KAPLAN or PRINCETON or BERKLEY

jaybird said:

which CLASS is better to take overall for the mcat

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Friends who have taken Berkeley say it saved their butts. It's intense but it makes a greater difference, I suspect.

I took Kaplan and wasn't really a fan.

I took Princeton and went from a 24 on the initial diagnostic test to a 32 on the actual MCAT... so that's what I'd recommend personally (they also worked for a specialized HS exam I took and the SATs and I plan to use them again for Step I and II).

im in the kaplan course right now and its awesome...they teach you everything we need to efficiently murder the mcat..ive learned soo much already and im only in my 3rd week of the course...still have about 20 weeks left of it, our instructor (and 1 sub so far) are all true testimonials to the course who just destroyed the mcat after taking the class

Soggun said:

I took Princeton and went from a 24 on the initial diagnostic test to a 32 on the actual MCAT... so that's what I'd recommend personally (they also worked for a specialized HS exam I took and the SATs and I plan to use them again for Step I and II).

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I did the exact same thing for Kaplan, but I really wouldn't use the diagnostic as any sort of baseline. The purpose of it is to scare the **** out of you more than anything else.

koko_eats said:

Friends who have taken Berkeley say it saved their butts. It's intense but it makes a greater difference, I suspect.

I took Kaplan and wasn't really a fan.

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Absolutely berkeley. Not even a question here. Here's why I say berkeley:

Any test prep company will give you the information needed to score well. Every test prep company will give you practice tests, problems, and a general refresher on the material. What berkeley does differently is that they actually want their students to do well. I took it at the LA site, and one of the owners personally teaches chemistry. If I had any questions, even if I brought in a test from another company, someone would sit with me and go over everything I got wrong. Even after I took the MCAT, I could ask questions and the owner of berkeley review would help me with the application process. They genuinely want people to succeed, and they're willing to go the extra mile to help their students. If you have more questions about berkeley review, you're welcome to pm me.

I would say anyone who has the ability to take Berkeley Review (meaning from CA, and at or near one of the schools that offers it) that doesn't take it is missing out on a great opportunity...

Kaplan raised my score 11 points.

personally i have never taken one of those classes, but ive heard people say that its really hit or miss.

I did examkrackers for maybe 6 weeks before the exam (took the last written MCAT in august of 2006. started studying after my summer classes in philosophy ended). and i ended up with a 31R while only scoring maybe 27-29 on the AAMC prac. tests and the EK tests.

drizzt3117 said:

I would say anyone who has the ability to take Berkeley Review (meaning from CA, and at or near one of the schools that offers it) that doesn't take it is missing out on a great opportunity...

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Agreed. When I was at Davis, a lot of my friends moved to Berkeley for the summer session starting in May. I seriously don't think that Kaplan could have gotten them the scores that they ended up with. Their practice exams are ridiculously difficult so that there are zero surprises when you go in for the real thing. They let you keep/photo copy whatever you want too.

If I could do things over again, I'd choose Berkeley.

Oh! Another point to emphasize... I could have taught Kaplan if I hadn't moved away from a test center. Let me tell you, however... I'm not qualified to teach anyone how to prepare for the MCAT.

wow, never heard of the Berkeley stuff. cool beans. i work for princeton - therefore, automatic bias. but here's what i'll tell you: for kaplan and princeton, it all comes down to the instructors you will be having for class. I happened to have the very very best of the austin office for my class, and it was phenomenal. find out how long they've been teaching or try to meet them or something. and they put in so much work for us - tutoring hours, review sessions, etc - just as someone above was describing from Berkeley. it was awesome.

i will say that, in austin, i'd go with princeton hands down. but it's not as well developed in other offices and you should do some look-see.

nomoreplz said:

wow, never heard of the Berkeley stuff. cool beans. i work for princeton - therefore, automatic bias. but here's what i'll tell you: for kaplan and princeton, it all comes down to the instructors you will be having for class. I happened to have the very very best of the austin office for my class, and it was phenomenal. find out how long they've been teaching or try to meet them or something. and they put in so much work for us - tutoring hours, review sessions, etc - just as someone above was describing from Berkeley. it was awesome.

i will say that, in austin, i'd go with princeton hands down. but it's not as well developed in other offices and you should do some look-see.

