MCAT Course Comparison: Priceton Review vs. Examkrackers

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coltsorbroncos

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Disclaimer: I haven't really gotten on SDN enough to familiarize myself with the different resources so forgive me if this is a redundancy.

Can anyone who has taken the new MCAT and bought either a Princeton Review or Examkrackers course speak to their pros and cons?

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I used EK which I thought did a pretty good job a keeping it pertinent especially given they had little data on the new mcat. Everything that was in EK pretty much showed up on the test and practice exams in the back are pretty true-to-size. I can't speak to PR.
 
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I know someone who did EK and thought it was useless. They got a 28, re studied with Kaplan and got a 36
Interesting. I bought both the EK and PR a couple years ago and thought PR was garbage. PR content review books went way too in depth, which I viewed as a waste of time. Can't speak to Kaplan.

I think EK's strength is conciseness. They are great for science majors that already did well in the pre-req classes and just need a review of the key topics. I loved them.

I don't think you'll find a consensus on which series is best, or nobody would ever buy the other ones. It seems to come down to personal preference. As long as you understand the required content and do tons of practice problems, you'll be golden.
 
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I know someone who did EK and thought it was useless. They got a 28, re studied with Kaplan and got a 36

That addresses nothing about the quality of the prep material itself. More like personal preference, which is something to keep in mind. The consensus says that EK/TPR is generally of better quality than Kaplan but it doesn't mean people who use Kaplan can't score high.
 
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Princeton will give you tons of questions and review which are basically pure memory recall and fact regurgitation. While not as bad as Kaplan and while PR will have some decent questions and passages that don't follow this format, by and large it is full of stuff that is not representative of how the MCAT will test you.

EK will present questions that require some sort of thinking, reading of the passage and conceptual understanding. While EK isn't perfect, it'll at least provide you with material that tests skills and concepts that the MCAT assesses.

I haven't taken either course so I can't really talk about the quality of instructing which is another factor. It's possible PR has some awesome instructors that are able to help teach people MCAT reasoning skills despite the fact their questions aren't really like the MCAT. I have no idea how good EK's instructors are either.

My recommendation is regardless of which course you do supplement material from other sources. For science: TPRH science workbook and ICC handbook(which is the best PR practice stuff), the EK review books, EK FL's, Next Step FL's, Khan Academy, previous and current AAMC FL's and of course all BR material is the way to go. Verbal: TPRH verbal workbook, EK 101 passages, EK and Next Step FL's, and most importantly old and current AAMC material is what I would focus on.
 
Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers, that's just the only experience of someone I know who used EK and another program.

Obviously it's super based on personal preference.
 
Thanks for all the responses! I'm considering re-taking the MCAT since I got a 29 on the old one

2 interviews (one of which I've already bombed. Next one I'm woefully low priority with a February interview)

5 holds

2 rejections

3 I've yet to hear back from (I'm thinking holds and rejections at this point but the admissions offices preach portal checking and aren't forthcoming with status updates)

Not asking for a chance evaluation or support. Just satiating the curiosity of anyone who might have seen my limited number of posts on other forums
 
Thanks for all the responses! I'm considering re-taking the MCAT since I got a 29 on the old one

2 interviews (one of which I've already bombed. Next one I'm woefully low priority with a February interview)

5 holds

2 rejections

3 I've yet to hear back from (I'm thinking holds and rejections at this point but the admissions offices preach portal checking and aren't forthcoming with status updates)

Not asking for a chance evaluation or support. Just satiating the curiosity of anyone who might have seen my limited number of posts on other forums

Where'd you interview with a 29 mcat? US MD?
 
If only the books came with more practice tests. Its rubbish that they make you pay extra to access the online tests.
 
Where'd you interview with a 29 mcat? US MD?
A 29 MCAT does not bar you from interviews at US MD schools, although one certainly can get that impression with enough time spent on SDN. There are many more factors to consider.
 
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I used TPR for the new MCAT and it was absolutely terrible. Barely any adaptation to the new stuff whatsoever other than the new section, which was fine - although I did have at least 4-5 questions testing me on concepts not taught in the course/books.
 
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I used TPR for the new MCAT and it was absolutely terrible. Barely any adaptation to the new stuff whatsoever other than the new section, which was fine - although I did have at least 4-5 questions testing me on concepts not taught in the course/books.
were you pleased with your score though? If you don't mind me asking
 
I liked the info in the PR; however, their passages were few and overly difficult/complicated. So, I used TPR for the info and the EK question books for problems, and it worked well for me. I'd say its a must to find another source of practice problems (e.g., the EK question books) if you use TPR.

However, I did not read the EK subject books, so I cannot speak to which is better. I also found the organic chemistry in TPR to be lacking.
 
Edit to add - I mean the EK subject books versus the practice-question only books.

