer a Satisfaction Guarantee. If you are not happy with the course, we will arrange for alternatives – perhaps, switch you into a self study course for no additional cost. We will work with you to identify the source of trouble/concern and rectify the situation.

If you’ve taken the course and aren’t happy with your score improvement AND you’ve attended 11 of 12 sessions, we’ll let you take the course again for free. If you haven’t attended enough sessions, the retake fee is $399.

Yes. You receive credits for each book that you have already obtained. Contact studentservices@Manhattanlsat.com to discuss how to take advantage of this.

If you decide to upgrade from the hourly tutoring to a complete tutoring package, or if you upgrade to a larger package, the reduced rate will be retroactively applied to your account, so you will never overpay for any of your hours. You will also receive any resources that are associated with the new package that you did not previously receive.

A non-refundable deposit is required to reserve a spot in an upcoming class. If you choose to pay only the deposit to reserve your seat, the remaining balance will be due by the first class session. Balance payments can be made online, over the phone, or in-person at select classroom locations (contact Student Services to confirm whether or not this is an option in your area). Outstanding balances after the first class session will be automatically charged on the following business day. Note that if you join a course that is already in progress, complete payment is due at the time of registration.

You can sign up for a Complete Course online at www.Manhattanlsat.com or over phone by contacting Student Services at 646-254-6464.

Manhattan LSAT does not offer refunds on any payments made towards programs or study materials, including deposits.

Yes, we offer discounted programs for active duty. For more information, contact studentservices@manhattanlsat.com

Yes. Contact studentservices@manhattanlsat.com to discuss.

Registration for a prep course will close the day of the second class session, or when the class reaches capacity, whichever comes first.

Your status as a Trial student does not guarantee you a seat in the full course. If you would like to secure your seat in an upcoming course, a non-refundable deposit is required.

If you are enrolled in an in-person prep course, a set of class recordings will be available online in your Student Center. These recordings will not be of the same class in which you are enrolled, which gives students an opportunity to see the same course material they are studying taught by another one of our fantastic instructors. Access to the recordings and other online resources will remain active for nine months from the end of your course. If at the end of this period you are still studying, contact Student Services to discuss arranging an extension.

Students enrolled in online courses will also be able to review recordings of their own class sessions. To watch a recording of your own class session, simply log in to your account onElluminate.com. Choose “Recordings” and search for the date of your class.