Kaplan's intro book isn't bad and it isn't great. It's a good overview before you really start digging into the actual LSAT questions. I felt that it got my mind warmed up as to what the LSAT would be like and gave me some basic tips to think over.

There's no way this should be your only study material, however it fills an important role. If you're studying on your own you should have some sort of book that gives you the basics of the LSAT...whether that be Kaplan, Princeton Review, Nova, etc.

I liked to think of my self study in several stages:
1. Intro to the LSAT
2. General logical reasoning and analytical skill development
3. Focussed practice on specific types of LSAT questions
4. Full preptests
5. Further focus on specific LSAT skill areas

This book does a decent job of addressing that Intro to the LSAT but alone it's not going to prepare you adequately to take the LSAT.

This is a great book to prepare you, not only for the LSAT but for the application process itself. Has a nice introduction to "thinking like a lawyer" and study tips for the test.

I agree with most of the reviewers who said that the Kaplan book is worthless. It's full of common sense information and provides no real in-depth strategies to attack the problems. For example, I'll discuss the Logic Games sections of Kaplan and a competetor, Powerscore. The first five pages of Kaplan's Logic Games section are dedicated to "The Four Basic Principles of Logic Games." One of the principles is "Use Scratchwork and Shorthand"...gee, you think? Also, Kaplan dedicates minimal pages to the actual different types of Logic Games and how to solve them. For example, there are only two and a half pages specific to the Sequencing type of game. I recommend the Powerscore books, in which the Sequencing section in the Logic Games Bible is about 100 pages long and is full of strategies, examples, and step-by-step approaches to real LSAT questions. Maybe the actual Kaplan course is effective, but buying the book is a waste of money. The Powerscore books are more expensive, but are well worth the price.

THe 2005 edition of the book is the exact same as the 2004 edition. Even the back cover of the book says "Kaplan 2004". see for yourself. The only thing they changed was the cover and the copyright page. They should recall the books and actually put out a 2005 edition. I also thought some of the answers or explanations were wrong according to their own standards. The only thing good about it is that it's better than nothing.

I agree with the second reviewer. This is the only book I bought to practice for the LSAT. I scored a 163 on an actual LSAT practice exam, and each time I wrote one of these Kaplan practice exams, my score dropped. The first time by five points, the second, by another point. The explanations are verbose and complicated, yet do not go into enough detail in the right areas. Before I read this book, I was confident and looking forward to the challenge of the LSAT. Now I am discouraged, constantly second guessing myself, and feel it is pointless to even take the test. If you did well on the LSAC provided practice test, don't bother with this book as it may just bust your confidence and not improve your scores at all. I plan on trying to get a refund for this book.