Best MCAT prep course and software (IF MONEY IS NOT AN ISSUE)

[rangerdad]

Hello guys,

I haven't posted anything in a while, but I chose to stay away from this website for a while. I a little intense! I am almost at the end of my Biomedical degree and now I am starting to think about MCAT prep.
As a prior military member I am using the Vocational Rehab Program, and I want to put the best possible MCAT prep program as part as my study plan. The VA will pay for the course so money is not an issue.
Which program you guys think is the best: Altius, Next Step, Kaplan Full immersion, Princenton Full immersion, etc...?

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[Siromas]

I believe they all have their positives and negatives. For example, I believe that TBR and Kaplan are the best for starting from ground zero and bringing you up to speed to score incredibly well on the real exam. On the other hand, I believe Exam Krackers is the best for its coverage of "high yield" topics and focusing on the most important concepts. I think the best program for you would depend on your starting knowledge base and learning preferences.

Regardless of which 3rd party prep you use, absolutely invest in using the AAMC released materials (practice exams/section banks/sample test). When its best to use these materials is up in the air, but with no 3rd party company being able to exactly mimic the AAMC "style" of questions, there's no comparison.

 

[jungdoc]

If money was no barrier? I'd probably still do self-study, but I'd be sorely tempted to pay for Leah4Sci's MCAT tutoring. Not sure if that would qualify for reimbursement.

I used a combination of the Kaplan books (purchased on Craigslist), Next Step full lengths/diagnostics, and AAMC practice materials and full lengths. I also relied on Khan Academy, Leah4sci, and similar YouTube lessons to shore up my understanding and to get tips, tricks, and shortcuts that are useful on the exam.

 

[Doc 1 Day]

I took the Altius course and really enjoyed it. It helped me a ton with a good study schedule and a lot of exposure to practice questions. It was a bit of an investment, but I would do it again.

 

[Sasuke_Uchiha]

I took the ****** course and really enjoyed it. It helped me a ton with a good study schedule and a lot of exposure to practice questions. It was a bit of an investment, but I would do it again.

What course did you take?

Thank you.

 

[Frosty808]

AAMC is the best since they make... the MCAT, but I've been hearing a lot about NEXT STEP being excellent structure for nontrads (which I agree)

 

[futuremdforme]

I LOVED Exam Krackers but it was the old exam and I didn't consider many of the other options. The one thing to stress is to do all the practice exams you can find -- they will pay for themselves in points easily.

 

[SR71BLK]

Kaplan books are much shorter than TPR. They are good for outlining general topics. I would use Kaplan books as a general study method and supplement weak areas with Khan Academy videos.

Psych/Soc I would recommend locating the 95/300 page reviews that someone put together, which basically goes through all the Psy/Soc material. Unfortunately, that section is basically memorization.

AAMC is best for practice material (though I did not find their flash cards to be all that useful).

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

The problem I run into where I live is that to get to anything I need to commute through traffic. But if I had unlimited financial resources, I would have rented an apartment for three months within walking distance and taken the TBR classroom course. I would have made sure my apartment had a dedicated study space with a whiteboard. I would have hired a weekly CARS tutor. I would have bought all the AAMC materials (which I did) and gotten FLs from multiple sources (which I did.)

As it were, I didn't have unlimited resources, so I did the old fashion pile of books approach and it worked out pretty well, except for CARS. Looking back, with the wisdom of knowing how it worked out, it comes down to learning to be a better test taker and growing from all of the answer explanations to your practice questions. I don't believe any study plan that puts you in front of a computer screen for a majority of the time works as well as human interactions. Spend your money on the best books, live instruction courses, or in-person tutoring.