Princeton Review (TPR) Live Course Ratings and Opinions

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Houston, TX, Nov prior til April 2006

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
#1 Awesome, fun, smart teachers who made themselves available and approachable outside of class (coffeeshops and such ). They taught me physics way better than my college prof could! #2 Great comprehensive review books, probably overly comprehensive. You should read every word of Bio, then, Orgo, G-Chem, Physics, and Verbal.

3) What were the weaknesses?
#1 Some teachers didn't show up on time every time ... but he was too awesome of a teacher for me to want to switch. #2 TPR verbal on practice tests are nothing like AAMC! I'm glad they taught us the question/answer categories and all, but they're not very applicable on the real thing.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Yeah, it's all really up to you and how much you're willing to put in. But they give you everything you need if you do want to go all out. Just make sure that you use their resources, i.e. teachers - get everything you're "fuzzy" about explained if you didn't catch it the first time around in class.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
YES! MCAT class can be fun if you meet cool classmates and teachers!

Disclaimer: I teach for TPR, so a little bias


1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Two summers ago in Chicago

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
The Lectures are high yield and you are given a vast amount of practice material.

3) What were the weaknesses?
From my experiences, I think their verbal strategy sucks.
I also don't really like their diagnostics, but at least they follow them up with 2 AAMC practice tests so thats ok.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
For the sciences, I'd say yes, for Verbal--no

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
I would recommend it they need a refresher on the information and are struggling with time management. If anyone does take the course, I would suggest buying EK Verbal, Ek 1001 questions series, and EK MiniMCATs to supplement their studies.

Good luck future MCATers

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
2005, Kansas

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
Great concise study books for the sciences. AAMC practice tests. Practice tests gave a good feeling for the anxiety and atmosphere of test day- something loners cannot do with a stop watch.

3) What were the weaknesses?
I agree that verbal blew, but I hate verbal. Lectures aren't my style. TPR tests were too hard and poorly written.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Yes. Though once again, verbal, no, but that may not be their fault.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
If you are like me, just get their books and some (read: many) practice tests. The lectures were only fun for socializing and getting a feel for other applicants.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Baltimore, Maryland

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
Some of the teachers were awesome! The chem teacher was a 2nd year med student at John's Hopkins, and still found the time to prepare awesome lectures, bring us candy, and send us lecture summary sheets!

3) What were the weaknesses?
physics - bad teacher, could not explain concepts
orgo - teacher went really slow through some easy material, then really fast when we got to the hard stuff!
verbal - teacher was great, bu TPRs verbal strategy was not for me

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
I feel like it would have if I had done all the work they had suggested (i.e, pre-reading and homework passages)

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
Yes, but only if you actually have the time to do ALL the work, don't take three lab sciences and a TPR course that's 1hr from your school! I would say if you're a very self motivated student, then don't bother, set up your own study schedule and stick to it. I needed the structure of a class, so it worked for me (I hope!)

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
I took it in April 2006, at Indianapolis,Indiana.

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
WONDERFUL teachers. Great practice materials. Great review. Good practice exams.


3) What were the weaknesses?
The textbooks were long and useless (especially Physical and Biological Sciences). I had to use EK books to have an efficient review of the information.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
I do. I don't know my scores yet, and I felt crappy after the exam, but I started with a 20 and got to 32, so I think they helped me a lot.


5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
If you have a busy schedule and can't find time to study on your own - take it!

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
2003, Davis, CA

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
Instructors were good, one was a 1st year med student. Course materials were excellent. The workbook had a huge number of problems, plus they gave you at least 5 take home practice exams not to mention the exams you take in class. It provided students with enough flexibility to learn new stuff in class and/or learn it from home (via review and workbooks).

3) What were the weaknesses?
Small room, at least at my location. Needed more problems in the workbook, but this is probably my fault since I was fanatical about problems..lol. Really there wasn't any significant weaknesses with the program that I was aware of.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Yes, got a 36. But must also consider the fact that I took the MCAT (2001, see Kaplan thread) before, and the last time I was also dealing with other challenges.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course? Yes, overall its a good program, and at hte very least the accessories (workbook, exams, etc) are worth their weight in gold.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?

