stopped going to full length course -

[slim]

I stopped going to the full length course after 4 weeks, felt it was a waste and now doing the material on my own.  anyone else in the same boat.  the instructor was such a loser.

[Jeffort]

That sucks.  What went wrong/was so bad about the class?  Was it mainly the instructor, or the materials, both, bad facilities, bad customer service, etc.?

Dare I ask which prep company it was from?

If you didn't get the quality and level of prep services that you thought you were paying for and supposed to get have you complained to the company to try and remedy the situation?  The good quality LSAT prep companies that offer full length courses are genuinely very concerned about the quality of their classes, instructors, services and want to know if they have a rouge/bad teacher or any other issues that need to be fixed.  

Depending on the company, if an instructor turns out to totally suck and management is alerted promptly they sometimes substitute a better instructor in mid-class so that the students receive the quality prep they signed up and paid for or offer some other type of remedy.

[Anne]

If you didn't get the quality and level of prep services that you thought you were paying for and supposed to get have you complained to the company to try and remedy the situation?  The good quality LSAT prep companies that offer full length courses generally are very concerned about the quality of their classes, instructors, services and want to know if they have a rouge/bad teacher or any other issues that need to be fixed.  

You should definitely call the company and let them know about the situation. If they're a good company, at the very least, they would want to investigate the claims further with the instructor...and they would likely also work with you to remedy the situation.

[LawSchoolGuy]

I stopped going to the full length course after 4 weeks, felt it was a waste and now doing the material on my own.  anyone else in the same boat.  the instructor was such a loser.

What company was it?

[Bubbles]

You might as well keep going and hope it improves...right?! Isn't it better to have some instruction rather than none? Or do you think going to class is actually working against you?

[LSAT Eliminator]

You should let the company know, and see if they will help you out in any way--put you in a different class, work with a different instructor, etc. They probably want a good instructor in there as much as you do.

Also, do they have online resources? You should continue to use those and study as hard as possible.

Good luck with this

[tgedamu]

Same boat here...
This is my very humble opinion: Test Prep courses, while helpful, will not give you the maximum time you need to maximize your score. While not a very popular decision (especially after spending alot of money), I stand by it. I did use the tools the prep course provided me with. But I believe in "understanding" what I'm learning. As opposed to quick memorization in a 2 month time-frame.
P.S.: I did not have anything against the teacher.

[LSAT Eliminator]

Same boat here...
This is my very humble opinion: Test Prep courses, while helpful, will not give you the maximum time you need to maximize your score. While not a very popular decision (especially after spending alot of money), I stand by it. I did use the tools the prep course provided me with. But I believe in "understanding" what I'm learning. As opposed to quick memorization in a 2 month time-frame.
P.S.: I did not have anything against the teacher.

Like a lot of things, I think it depends. For some people, it is perfect, for others, not so. I think the organization of materials and presentation of ideas really accelerates the process, but that doesn't mean you can relax your way to a high score. You still have to work your ass off to incorporate the strategies into your overall test approach. And by incorporate, I mean make second nature. A lot of people would be lost if they didn't take a prep course, so I think they have value, but no one method is perfect for everyone.

[Jeffort]

Same boat here...
This is my very humble opinion: Test Prep courses, while helpful, will not give you the maximum time you need to maximize your score. While not a very popular decision (especially after spending alot of money), I stand by it. I did use the tools the prep course provided me with. But I believe in "understanding" what I'm learning. As opposed to quick memorization in a 2 month time-frame.
P.S.: I did not have anything against the teacher.

You are correct that it is much more than memorization of a bunch of stuff.  Of course there are a lot of techniques, approaches and strategies that you must learn and memorize along the way, that is part of the process of improving your performance on the test.  

The real "understanding" part of it in terms of it being useful when working problems comes from spending a lot of time outside of class reviewing and applying those things to homework problems in order for application of the concepts and techniques to become second nature while you are under the time pressure.

Did you start back up with UG classes recently that are taking available time away from doing LSAT study and practice on your own between classes?  I've heard similar complaints from people that are going through a prep class when their school year classes start back up since free out of class study time then becomes very limited and you have to  a lot of things.

[tgedamu]

Yes, I agree that a high score takes a lot, alot of daily practice. Of course this is what works for me. The problem was that I found myself too disengaged from what I was reading on the LSAT. I was looking for the mistaken reversal, the sufficient condition indicators. But without really trying to "take in" what the "stimulus" was saying.

[LSAT Eliminator]

Yes, I agree that a high score takes a lot, alot of daily practice. Of course this is what works for me. The problem was that I found myself too disengaged from what I was reading on the LSAT. I was looking for the mistaken reversal, the sufficient condition indicators. But without really trying to "take in" what the "stimulus" was saying.

Yeah, those type of things are what you learn early on so you can get a handle on what you are reading, and as time goes by you are supposed to know that stuff cold so you can move on to understanding how all the pieces go together. Most people don't know much about sufficient/necessary reasoning, so even if they understood the whole argument, they would likely still miss a problem if it contained some type of idea that revolved around sufficient/necessary. So, they teach that form of reasoning early so you can identify it if you see it. With most courses, they then try to put everything together as you progress, so that by the end you are hitting on all cylinders. 

[Dr. Troy]

I know for a lot of people a course offers a few, perhaps less obvious, advantages in addition to the instructor. For one, having a set schedule of class meetings provides people with a structured way to prepare....set meeting times with predetermined content are invaluable for those who maybe aren't sure exactly how to move through volumes of material on their own, or who maybe lack the self-discipline to create a study schedule and rigorously follow it.

Also, the class environment provides people with an LSAT community of sorts, allowing for a unique way to learn from other people's successes and failures. This type of interaction can be incredibly instructive as test takers can benefit tremendously from understanding the perspectives of their peers.

So even if you feel that your instructor may not be conveying the information as clearly as you'd like, unless actual harm is being done (the explanations/lecture are making you a worse test taker), consider the other benefits that can be gained from attending classes and perhaps re-evaluate the decision to stop attending.

[Bubbles]

Also, the class environment provides people with an LSAT community of sorts, allowing for a unique way to learn from other people's successes and failures. This type of interaction can be incredibly instructive as test takers can benefit tremendously from understanding the perspectives of their peers.

This is a great point, and something I wasn't really expecting to find in my course. A few of us formed a study group and we meet once a week outside of class...it's really helpful!