anyone take kaplan online courses?

[AtomicLuv]

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Hello all.

has anyone taken the online kaplan course? its like $1050. and it assigns hw and everything. if you have taken it, can you tell me if its helped, and what it was like? also. if I am taking the june pcat, when does this course begin? like how does it work with time?

thanks so much!
😀

 

[longstech]

I took the Kaplan online course and found it to be very helpful. The courses and
homework prepared me well for the verbal, chem and bio sections. The Kaplan course is not very good for the quantitative section but does a good job with the other sections I feel.

You can go online to the Kaplan website and see how early you can purchase the materials. I believe you have access to the site and online programs for 3 months, so I would encourage you to start 4 to 5 months before the test, as you will have time to complete the online course and still have time to review the material. Do all the homework and all the practice tests. It will require A LOT of time but I think that you will find it will be beneficial in the end.

Good Luck!

 

[NexusMD]

is it really only 3 months? Thats ridiculous...i wanted to sign up before new years for the june test, that seems liek a bad idea right now.

 

[NexusMD]

I dunno if you already signed up for the class yet Atomic, but I just called kaplan to sign up for the online class and the person I spoke to allowed me to start the class on Jan 20th (the day of the next pcat) and have it run all the way till the June 23rd pcat. So that gives me 6 months of kaplan materials and testing. Which worked out extremely well 🙂

 

[AtomicLuv]

I havent signed up for the online courses yet, but thanks so much for your replies, I will definately call them and see what they can do!

Thanks again! 😀

 

[tckc]

i took the kaplan online course and was only allowed 3 months access to the material so i'm not sure if (like NexusMD) other arrangements can be made. i found it to be helpful but very time consuming and some portions were harder than the actual pcat. unfortunately, i was unable to finish the course prior to taking the exam....there was a huge earthquake a couple of weeks before the oct. exam date and i was saving some of the online practice exams to do the week before but as luck would have it, our internet service was knocked out for a while so i couldn't access it at home. (i know, i could have gone to the library but with a newborn...leaving for long stretches of time is just not an option!) needless to say i was very disappointed that i had paid all that money and not even utilized all the material but hopefully my score is good enough to get me in...i didn't score as well as i wanted (80 composite) but it got me an interview at the only school i applied to so we'll see. as for whether or not i recommend the kaplan course...i say, if you have the finances to do it and you're committed to putting in that study time...it's worth it. if you stick to the syllabus you'll be more than prepared by test day...good luck.

 

[NexusMD]

I havent signed up for the online courses yet, but thanks so much for your replies, I will definately call them and see what they can do!

Thanks again! 😀

if the person u talk to cant help you, i can give u the extension of the person I spoke to who set me up on the 6 month deal. lemme know and gl 😀. Im anxious to start studying.

 

[Chokita]

longstech,
Would you mind sharing your PCAT score if you've gotten it already. After your post I am seriously thinking about getting this course. I am on my way to take PCAT in march and i need some extra feedback. Did you have your classes at school during your time preparation? How many hours a day did you study?
Thanks a lot🙂

 

[MPBenJ]

I took the online Kaplan course. I found it very helpful, but I could not finish the entire course before my 14 weeks (I think?) ran out! Luckily I had printed out all of the practice exams before losing access.

If you stick to a schedule you should be able to finish the course, but it will take a lot of time if you go through every single lesson and every practice exam. If you can get access for six months I would recommend doing that.

I didn't finish the course, but I still got a 96 composite on the PCAT. And, I haven't been in school since 1999. So, it definitely helped me.

The PCAT was easier than the practice tests that Kaplan provides. I think like other people have said: if you can get through the Kaplan exams you'll be more than prepared.

The course did not cover some of the quantitative material that was on the PCAT (for example - trigonometry: I was really glad that I happened to look over some of that the night before the test, because it wasn't in the course).

There are some errors in the Kaplan materials and books. But I think they are obvious enough.

Above everything else: I would practice taking tests and getting the timing down. I found that to be the hardest part of the PCAT: finishing all the questions in the allotted time.

Good luck!