Winter before April 2005 test, Arcadia, CA

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?

Physical Sciences instructors were really good. Material was more than enough to practice with.

3) What were the weaknesses?

Verbal class time is too much talking and not so much actual problem doing. I would ahve ditched but would have felt guilty about spending 1300 and ditching. Also, they were a little disorganized in scheduling the Organic chem instructor.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?

Yes. But I did start with other material before hand (Berkeley Review, started with it during Summer of 2004)

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?

Yes.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Westwood, CA

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
The books were very helpful and thorough. Tons of practice problems to do.

3) What were the weaknesses?
The instructors weren't THAT knowledgable about course material. In addition, the course started in January and was still covering material 6 days before the test. Also, only 5 diagnostic exams were administered (3 TPR, 2 latest AAMC). In addition, there weren't many extra tests/questions/resources to use if you wanted to study on your own.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
The books prepared me well for the test.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
If you like to study on your own, take a course that focuses more on questions and get the TPR books from someone else. TPR's books were EXTREMELY detailed and cover almost everything that you would need to know. If you want to learn all from lectures or have little time, TPR is probably the way to go, since lectures are almost always dedicated to covering science material.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Tempe, AZ; May 2005-August 2005

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
A LOT of in-class time and feedback from instructors on individual performance, 5 full-length practice tests in realistic settings!

3) What were the weaknesses?
I would have liked more review at the end. Each instructor did one class for review, I thought more would have been helpful

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Yes!

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
YES, definitely! Especially if you are looking for a course that offers a lot more in-class time, vs. a course that does not (when I took it, Kaplan had less in-class time) I think it helps with better time management, i.e. you CAN'T blow it off because you HAVE to go to class.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
UCSD - Summer of 2004

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
Excellent study materials, and a large number of practice exams. The Verbal, Chem, and Physics teachers were excellent.

3) What were the weaknesses?
The Biology teacher for my course didn't really seem to know his stuff.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
I feel that the TPR materials did.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
No. I would highly recommend TPR books, but other than that I would strongly suggest doing as many practice problems and taking as many full-length practice exams as you can. That's a much better use of your time than going to the classes, where you re-learn everything you've already learned on these subjects. Drilling with actual questions is a much better way to test your learning than sitting in a classroom listening to someone talk.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Palo Alto (Stanford). Spring 2006

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
Materials were great and more or less comprehensive (I bought the AAMC practice tests and EK verbal 101). Out of the 5 teachers I had 4 were outstading and the last was still good. My first bio teacher sucked, and after several complains by most of the class we received one of their top teachers.

3) What were the weaknesses?
Most of the teachers had never taken the MCAT and as such possessed little knowledge about it. That kind of annoyed me, but some searching on SDN made up for it just fine. First bio teacher sucked and they did not respond after initial complaints (they did eventually). By FAR THE BIGGEST WEAKNESS: if I had followed their schedule, I would have not been as well prepared. I finished all of their material just after 1/2 through the course. This left me time for extra practice tests (AAMC 4,5,6,9) and time to review weak areas, practice a few extra problems, etc. I HIGHLY recommend getting ahead of the prescribed schedule. Doing the EK verbal 101 seemed helpful but who knows, I ened up doing all 11 of them.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Yes, except for the schedule.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
Definitely if you have the money. If you do not, I think that if you work at acquiring the right materials and are disciplined, there's no reason you can't do just as well without a prep course.

Because I know I would have wanted to know, my practice tests went like this (in order):
AAMC 3R: 30
TPR 1 (forget the #): 22
TPR 2: 25
TPR 3: 29
AAMC 4R: 34
AAMC 5R: 36
AAMC 6R: 34
AAMC 9: 33
AAMC 7&8: 34 and 35 I think
Real deal April 2006: 36

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Austin, TX Summer 2005

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
Decent study guides, good practice book, strong classroom emphasis

3) What were the weaknesses?
Not too much followup or emphasis on out-of-classroom studying. Homeworks are given, but never checked and not too much support available outside of the class.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
To a certain degree yes...depends more on the types of instructors you get

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
Only if they value the classroom learning experience and excel in that type of environment. If you prefer support outside of class, I would suggest Kaplan. My gf is using Kaplan and many times I am left regretting that I didn't take it also.