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IIRC, Todd Bennett, who is one of the founders of Berkeley Review, used to own Hyperlearning, which was purchased by Princeton Review. AFAIK, a lot of the Princeton Review materials and strategies are based off of the materials developed by Hyperlearning.

Todd and Dale, who is one of the other founders, teach the Biology and Chemistry sections of every Berkeley Review class that is offered. They commute from the Bay Area to Southern California each week to teach the classes. Berkeley Review is also extremely selective with their teachers and pay a lot more than Kaplan or Princeton (up to $50/hr, IIRC) so they get the best instructors possible.

I believe Todd posts in the MCAT forum, so if you have specific questions about the program, that would probably be the best place to ask.

I took TPR and it sucked.
Examkrackers all the way for me.

Moving to the MCAT board.

koko_eats said:

Oh! Another point to emphasize... I could have taught Kaplan if I hadn't moved away from a test center. Let me tell you, however... I'm not qualified to teach anyone how to prepare for the MCAT.

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Yes! I actually might interview in the next week to teach for kaplan--and i did fine, but i don't think i'm qualified to teach the mcat.

jaybird said:

yea i have heard kaplan is not good for mcat. so i am deciding between berkley and princeton. but i heard princeton focuses on test taking methods where berkley makes u learn everything step by step. IS this true?? what are the differences betweeen them?

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The best suggestion is to sit in on a random lecture for each course and see how they do things. Pick the course that feels right and matches your style.

And to half-answer your question, the step-by-step learning is contextual learning. A typical lecture has four parts:

• 
  1. Definitions and concepts (we discuss the basic terminiology)
  2. Presentation of typical examples (emphasizing the coneptual perspective)
  3. Sample Questions (graphs, equations, etc...)
  4. Perturbations (mixture of other concepts into the basic topic)

In this way, we cover test-strategies in context. BTW, which location are you considering?

Drizz, Bruinator, and Koko: Thanks so much for your kind words. It's really appreciated, more than you will ever know.

Wow, wish I could do the Berkley Review but can't go to CA summer school.

I'll take Princeton instead

Definitely sit in on a lecture if you can. I've heard from one or two people that Kaplan isn't that bad. However, my experience with Kaplan was horrible. The only thing that made it worth my money was the practice material. I cannot stress enough how awful the "teachers" were. They literally read off these little Kaplan handouts and whenever we asked a question we'd get a "I'm going to have to get back to you on that." Then after all of our starting teachers left for med school, we got suck with the "best teacher in California." She was the worst teacher I have ever had. Additionally, the review materials were not helpful at all for me. I can confidently say that I would have failed the MCAT without taking EK's home course at the same time.

If I could go back I would take Berkeley Review in an instant. I think it says quite a bit that the person they have representing them is still around, is proud of their work, and continually helps out people on these forums. If their representative is indicative of the quality of their class, then it is of the highest caliber. My only concern is that I don't know how much practice material they give out. You could easily fix that by just buying all the AAMC tests if they don't offer them. So if you want a good class take Berkeley Review.

What do you guys think of the self-review "Kaplan MCAT Premier Program?" Kaplan's classes don't seem to be particularly well-regarded, but I'm thinking of buying this set.

Thanks in advance.

EdCLS said:

What do you guys think of the self-review "Kaplan MCAT Premier Program?" Kaplan's classes don't seem to be particularly well-regarded, but I'm thinking of buying this set.

Thanks in advance.

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I have the Kaplan materials in addition to EK and TBR and didn't think too much of them. The Berkeley Review materials are inexpensive and very very good. The only downside is you have to send them a check, but <shrug>

Kaplan's Premier Program book is basically the same review material they give you in the classrooms. The CD that comes with it is more or less useless; I didn't care much for the practice exams on the CD. The practice exams in the back of that book are fairly useful though, as I believe they are the first two Kaplan FL's.

The only TPR book I can recommend using is the Science Workbook. Excellent resource all in all.

EK's books are useful, especially if you have taken the prerequisites relatively recently. I liked them, but I didn't like the in-class exams in the back of the manuals. You also have to get the 101 Passages in Verbal Reasoning as well.