 

[longstech]

longstech,
Would you mind sharing your PCAT score if you've gotten it already. After your post I am seriously thinking about getting this course. I am on my way to take PCAT in march and i need some extra feedback. Did you have your classes at school during your time preparation? How many hours a day did you study?
Thanks a lot🙂

I unfortunately got a 72, because I was unable to complete the quantitative and reading comprehension sections and had to guess which brought my score ridiculously low. I took the test in October so I would try to study for 2-4 hours a night after I got home from work or school (3-4 days a week). In the end I was not able to complete all of the online materials. (I had purchased the materials 2 months before the exam) I was not prepared stamina-wise. I am re-taking the test in January and bought the Cliffs book that has 5 full-length tests.

I would recommend purchasing the course as early as possible, and as the previous posts have stated if you can have the materials for 6 months find a way to do it! Study as much as possible and take a few full length practice tests (perhaps more than are offered by Kaplan). Hope this has helped.

 

[steveysmith54]

is the course material much different than the prep book that they put out?

 

[tckc]

is the course material much different than the prep book that they put out?

i actually purchased the regular kaplan book way before signing up for the online course and found that a lot of the practice exam questions were very similar, if not identical to the questions on the online course. this kinda bummed me out but you can never have too much practice so it was not a big deal...

 

[Chokita]

Thanks for your responses🙂 I appreciate your help
One more question. I have looked at the schedule of this course and found out that it has certain time like twice a week from 6 till 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Is it a strict schedule or I will have access any time I need to? I am asking because it conflicts with my classes at my CC so I will have to fix it while I still have time.

longstech, I wish you good luck on your exam.

 

[tckc]

choikita,
the schedule/syllabus that they provide is just to keep you on track...the online course is very flexible...you can go ahead or fall behind...easily. i would suggest that if that schedule doesn't work for you, you design one that you'll be able to stick to...that way,you'll make sure to maximize the program and get your $'s worth! i did all my studying with a newborn and the online course worked well as i could stay up as late as i wanted or fit in a lecture or two during the day...good luck with your exam!

 

[longstech]

Thanks for your responses🙂 I appreciate your help
One more question. I have looked at the schedule of this course and found out that it has certain time like twice a week from 6 till 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Is it a strict schedule or I will have access any time I need to? I am asking because it conflicts with my classes at my CC so I will have to fix it while I still have time.

longstech, I wish you good luck on your exam.

Thanks!

You may be looking at the times for the in-class course where you actually have to attend at a brick and mortar building. This class usually costs more but you have interaction with an actual instructor and other people. The online class should not have assigned times for you to log on. You are free to do that whenever you want.

 

[Chokita]

longstech, tckc guys thank you for helping. You are great!😎

The funny thing that I just discovered there is no PCAT in March. So I have plenty of time till June to cover the material. Let me ask you one question about science sections. Going thru my text books, I come across a lot of experiments of things like photosynthesis, atom theory, etc. Do I have to memorize this information as well? I mean names who did it, how. Is it supposed to be on the exam or not?

 

[tckc]

this is just from my experience of taking the pcat once...but i don't recall any names or references to experiments on the exam. i think the more important thing is to remember the basics or outcomes of those discoveries...like starting and end products in photosynthesis...where it occurs...general ideas and supporting facts for theories such as the atomic theory, evolution, etc. as you study, you'll (or at least i did) find that the same topics come up and the repetition helps "suggest" what may be on the exam. what i mean is that i studied between the kaplan online course, the cliff's practice exams and the audiolearn cds and noticed that many topics were very similar so on test day, although the questions were not exactly the same as i had studied, they were touching on topics that felt familiar...does that make sense? sorry i'm a bit tired!

 

[comet81]

Hello all.

has anyone taken the online kaplan course? its like $1050. and it assigns hw and everything. if you have taken it, can you tell me if its helped, and what it was like? also. if I am taking the june pcat, when does this course begin? like how does it work with time?

thanks so much!
😀

DO NOT TAKE KAPLAN COURSE!!
It is waste of your money!! Buy MCAT 1001 organic chemistry and biology set at examcrackers.com for Bio and Chemistry and buy Kaplan PCAT book for overall review. I got 98 on chemistry and math and 80 on biology. After I took Kaplan course (solely rely on Kaplan book, which is exactly same as the one at the regular bookstore), my score was only around 50s. Kaplan is not an effective way to study.

 

[Lateralus1441]

If you were only studying with a Kaplan book before, there's better methods out there. I took the Kaplan course after recieving a 72 the first time and ended up making an 87 composite with a 99 in chemistry after the kaplan course. I hear Barons and the real pcat are other good methods to use.