When/where did you take your TPR course?
Lubbock, TX Spring 2005

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
Very strong for the science review, Verbal was a waste of time (I don't know if my score qualifies me to say that)

3) What were the weaknesses?
To re-reiterate, it all depends on the teachers, three of the five were good to excellent (Bio, Ochem, Physics) the verbal guy tried but who can teach verbal anyway, no fault of his, the chemistry teacher was a PhD student but had little familiarity with the exam and often went out of the scope of the MCAT in her explanations leaving us bewildered about nanotubes and antigen filtration.....or something like that.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Barring verbal, yes it was a great course and the science workbook is an invaluable resource. FWIW I did not attend several of the O-chem (although when I had Q's he was quick to help) or Chemistry classes. I was strong in O-chem and I came out of the Chemistry more confused than the teacher.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
Yes but with the caveat that they should get some recommendations from
students who have taken the class with that set of teachers or they should ask TPR for the student reviews (I don't know if they give those out or not).


My verbal was a rare case and I do not blame TPR except that they did not emphasize attractors etc like you get in Kaplan. From what I have heard mine was an isolated instance so they may do that at most locations. EK 101 for verbal practice......

Here is a rough representation of my score progression:

scores in order of PS VR BS

TPR4911- 20 (I think) 6 6 8 1 week in
TPR4921 - 24 7 8 9 4 weeks in
TPR 4931 - 27 8 9 10 7 weeks in
AAMC 8 - 30 10-10-10 8 weeks in
AAMC 7 - 33 10-11-12 9 weeks in
AAMC 9 - 33 11-11-11 9.5 weeks in (taken on my own outside of class)


April 2006 28Q
11-6-11 Welcome to the August retakers party, YEAAAAHHHHHHH.


Good luck.

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1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
May 2006-Aug 2006 in London Ontario @ Univ. of Western Ontario

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
- The amount of class... kept you thinking about the MCAT nearly every day and also allowed for more time for each topic.
- Most teachers were excellent
- The volume of practice material
- The proctored full lengths

3) What were the weaknesses?
- Verbal strategy as mentioned many times before me... if you're any good at verbal this strategy will slow you down more than anything
- The bio text is overly dense with material. I'd say I got owned crazy bio specifics and tough bio questions on the actual MCAT but all the really specific stuff I learned from Princeton didn't show up.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
- Yes and No.... I had all the background knowledge I need....
- Did not emphasize the right bio topics nor really focused on how important reading comprehension was for the bio section. Mind you this is something they could have really taught us... I just feel I wasn't adequately warned so I could take my own measures.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?

Yes, definitely.... I think it's the best prep method out there, I used Kaplan books to study before I got into my princeton class and Princeton's text flowed way better than Kaplan....

I also tagged on Audio Osmosis for tough memorization (went over the hormone lecture like 10 times)

Just beware that just because you know everything in the textbooks which you might feel like you do.... The passage comprehension is becoming such a bigger component in Biological and Physical sciences that you really want to try to tune your skills in those areas by reading dense scientific journals, really reading the passages in practice... I felt I could skip paragraphs at a time on my practice passages but not at all on the real thing...

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
May-August 2006
Tysons Corner, VA

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
PS and Orgo instructors provided solid review of the material
Reading material and practice is very comprehensive (sometimes a bit too comprehensive) and generally good - but if you put the time and effort into completing all assignments the payoff is quite good.
Quality of practice tests

3) What were the weaknesses?
BS and VR instructors
Could have spent a lot more time on analysis of verbal passages on practice tests and from homework, since this is how I was able to improve on Verbal the most.
Time spent on Writing Sample each Verbal class could have been better used/managed.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Per section on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best preparation possible:
PS: 9 out of 10
VR: 5 out of 10
BS: 6 out of 10
Overall strategy/stamina/practice tests: 7 out of 10

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
Yes, but with some reservation. You will need to purchase EK101 for Verbal to really see some improvements on that section. Alternatively, my experience with TPR private tutoring in verbal was excellent.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?

