kaplan vs. princeton review

[jjy2103]

i really suck at studying on my own...
wanted to take a genral review course...
which is better?

anyone have suggestions besides these two in ny area?

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[EndSong]

I like a few of the Kaplan things, but not the course. I suggest just buy the books as most of the Kaplan classes are almost word for word verbatim. TPR books and courses are mostly good, except for Verbal course which is of dubious quality. I had a Caltech PhD teach physics, he was awesome. I also recommend the ExamKracker books which have some of the clearest diagrams and summaries I've ever seen on the topics.

 

[PerryCox]

i really suck at studying on my own...
wanted to take a genral review course...
which is better?

anyone have suggestions besides these two in ny area?

I took TPR and had a friend who gave me all her Kaplan stuff, including the practice exams. Here is my opinion:
TPR science workbook is the most helpful book. Kaplan's bio sci book was awesome, while TPR's biol sci book was crap. But Kaplan's physical sci book sucked, while TPR's was money. Verbal is a crapshoot no matter how much you practice IMO; I thought TPR's verball bk was useful.
For the practice exams, I felt TPR's A-D book was absurdly difficult. It killed any confidence I had, so I would use that book knowing that its ridonculously hard. Kaplan exams were helpful as well, the main advantage being there are many, many more Kaplan exams than TPR exams. TPR offers 5 practice exams outside of that book I think, but 2 of them are AAMC anyway. So in terms of practice exams, I think Kaplan offered more. My TPR instructors were awesome and really helpful and I still keep in touch with one of them for questions. Anyway, regardless of what you do, TAKE ONE! I think it's really helpful to have access to lots of practice exams.

 

[princessd3]

I took TPR in NYC and I strongly recommend it. The science workbook is absolutely awsome. In fact, all the study books are good. The only issue I had was with verbal. The material is so hard and unrealistic. It was demoralizing for me. So much so I became really scared of verbal. I got a 3 in verbal on my TPR first practice test. For verbal I started using EK 101 and I scored a 9 on the real thing.