Agree with Drizzt's endorsement of Berkeley Review's materials. I used their home-study materials, and strongly recommend them to anyone trying to figure out which materials are best for them.

Ultimately, it shouldn't matter what materials you use, the only things that should probably determine your success on the MCAT are:

1) Your desire and willingness to do what it takes to improve, by this I mean tackling your weaknesses and making them into strengths, and so on, and

2) The quality of your instructors if you choose to take the class. It can really help if you have an excellent instructor.

But by far, I would say the first factor is the biggest factor in your MCAT success. It has less to do with your choice of materials to use and more to do with how efficiently you study and how driven you are to study at a high level for 4+ hours a day. It won't matter what materials you use if you're not doing yourself any favors in that regard.

I think TPR is better than Kaplan. For TPR, they choose one teacher per subject, so they are the 'expert' in that subject. In Kaplan, they want teachers to teach as many subjects as they can, so there is 'continuity' in the classes. That's difficult for teachers to do and still maintain a high level of quality.

However, as someone who is now teaching the MCAT, I'll also say that TPR is better simply because of the pay differences. TPR offered me a pay rate that was $8/hr more than at Kaplan. With a significant pay diff, I think Princeton attracts the better teachers. And from the teacher end, when I asked Kaplan about prep, they said that I should expect to prep about 3 hrs for each class as a new teacher. At Princeton, they expected around 10 hrs per class, which is about how much time I actually do put into the class.

I also took TPR classes when I studied and ended up with a score I'm pretty happy with.

That said, I dont know anything about Berkeley.

Is berkley only available for people in CA?

So most people say Princeton Review is good? and only few say Kaplan is?

bonoz said:

Is berkley only available for people in CA?

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Yeah, we only operate three locations total. It's a catch-22 for us. What makes the class work is that we are small and have energized teachers. If we expanded (as we did years ago), then the teaching would suffer. But, because we are small, most people at SDN haven't heard of us.

Does it cost anything, and how much? I'm already taking O-Chem at Berkeley reight now.

Like already said before, more so than whatever you choose, these are just tools and your personal drive and determination is the biggest key factor to success. I immersed myself in studying 6-8hrs a day and did reasonably well. On the otherhand, my friend who also did TBR (+kaplan & EK books) didn't do as hot because he wasn't really focused during prep, didn't put in the hours, and didn't follow all the guidelines.

Your experience may vary with Kaplan/TPR depending on your location and your instructors... but you can't go wrong with TBR

The quality and personal help you get at Berkeley Review is <3 and Todd especially is the best! He answers my emails fast post-MCATs about what options lay before me, as well as lots of helpful advice during the application process.


on the left is my stack of books, on the right is my stack of practice tests & further review packets. not shown: my full 1.5" binder of notes n handouts

the way i studied was to study exam kracker stuff, however i took it when it was still in the written form. I studied all the books and then did all the 1001 questions for every subject. I took kaplan, didnt think they did a very good job. hope this helps, good luck!

RoadRunner17 said:

The practice exams in the back of that book are fairly useful though, as I believe they are the first two Kaplan FL's.
...
The only TPR book I can recommend using is the Science Workbook. Excellent resource all in all.
...
Ultimately, it shouldn't matter what materials you use, the only things that should probably determine your success on the MCAT are:

1) Your desire and willingness to do what it takes to improve, by this I mean tackling your weaknesses and making them into strengths, and so on, and
...

But by far, I would say the first factor is the biggest factor in your MCAT success. It has less to do with your choice of materials to use and more to do with how efficiently you study and how driven you are to study at a high level for 4+ hours a day. It won't matter what materials you use if you're not doing yourself any favors in that regard.

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Cool, thanks for the info. At this point, I'm the equivalent of a freshman in my program (courses are structured as such that it'll take four years for me to complete it, despite having been in college for a few years already). Even though I'm three years away from taking the MCAT, I'm trying to find my weak spots now and work on them over the next couple of years. I figured it would be helpful to buy some dedicated MCAT study materials and work through them as I take the actual prerequisite courses. Hopefully that will also give me an idea of what to focus on the most as I take the courses, as well.

goopoosthram said:

I am suspicious about Berkeley Review. They do not respond to Phone calls or emails. They don’t post their physical address but only PO Box address on their website. You have send a money order first and only then they will send you the study materials. This surely is suspicious. This makes me think that Berkeley review could me a scam but I have no proof.

