Kaplan Online HELP!!!

[angldrps]

Hi guys,
i am going to be study for my mcat retake, which i plan on taking in january. The biggest mistake i did when studying the first time around was spending way too much time doing content review and not enough practice. Since i have exhausted a lot of practice material already (TPR test and some AAMC test), i am looking to sign up for kaplan online course- mostly to gain access to their practice material . i want to spend my time doing practice material instead of content review for the upcoming months before my test date . For those who have taken Kaplan online course can you help me with the following questions:


Does the course come along with a schedule that spreads out in which order and when one should be taking the topical/sectional/Q bank practice material? (although i have the desipiline to do self-study, i still need a structured plan which tells me when i should be doing what and in how much time)
Do they provide guidance as to by when you should be starting with Kaplan FL?AAMC?

Also, any reviews on the the kaplan online course would be greatly appreciated.

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[SN2ed]

You'd be better served with BR's materials. They're better and cheaper. You'll still need some verbal material.

Kaplan does provide a schedule, but I don't think it lays out a plan using all of their resources. It wouldn't be a good idea to take literally everything they have because they start to repeat passages between different types of practice material (ex passages from your topicals show up in your FLs).

 

[KindofBlue]

I haven't done Kaplan, so I can't say for sure, but TBR is definitely one of the best options for you, especially when you've already finished TPR.
SN2ed's schedule and advice has helped a myriad of people in this forum including myself, so take a look at the link below. You probably won't need as much content review so you'd be able to condense the schedule a lot more.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=8092168

 

[angldrps]

anyone else please? i would really like to hear from people who have taken the kaplan online course.

 

[mzblue]

kaplan is fine.

 

[GetThePointe77]

I did Kaplan Online.
If you are just looking for more practice material I would try to see if you can gain access to the Q bank without it. IDK if they offer this some way. The majority of the online course is focused on content review, with the last section just being Kaplan and AAMC FLs. They never specifically tell you when to do Qbank stuff, I just fit it in throughout my time studying. Hope this helps...

 

[stolen_biscuit]

I took the Kaplan course, but it wasn't just the online portion. I will assume all materials are the same.
There is an online syllabus that covers 12 content sections (Phys 1, Chem 1, Verbal 1, Orgo 1, Bio 1, then all the 2's and 3's...with a few strategy sections thrown in). So you can work through in order. The 1's are mostly content and accompanying quizzes, but once you get to 2's and 3's, there are Section Tests. I found these really helpful as they are the same number of questions as a single MCAT section, and the timing is the same. The material is progressive throughout the course, but you will probably need to set your own timing based on how many study days you have before testing.
Q-Bank is also great, but I could never make the timing on those for some reason. They were good to cover more content, but not necessarily for flow of a timed section for me.

That being said, however, I don't know if I'd sign up for another course...unless I had unlimited financial resources (which I don't). It sounds like you did TPR already? If you just had practice materials, the online course would probably be more useful.

I live in a city with several medical schools, so in addition to my Kaplan stuff, I was able to find sets of TPR materials on Freecycle, random used books in the library bookstore, and I ordered EK Verbal. Much material is getting recycled around here, so I ended up with a bunch of practice materials. I think it was really helpful to have some different sources. As you already know, no one company really gets it 100% right (at least not for the MCAT I just took).

 

[ScarlettOHara]

If you're looking to really buckle down and have a schedule that forces you to do all the extra resources Kaplan has to offer I'd recommend doing the Kaplan Advanced Anywhere course. You need at least a 27 on a past MCAT/diagnostic/Kaplan full length to be in the class. The homework requirements are more extensive than the regular class (though the other kids have access to the material as well, it's just not "required") and in addition to the stuff the normal class covers you spend class time doing extra problem sets (other kids don't get these) and subject nuances to get you a higher score. Though the structure is there and the plan is set up well (yes the FLs are also scheduled) it's still up to you to keep at it, they can't force you to do the required work so you'll still have to motivate yourself.