berkeley review's OH? (in Berkeley, CA)

[OrangeOrangutan]

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Hi, im considering TBR right now. i went to an MCAT night and the representative said they have 300-500 OH. And that they will stay w/ you even after midnight until your questions are answered.

Is this really true? How often are OH held per week? Each day?


Also, what do you guys think has the best OH system? Im a student that needs help on passages when i get em wrong and cant reason through the right answer. i need a course that offers a good amoutn of OH.

Is Kaplan good?

thanks in advance

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Hi, im considering TBR right now. i went to an MCAT night and the representative said they have 300-500 OH. And that they will stay w/ you even after midnight until your questions are answered.

Is this really true? How often are OH held per week? Each day?


Also, what do you guys think has the best OH system? Im a student that needs help on passages when i get em wrong and cant reason through the right answer. i need a course that offers a good amoutn of OH.

Is Kaplan good?

thanks in advance

I can't speak for the Berkeley course, because I've only taught in southern California (just summers nowadays), but we are asked to hold a ton of office hours. The "after midnight" comment is sadly true.

While I don't schedule office hours to go that late if I can avoid it, I have ended up staying for more than a couple hours after my last class (which goes 8-10 on weekdays) on a few occassions. My boss is pretty cool about it if I can only stay an hour, but we're asked to always stay until the last questions have been answered.

As a teacher, I am scheduled to have at least one office hour for every class hour I teach, plus be available the last few weeks before the MCAT (which is crazy with so many test dates). If they have three sessions going at 100 class hours per session, then there would be at least 300 office hours for everyone combined. 300-500 sounds about right.

The one suggested I'd make if you are considering the class in Berkeley is to make sure that Dale and Todd will be teaching. If they are teaching, then the class will blow Kaplan and PR away. If they aren't going to be your teachers, then it's probably about the same no matter what you take.

 

[OrangeOrangutan]

can you pick your teachers? on their site http://www.berkeley-review.com/TBR/register/berkeley.html


it doesnt say whos etachign what time

also, whats your experience w/ your students when they had to take TBR's classes every single day M through Fr. was it a lot of stress that many fell behind?

Also, if i take a morning or afternoon class, does that mean there is less OH for me since it's held at night? And are OH held everyday?

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

can you pick your teachers? on their site http://www.berkeley-review.com/TBR/register/berkeley.html


it doesnt say whos etachign what time

also, whats your experience w/ your students when they had to take TBR's classes every single day M through Fr. was it a lot of stress that many fell behind?

Also, if i take a morning or afternoon class, does that mean there is less OH for me since it's held at night? And are OH held everyday?

Again, my experience is with the southern California classes, but if Berkeley is similar (and I'm pretty sure it is, because Todd flies up there to teach and Dale lives there), then the office hours are during the daytime in the summer and during evenings and afternoons during the school year.

You should ask when you sign up, because we are told that we have to modify our office hours to meet the student's needs. If there are times that work best for you, then let them know early on so they can schedule them.

As far as picking your teachers, I don't think that's applicable. For instance, when I taught, I would cover the exact same lectures for all of the sessions. I generally taught about four to six classes for each group. It's set up so that everyone gets the exact same lectures from the exact same people.

As far as taking the class every day, most people got used to it by the second week. The MCAT is stressful no matter what the schedule, and I almost think that by having it everyday, it made people feel like they were doing something everyday. That sense of doing something can help ease your stress.

 

[Malayna]

Hi, im considering TBR right now. i went to an MCAT night and the representative said they have 300-500 OH. And that they will stay w/ you even after midnight until your questions are answered.

Is this really true? How often are OH held per week? Each day?


Also, what do you guys think has the best OH system? Im a student that needs help on passages when i get em wrong and cant reason through the right answer. i need a course that offers a good amoutn of OH.

Is Kaplan good?

thanks in advance

I think between all of the different teachers, there were about 25 to 30 office hours per week over 15 weeks, so by my calculations that's 375 to 450 office hours.

I agree that being able to go over a question you missed really helps, but I started going to some office hours to hear other people's questions. Occassionally one of the teachers (usually Todd or Sarath) would have a mini lecture that included some tricks that they didn't show in their regular lecture.

can you pick your teachers? on their site http://www.berkeley-review.com/TBR/register/berkeley.html

it doesnt say whos etachign what time

also, whats your experience w/ your students when they had to take TBR's classes every single day M through Fr. was it a lot of stress that many fell behind?

Also, if i take a morning or afternoon class, does that mean there is less OH for me since it's held at night? And are OH held everyday?

You can't really pick your teachers, because the same teacher will teach the same topic for every session. For instance, Todd taught the Light and Optics lecture for all of the sessions. There were eight teachers total (if I'm remembering right) and everyone had the same combination of teachers.

My class was four days a week and you get used to it. It really isn't that much time in class. Most of the time is spent with the books doing passages and going over answers. I was spending about six hours every day in Bradley either going to class, studying, or in office hours. It wasn't really stressful except for some of the practice exams.

 

[notageek]

FYI... if you take the Kaplan online course, they don't even allow you to use their centers! I would double check with Kaplan OHs if you resort to the online course.

I went to the center to take my tests (because I have no where else to go with decent internet connection/no noise/ standard test condition) and I am signed up for their online MCAT course... but they asked me to leave since I was not allowed to use their facility if i had their online course.

At least this is how it is in Southern Cali. I don't think they care much about their student... let alone offer decent OHs.