You were suddenly given unlimited money to study for the MCAT: what would you do?

[CharlieMargot]

My father has generously offered to spend as much money as I need to do well on the new MCAT. (Obviously over 10,000K would be ridiculous)

What books or programs/classroom teachings would you buy?

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[nomdeplume1234]

all of them.

 

[allantois]

lol

 

[CharlieMargot]

all of them.

But you wouldn't necessarily be able to study all of them...

 

[DanniD]

I wouldnt even study for mcat if I was given that money

 

[Ailleurs]

Can your father adopt me?

But seriously, I think you might want to go to a Barnes and Noble near you or some other bookstore that carries Princeton Review, Examkrackers, and Kaplan material to browse through. You can see what you like and it should be a good sampling of what to expect in their respective courses (although it will vary). Examkrackers is very compact and great if you have a lot of content knowledge already and/or studied it really well and just need to brush up. On the other hand, you could look into TBR (although know that they haven't updated a lot of their material for the new MCAT) for added practice. It's honestly a crapshoot since the MCAT is relatively new, I don't think the companies can effectively prepare you as they once could have for the older MCAT.

But if I were you, I'd look into Princeton Review's summer immersion course for the MCAT (it's like MCAT 2015 bootcamp) and/or fly to Cali (if you aren't there already) to take the TBR course, for which they provide updated materials for. In other words, students in california who take the Berkeley Review course real life rather than ordering the books, actually get books TBR has created for the new MCAT.

 

[blahblahpremeds]

I would still self study using TBR and save that money. Or try to take the TBR course if possible in California! Good luck.

 

[petyr_baelish]

This could actually hurt you. Having too many studying materials is not a good thing. Also, make sure your father knows that your application cycle could easily exceed $5,000 with travel, interview suits, transcript fees, secondary fees, etc. I just applied to 30 schools and I'm already $1600 down.

 

[Mad Jack]

EK, TBR, that's it. All I used with some self study and discipline, got a 35. Also, official AAMC practice tests.

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Everyone has such radically different needs and different learning styles that there's no "right" answer here. Having said that, there's a few ideas:

If money is no object, you should probably start by signing up for a Kaplan class since that will immediately give you a huge raft of resources and (unless they've changed since I left) Kaplan is the only classroom company that will let you do infinite "teacher shopping" - so you can hop around between different classes / online classes until you find a teacher you really click with.

Then you could think about getting one-on-one help, if you're the kind of person that works well in that environment. The key recommendation I'd make here is to use two different companies for your classroom and one-on-one help (e.g. TPR class / KTP tutoring; EK class / NS tutoring; KTP class / EK tutoring, etc.) so that you can get different perspectives on the new test. Since no one company is going to have the perfect "take" on the new test, you want a variety of perspectives.

For books, again the main thing I'd recommend if you can just buy all of them would be to put together a set of books that's a mix-match from different companies, to spread the risk around, so to speak. So like the KTP Biochem, the TPR Pysch, the EK Chem/Physics, etc.

Finally, take the "diversified portfolio" approach to your tests as well. EK, NS, GS, TPR all sell tests as separate products. So if you take a KTP class to get their tests, you buy the AAMC tests, and then buy tests from 1-3 other companies, and make sure you create a once-a-week schedule where you don't do more than like 1-2 tests from each company, you'll be sure to get the widest possible range of practice.

You're in a really enviable position. The absolute key thing here is that after you've put together your suite of materials DO NOT KEEP SKIPPING AROUND. With access to that much stuff it will be easy to lose focus. Set up a set of materials, develop a study schedule and then GIVE AWAY everything you're not using. It will just distract you. Stay focused, keep moving.

Good luck!!

 

[Summernight]

I would hire a private tutor, for example, from Kaplan prep.

 

[Abraxas305]

I would use 2-3k on a vacation and the rest on my application cycle.

 

[DepecheMode]

If I were given unlimited money I would not be studying for the MCAT. Maybe I'd go to Vegas...so I could double my unlimited money.

 

[StudyLater]

My father has generously offered to spend as much money as I need to do well on the new MCAT. (Obviously over 10,000K would be ridiculous

I agree. Spending 10 million dollars on the MCAT would be ridiculous.

This thread is basically asking the same age-old question: what's the best materials for studying? You can answer this question by watching the april thread very closely for the next few days as scores come in.

 

[DrHart]

ask for cash and spend it on pizza and beer. mcat prep is worthless. we all suffer together. might as well have some pepperoni.

 

[raiderette]

I would take a gap year and wait for better materials. Maybe take the TBR live class.

 

[BeachBaby]

next step - tutor hours and books >>>

 

[DesitnationMD]

More $ =/= more points. Find a solid set of books and about 5-7 practice tests from 2-3 diff companies and all the AAMC materials. If you re spending > $1k on the MCAT and you're not in a class or with a tutor, you are doing something wrong. If you aren't that disciplined, and it seems like daddy is very keen on your doing well, I would take a class or get a tutor. Find a tutor or class that comes with a bunch of practice material. Kaplan is the class with prolly the largest library, NexStep gives you lots of material if you do their tutoring. Both are mucho $$ tho.

 

[BeachBaby]

I did kaplan class and it was worthless ... I did NextStep and it was worth it

 

[rozalind]

Quit my job. That's an extra 8+ hours a day I can use for studying. The greatest study resource is time well spent.

 

[Stumpyman]

I knew a lot of kids in high school who were far from bright by any means but manages decent SAT/ACT scores because their parents paid for tutoring + classes from 9th grade onward. If you throw enough money at something, it has to stick at a certain point. MCAT is a bit more self-driven and I prefer my own schedule, so I would spend the same amount I normally spend on prep materials.