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Tons of people have been using it here, I just sent in the money order day.

They are reputable. Does their website and process seem archaic and may push customers away? Yes, I've posted on this on another thread, and commented that if they had a more modern ordering system and website that they would most definitely attract more customers for home study material. However, this doesn't mean their material isn't top notch (at least according to the people who've used them).

goopoosthram said:

I am suspicious about Berkeley Review. They do not respond to Phone calls or emails. They don’t post their physical address but only PO Box address on their website. You have send a money order first and only then they will send you the study materials. This surely is suspicious. This makes me think that Berkeley review could me a scam but I have no proof.

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Your post is so inaccurate it's not even funny. First of all, they are small. So, there isn't always someone there. In addition, you can send a check, cashier's check, or money order. It's just that a money order is the fastest way. These books are amazing. They are worth it alone for the passages. They have been along longer than EK and Todd started hyperlearning (TPR). If you had done a search, you would have seen that you aren't the only person to have had this problem. However, you would have seen that if you're persistent, eventually you get contact info and EVERYONE who has ever ordered has gotten their books. A scam, seriously? How can people be so naive. How would so many people on this board support a scam? Unbelievable.

Will Hunting said:

Your post is so inaccurate it's not even funny. First of all, they are small. So, there isn't always someone there. In addition, you can send a check, cashier's check, or money order. It's just that a money order is the fastest way. These books are amazing. They are worth it alone for the passages. They have been along longer than EK and Todd started hyperlearning (TPR). If you had done a search, you would have seen that you aren't the only person to have had this problem. However, you would have seen that if you're persistent, eventually you get contact info and EVERYONE who has ever ordered has gotten their books. A scam, seriously? How can people be so naive. How would so many people on this board support a scam? Unbelievable.

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Well a lot of people fell for Bernie Madoff.... but I agree with you.

goopoosthram said:

I am suspicious about Berkeley Review. They do not respond to Phone calls or emails. They don’t post their physical address but only PO Box address on their website. You have send a money order first and only then they will send you the study materials. This surely is suspicious. This makes me think that Berkeley review could me a scam but I have no proof.

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If you are really so worried about it, you could find someone who's selling their copies of the Berkeley Review books on say, eBay or craigslist or something. You don't have to buy it directly from them, you know..

One post, joined this month? Come on now.

RoadRunner17 said:

If you are really so worried about it, you could find someone who's selling their copies of the Berkeley Review books on say, eBay or craigslist or something...

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Hey Roadrunner, you aren't by any chance selling your BR stuff on eBay or craigslist or something are you?

RoadRunner17 said:

If you are really so worried about it, you could find someone who's selling their copies of the Berkeley Review books on say, eBay or craigslist or something. You don't have to buy it directly from them, you know..

One post, joined this month? Come on now.

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Please take no offense. I just thought that it is unusual that a business would respond to customers’ calls / emails. As I mentioned I was suspicious but had no proof.
Number of postings is irrelevant. If I have nothing to say I don’t post, just for the sake of it.

Berkeley Review is tough, very very tough.
556 passages all together for all the subjects.
Over 2000+ pages of learning and reading material.

But the reality is, if you want to score 30+ ...Follow SN2ed calender in accordance with your learning speed with utmost diligence. And, Berkeley Review is big part of it.

When I first graduated from college 5 years ago and took my first MCAT, I had a score of 18..LOL. and on my 2nd attempt, it was 21...I gave up medical field after that...

5 years later, I had a crude awakening. After following and finishing SN2ed calender, I have been consistently scoring an average score of 29 on the first 4 FL AAMC exams. This is some extreme serious improvement since my last attempt on MCAT few years ago. I am expecting my score to to touch 30+ region before I finish all of AAMC FL exams and hope to sustain that score in the real MCAT on June 21st (the judgement day)