Sherman, TX at Austin College in February-April 2006. I was taking the free retake version (provided you have perfect attendance) in February 2007, but I got off the waitlist for medschool, and quit going.

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?

GREAT biology and organic teacher. He even came up to Sherman all the way from Dallas to do extra review sessions with us on Friday afternoons. Princeton review gives you ample lecture time, they spoon feed you everything you gotta know.

3) What were the weaknesses?

I found that the In Class Compendium passages were easier than what is really on the MCAT. Also, some of the teachers were kids in my college, meaning that they sucked at presenting the material at times, even though TPR trains them. Also, their verbal classes suck, though the materials are good. So i recommend developing your own strategy for verbal.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
All in all, it was something i needed. I wouldn't have been able to prepare for it as well on my own.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
YES, I think you get more for your money with this one than with Kaplan. Though seeing if you can get some kaplan people's materials isn't a bad idea. Never can have too many testing materials!

I will be adding future threads for other test prep regimens, so stay tuned.[/quote]

bumping for some more recent opinions.

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1) When/where did you take your TPR course? summer 2007, arcadia CA

2) What would you say were the strengths of your course? solid chem and ochem teachers. definitely boosted my scores for both PS and BS. verbal guy is pretty cool too. techniques worked for my practice tests but i blew it on the real thing :[ (more likely my fault though). the workbook is KEY for success. VERY good problems in the workbook that address all the concepts. the course is good for re-learning material you've completely forgotten and they pretty much run through it as if you don't know anything. my approach was to study as if i were in school basically. take diligent notes and pay attention.

my advice is to do all the workbook materials and practice tests available. i only finished the science workbook and didn't even get to all the practice tests or get to finish the verbal...i really wish i had though. the passages are pretty hard and representative of the real thing. the in-class compendium book is also really good at highlighting key topics.

if you can't do all the material on the syllabus, chances are it WONT work out well for you (assuming you're not a genius and a regular joe). the reward is only as good as the time you put into it.

i don't know about all kaplans, but from my experience, they have one teacher that teaches everything...that didn't go so well with me.

i liked TPRs practice tests more than kaplan's. i found TPR tests to be more representative of the AAMC. all AAMCs are available too.

the writing sample approach is practically guaranteed a good score once you go through it a few times. i got a 27N (10PS/9BS/8VR) on my first mcat, and a 32Q(13PS/11BS/8VR) on my second...so yeah, writing went WAY up (not that it matters that much haha).

my first two practice tests were 20 somethings, i forget.
i only took 4 AAMCs after that and got 30-32 on all of them; the last 3 tests i got 10s on VR too...damn i wasted all my VR skills on the practice ;]

3) What were the weaknesses? bad physics teacher except for one or two subs that were really good, but we didn't get to keep them as regular teachers. it didn't matter for me since i pretty much had physics down thanks to my college professors.

4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT? yes.

5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course? yes.

1) When/where did you take your TPR course?
Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
2) What would you say were the strengths of your course?
The physics guy was amazing. He became a professor right after our course and made it very easy to understand. bio and ochem were ok too. the pton books are actually quite good.
3) What were the weaknesses?
the gen chem and verbal guys both sucked majorly. They had no idea how to actually lecture, just both did well on those sections which in my opinion, doesnt qualify you to teach. other lecture classes also have this problem.
4) Do you feel that TPR prepared you adequately for the MCAT?
Most definitely. I took the class second semester, senior year, and i found myself over-worked due to senior thesis writing, taking physics, etc, so I ended up only attending the classes and not actually doing nething outside of class. At the beginning of the class, I scored an abysmal 18 on the diagnostic, which really put doubts in my mind. However I then pushed my MCAT back from May to July, and forced myself to study in the library for 4 hours at least each day (more like 6 usually) from the end of May to July 21st, when I took the MCAT. I ended up with a 30 T which was 12 points higher than my initial 18 so it can definitely be done.
5) Would you recommend that future MCAT students take the TPR course?
My score went up 12 points. I would say that it was most definitely worth it.

How many practice questions/full length exams did they provide? I've heard its the best way to study, so looking for a company that maximizes this.

bumping for more recent opinions.

The legendary QofQuimica.