Free Kaplan Course...Advice needed!

[whittyo678]

Hello all! My name is Whitney. Im a 26 year old Spelman biology grad. I also have a masters in education and will receive my doctorate in education next May. I am currently studying for the MCAT. Last weekend I attended the First Look program at Morehouse School of Medicine. While I was there they gave away 2 Kaplan MCAT prep courses (on sight). I was one of the very lucky winners.

I have been doing pretty well with my self studying the last few months, so I was planning to continue with my current plan of action... which is to study until my exam date in January. Now that I have the MCAT prep course available I'm not sure if I should take the course now OR should I continue with my self studying then take the Kaplan course next year once I receive my first scores. What do you think?

I have until August 2015 to use the course.

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[AM508]

I found the Kaplan course along with the AAMC full-lengths to be very good review for the MCAT. The Kaplan review is structured in a manner similar to the MCAT, so that may be useful for you even in content review.

EDIT: In short, I would use all resources available to you for your first MCAT. Try to knock the exam out of the water on the first try.

 

[whittyo678]

I found the Kaplan course along with the AAMC full-lengths to be very good review for the MCAT. The Kaplan review is structured in a manner similar to the MCAT, so that may be useful for you even in content review.

EDIT: In short, I would use all resources available to you for your first MCAT. Try to knock the exam out of the water on the first try.

Thank you for your reply! My biggest concern was Kaplans improvement guarantee and the fact that Ive been out of undergrad since 2010. Im coming along nicely, but still have tons of material to study before the big day. I purchased the 2015 Kaplan review books as my personal study material, but I have only made it to gen chem so far.... I hope to have o chem and physics fully covered by the end of next month giving my current rate of coverage/digestion. That should put me right around the end of December finishing the biochem and biological science books.... That being said, I didn't know if it was wise to take the course knowing that I have not fully reviewed all of the necessary material.

Can you tell me if the course focuses mostly on content or test taking strategies? OR is it a combination? Sorry for the thousand and one questions... Just trying to get a feel for what my next move should be.

Thanks again!

 

[AM508]

The Kaplan course that I took for my MCAT was a combination (content + strategy). Many of the test strategies are VERY helpful. I didn't use all of their strategies but you really want to do more than just content review before taking the test. Remember that the strategy is a big part of the MCAT as it tests critical thinking as much or more than just content. Plus Kaplan has a load of good full length exams, and I think they also give you access still to all of the AAMC practice exams.

EDIT: Sorry about the edits, I keep thinking of something new after I post. I cannot stress enough that its important to be working through actual passages on the computer like you will on test day. Kaplan does a pretty good job with this in their online component IMO. Also, you want to make sure you save plenty of time to take practice exams, those are essential. Do not get so wrapped up in content memorization that you do not have enough time to do a significant number of practice full length exams before test day.

 

[whittyo678]

The Kaplan course that I took for my MCAT was a combination (content + strategy). Many of the test strategies are VERY helpful. I didn't use all of their strategies but you really want to do more than just content review before taking the test. Remember that the strategy is a big part of the MCAT as it tests critical thinking as much or more than just content. Plus Kaplan has a load of good full length exams, and I think they also give you access still to all of the AAMC practice exams.

EDIT: Sorry about the edits, I keep thinking of something new after I post. I cannot stress enough that its important to be working through actual passages on the computer like you will on test day. Kaplan does a pretty good job with this in their online component IMO. Also, you want to make sure you save plenty of time to take practice exams, those are essential. Do not get so wrapped up in content memorization that you do not have enough time to do a significant number of practice full length exams before test day.

Thank you so very much for that awesome advice.

 

[user12]

if the Kaplan course is a class, as I suspect it is, I would take it just because it's free. but be warned... it's not THAT good and some of the strategies they endorse- like passage mapping- are idiotic. however, the resources they provide ARE good. they are lacking somewhat in a couple of their science books, but doing the practice tests and passages they provide, along with the aamcs, is good prep. I would still supplement their stuff with Berkeley, Princeton, and EK for verbal.

 

[AM508]

... some of the strategies they endorse- like passage mapping- are idiotic...

I agree with that in principle but would stop short at calling it "idiotic". I really liked many of their strategy tips but I think the passage mapping was an unnecessary time sink. However, other folks I know swear by it and did quite well on their exams. So individual preferences and needs will vary. I also agree that using multiple sources is a great idea. I found a mix to be very helpful.

 

[user12]

I agree with that in principle but would stop short at calling it "idiotic". I really liked many of their strategy tips but I think the passage mapping was an unnecessary time sink. However, other folks I know swear by it and did quite well on their exams. So individual preferences and needs will vary. I also agree that using multiple sources is a great idea. I found a mix to be very helpful.

ah ok. the passage mapping is a touchy point with me because when I first started studying, I honestly spent 2-3 months using it and my scores were TERRIBLE. im actually really surprised it works for some people. for science passages, it simply isn't necessary and for verbal, as if the time constraint in that section isn't already rough enough, spending another 20-30 sec per passage writing stuff down seems crazy. it's a PASSAGE, not a novel. I don't know why someone would need a map.