Discounts and Policies

My commitment to my students started in my own LSAT® study experience. When I studied for the LSAT® in the late 1990s, I bartended and served as a line cook while taking 12 to 15 hours of undergraduate classes per semester. Earning just over five dollars per hour, I saved almost $900 ($1800 adjusted for inflation) to pay for an LSAT® program from a major company – a program that was superficial to put it nicely. That company had very expensive private tutoring packages to augment their program, but those were not options for me, given my budget.

I lamented the financially tiered access to genuine, more thorough LSAT preparation. If one has more money, then one gets more help. Upset, I channeled my energy into an intense form of self-study that bordered on insanity, but it worked. In fact, the origins and philosophies of the current TestPrepGuy (TPG) curriculum have roots in that self-study experience.

Business Philosophy

Because of my experience as a student, I committed TPG to two principles.

1. TPG will NOT create a disincentive to get individual help. For this reason, we provide virtually unlimited individual tutoring via Open Study Time at ZERO additional charge.
2. TPG will NOT create a financially tiered system for students who want thorough LSAT study. While the first principle is almost self-explanatory, the second one may need some explanation. Consider the two models below.

Exclusionary Model. TPG would make significantly more money and we would have astronomically more personal time if TPG were to quadruple the price and cut enrollment by 60%. Countless students who have completed our LSAT® program and admissions coaching have advised us that we could easily raise our prices fourfold, or more, given the level of service provided. Most recently, a TPG student who purchased a $6,000 admissions package from another consultant prior to purchasing access to our program told me that, regarding admissions coaching alone, TPG helped him far more than his $6,000 admissions consultant. TPG avoids this type of pricing model because we do not want to exclude those who do not have several thousand dollars to spend on LSAT® study and admissions coaching.

TPG Inclusive Model. The following represents our way of contributing to the public good. This runs counter to the vast majority of other businesses in our industry.  

• TPG created the most thorough LSAT program on earth. This completely eliminates any incentive, even for students with unlimited financial resources, to engage in the financially tiered LSAT preparation industry outside TPG. When a student already has the best, they have no reason to augment their LSAT® study via financial resources.
• TPG sets a base program price that (1) makes the TPG program as financially accessible to the greatest number of prospective students as possible, while (2) providing a reasonably fair income to two highly committed, highly skilled professionals who have committed their adult lives to their students.

Although this model does not reach everyone, it does put the poor kid, like me, in the same room as the rich kid, studying together with the best LSAT® program on earth. That seems really fair to me and to the late 1990s version of me who studied between line cook and bartending shifts with dried splatters of chicken fried steak gravy still on his shirt.

Discount & Refunds. The TPG inclusionary model leaves room for neither discounts nor refunds. If we had to offer discounts or refunds, then this would force us to raise prices and thus become more exclusionary. We would simply shut the TPG business down and do something else for a living rather than to change our inclusionary business model. Both Amanda and I are multi-talented people with skills and interests beyond the LSAT®.

Comment on Discounts. Many individuals and businesses sponsor students in my program every year. If you plan to do this, then please consider this advice.

• Consider avoiding paying the entire enrollment fee on behalf of the student. Pay half of the TPG enrollment fee and have the student pay for the other half. This creates a “skin in the game” incentive for the student.
• Please ensure the beneficiary of your generosity is motivated to earn that score and that law degree. A poorly motivated student who gets someone else to pay for LSAT preparation struggles to find the motivation to endure this difficult LSAT® training process.

Comment on Refunds. Among the 200 or more students who sign up for TPG each year, typically two to three of them enquire about refunds. Prior to 2008, we offered refunds very generously, a policy that we quickly determined would be abused and would force TPG to pass along certain expenses to other students, also known as raising prices significantly.

• Refund Policy Abuse. One student signed up for TPG with no intention of studying for the LSAT. His parents paid. He asked for a refund without telling his parents, telling me that he had “overbooked” that semester and would return in the future. I naively refunded the fee to him. Later, one of his fraternity brothers told me about the scam. Other nefarious student stories are not as blatant as this one, but they unfortunately do burden TPG. Because we are highly dedicated to our students, we do not have time to investigate which students needs for refund are worthy and which ones are not.
• Time, Energy, & Financial Expenses. The TPG web platform costs money to develop and maintain. In the initial consultation and in phone, text, and email conversations with students prior to their signing up for TPG, we spend a lot of time and energy explaining the exact nature of the program and consulting with students about their needs. LSAC charges a per student fee to TPG each time a student signs up with TPG. TPG makes large and small business decisions based on projected enrollments. These factors and others mean that TPG has likely already spent financial and other resources on the student by the very moment that student signs up.