A Profile of Manhattan LSAT

Atlas LSAT is the sister company of ManhattanGMAT, which was started by a TFA teacher back in 2000. With a deep pool of very talented teachers and curriculum developers, it was only natural that we’d want to move into the LSAT.

Both MGMAT and Manhattan LSAT operate with the same principles: the best teachers + an innovative curriculum = high quality test prep. We pay our teachers $100/hr, which is the highest pay scale in the industry (and up to 4x more than many competitors). This means we get to be very picky about whom we hire – in fact, we end up hiring only about 5% of candidates.

We offer classes and tutoring – both live online and in-person – as well as self-study programs that include guides, practice tests, class recordings and some private tutoring sessions.

Since we have online programs, we’re working with students from everywhere in the US and beyond. Our in-person programs are available in many places – we’re in Boston, Chapel Hill, Chicago, LA, NYC, San Diego and San Francisco. Once we find teachers – again, we’re picky! – we’ll open up shop in a few other locations. Since the core of our program is the quality of our teachers, we can’t simply say “Let’s open a class in Atlanta!” If we haven’t fallen in love with a teacher, there’s no class.

We encourage students to take a diagnostic test before starting their prep – it’s actually a download from the LSAC website – and from there we make recommendations. Frankly, a class does not work well for some people, and often self-study is enough for them. Others may find our curriculum too demanding, and we can suggest modifications to help those students catch up.

Our most popular aids are our online classes and self-study programs. The online classes are convenient and surprisingly interactive and effective. We put two teachers into the classroom and limit the class size to 25, so there’s a lot of attention. Our self-study program is a very cost-effective way for students to organize themselves, and our self-study students report that they love the class recordings.

All of our classes are competitively priced, but our Complete Self Study Program costs only $425. We know that a lot of our students are in college and are on a tight budget, so we wanted to make sure we have a high-quality affordable prep option for them. For what you get – strategy guides, practice tests, class recordings and a bit of private tutoring – it’s the best deal out there. Enough said. We also offer deep discounts and scholarships for active duty soldiers.

1. Teachers. Our teachers have had to score in the 99th percentile on the actual LSAT, they must have at least two years of teaching experience, they must pass through one of the most demanding auditions in the industry, and they must then train for months. Our goal – and I believe we achieve it – is to have our students walk out of class saying “that was one of the best classes I’ve taken – and it was fun.”
2. Small Classes. Another big difference between our competitors and us is that our classes are small and intense. Our classes are capped at 18 in person and 25 online (with two teachers). Most companies will run classes with 50, 70 or even more students.

   And our teachers are trained in running our classes through dialogue, debate and meaningful and challenging questions. Our books are written in the same way – some companies don’t even give out books, and instead require you to attend hours and hours of lectures to learn their curricula (one company suggests 100 hours of class!). We believe the books should serve as a second teacher – and so students love our books because the books talk to them and make them do work.

3. Intense Curriculum. Finally, our curriculum is written for folks who are aiming for top LSAT scores – we’re not serving all of America, which has a median score of 150. We looked at what top test-takers do and built a curriculum around teaching people to do that. We go beyond the tricks and gimmicks – those only work for the middle score band.

   Similarly, our curriculum is not about memorizing a zillion question categories – that’s simply not what top-scorers do. What those folks do is much more subtle, simple and flexible, and thus that’s what we teach.

Our guarantee is simple and it reflects our attitude about hard work. If you did the work and you need more help, take another class for free. If you fell behind because life got in the way, pay us the reduced amount of $300 and re-take the class. We don’t pretend that our course will get you the score – our courses and books help you learn the test and learn some smart strategies for approaching it – it’s up to you to do the work.