I bought the EK boxed set and studied exclusively from those, plus I watched a ton of Khan academy videos on Bio systems (in retrospect this was probably not worth the time input. The videos are great but they do take time to go through). I spent a combined 3 weeks in the 2 bio books, I spent a week going through Chemistry (that's my strong suit but it was useful to do this), I started going through Physics and I decided that there was no way that I was going to make any progress in real time so I skimmed through the rest but didn't really bother. Totally ignored the CARS book and spent a week in the Pysch book (which was gold). My total score was 514 on the new MCAT, with 93-99% in everything except for Bio, which was a tragedy at around ~70%. I have no experience with TPR, but I would say overall that for concise reinforcement, EK was excellent. I can't complain about my score given the amount of effort that I put in (this was a function of time and work schedule as opposed to just not being motivated). I never took a practice test before hand, stupidly, so I don't know how much progress I made. I am already considering studying for a retake (it's been a totally silent admissions cycle for me so far) and maybe I'll try to supplement with TPR or something else and compare the results. Good luck, the MCAT was my biggest fear in all of the process.
 
were you pleased with your score though? If you don't mind me asking
My score was 516: 126, 130, 130, 130. My low score in the C/P section is, imo, mostly imputable to TPR's poor direction in adapting to the new MCAT. The rest is my own skill and background for about 80-90% of it.
 
I thought EK was great and got a 36 using it. It distills everything down where as Kaplan and Princeton give you so much information and detail you probably don't need to be successful. I'd say go with EK and then if there is a topic you don't understand, refer back to your texts from college.

Plus the pictures and jokes in EK bring some nice levity to the studying process.
 
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Thanks to everyone who has participated in this forum. Another question: if anyone has taken a course, what was the most influential factor in deciding between online vs. in-person options?
 
I did Kaplan... got like a 26 or something.

3 years later... I didn't study, and got a 30+
 
I took the Examkrackers course Online this past Summer for the "new" MCAT and I was very pleased. I think prior posters are correct in the statement that a large part of your choice in what company to use has to do with your overall connection to the way the material is presented, but overall the Examkrackers approach is a straight forward, clear presentation of the material needed for the exam without extraneous information. They work great for those who have the basic concepts down already and really need to know HOW the MCAT is going to ask them to use this bevy of information.

Regarding the Online course, I really liked it. The classes are live and interactive (there is a moderator on every session who takes your questions and presents them to the instructor). I have no idea the overall number of students who were in my online class, but I can tell you, I never had a question go unanswered by either the instructor or the moderator and I ask A LOT! At first I was a little taken aback that they were live only (not recorded) but then I realized that this kept me accountable and kept me on schedule, as is the motivation of a number of us who decide to take a course instead of self study.

We met for 4 nights a week for 2 hours a night (8-10pm - I am on the East Coast) and then there were weekend evening online sessions that were optional, but in my opinion if you don't take advantage of every resource you are offered you are a fool. Online courses can be difficult to keep your attention focused so I really liked the 2 hours a night - it kept it within reason for me to stay attentive.

We received 5 Practice exams with the online class (4 EK and the AAMC) and there were also weekend online sessions where we reviewed portions of each of these exams which were super helpful in determining where I needed to continue to work on my actual MCAT practice and not just content practice. My only point of issue here is that the EK Full Length Exams did not have a score yet, so you were only working with percentages correct. But you were still able to get the practice and see progress as long as your percentages were getting better over time.

I would DEF recommend the online course with EK if you are in a location (as I was) that one of the live classes is not available. But if you do take the online - you HAVE to interact and you HAVE to come prepared with your questions - I think this is true of any class online, but especially true for this type of course.

Oh - overall I wound up scoring a 518 and feel like EK has a HUGE part in that number!
WOW - this is way more winded than I expected to be, but I hope the information was helpful....
 
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I took the Examkrackers course Online this past Summer for the "new" MCAT and I was very pleased. I think prior posters are correct in the statement that a large part of your choice in what company to use has to do with your overall connection to the way the material is presented, but overall the Examkrackers approach is a straight forward, clear presentation of the material needed for the exam without extraneous information. They work great for those who have the basic concepts down already and really need to know HOW the MCAT is going to ask them to use this bevy of information.

Regarding the Online course, I really liked it. The classes are live and interactive (there is a moderator on every session who takes your questions and presents them to the instructor). I have no idea the overall number of students who were in my online class, but I can tell you, I never had a question go unanswered by either the instructor or the moderator and I ask A LOT! At first I was a little taken aback that they were live only (not recorded) but then I realized that this kept me accountable and kept me on schedule, as is the motivation of a number of us who decide to take a course instead of self study.

We met for 4 nights a week for 2 hours a night (8-10pm - I am on the East Coast) and then there were weekend evening online sessions that were optional, but in my opinion if you don't take advantage of every resource you are offered you are a fool. Online courses can be difficult to keep your attention focused so I really liked the 2 hours a night - it kept it within reason for me to stay attentive.

We received 5 Practice exams with the online class (4 EK and the AAMC) and there were also weekend online sessions where we reviewed portions of each of these exams which were super helpful in determining where I needed to continue to work on my actual MCAT practice and not just content practice. My only point of issue here is that the EK Full Length Exams did not have a score yet, so you were only working with percentages correct. But you were still able to get the practice and see progress as long as your percentages were getting better over time.

I would DEF recommend the online course with EK if you are in a location (as I was) that one of the live classes is not available. But if you do take the online - you HAVE to interact and you HAVE to come prepared with your questions - I think this is true of any class online, but especially true for this type of course.

Oh - overall I wound up scoring a 518 and feel like EK has a HUGE part in that number!
WOW - this is way more winded than I expected to be, but I hope the information was helpful....

Hey man, congrats on the score! Your advice is making me reconsider a few things. What did you use for psych/soc? I bought the Kaplan books and most of EK, but Kaplan is just way too verbose for my taste and EK is missing a lot of definitions. Thanks in advance!
 
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