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[John Robottom]

I have been told to look into the PLI course (Practising Law Institute) or the PRG course (Patent Resources Group).

However, if there are better prep courses I would like
to know about them.

Thanks

[Eliz]

I know that others disagree with me on this, but I think which program you should buy depends on your experience with patent law.  If you have had any patent law and/or patent drafting classes, I would take an prior exam (available from the PTO website) to guage where you are.  If you aren't that far from passing, I don't think there is any need to spend as much as PLI or PRG charges.  Personally, I was at 60% (I had taken to patent-related courses) going in.  A cheap course that I think I saw someone post on here as having been happy with is OmniPrep.  There is also a free online course (can't remember the URL at the moment but I'm sure someone else will post it, or you can look through the really long thread about the patent bar because I know it is in there somewhere).  However, if you have had no previous exposure to patent law, I think a home study course could be pretty overwhelming, and you might benefit from a live course.  

As for PRG, one complaint that I have heard about them is that the materials consist largely of a treatise on patent law written by the Director.  This may well be very useful for learning patent law, but a lot of the exam questions use language verbatim, or very close to, the language in the MPEP, so I think you are better off reading the MPEP text itself than reading someone else's summary.   However, I have not personally seen the PRG materials, and they may have changed since I heard that about them.  

As for PLI, I know a lot of people have been very happy with them.  I considered getting their home study course when I was shopping for study material and called them with a question, and they never returned my call.  I felt that that did not bode well for how responsive they would be to my questions if I had already purchased from them, and that was a big part of why I chose not to buy from them.

One thing I would say is no matter what course you buy, be sure there is someone available to answer any questions you have.  Being able to ask questions went a long way in helping me understand the material.  

Also, I would search this site for posts about review courses...there has been lots of discussion on this in the past.  

Good luck!