Best MCAT Prep-TPR, Kaplan, Columbia, Berkeley, etc.

[Bama]

Which MCAT prep company do you think is the best in helping to prepare for all sections of the MCAT? Which company prepares you the best for verbal reasoning?

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[brandonite]

Perhaps we need another list...

All:

Kaplan (1)

Verbal:

TPR (1)

 

[alice]

without much comparison, i'd have to say GO KAPLAN! it worked for me. i hadn't studied at all for the test and had majorly slacked in my pre-med courses, was a humanities major. i put some hardcore time into kaplan and basically bought into their entire program and came out with some strong mcat scores.

 

[The Falconer]

I didn't take a course, but I can tell from talking to my friends that did. I'm not so sure its the course that matters, or the quality of the instruction you get! Get a good instructor and you will have a good experience!

 

[dukeblue01]

I also cannot personally compare them all, but I took TPR Hyperlearning and the materials were amazing. I came out of it confident and achieved strong scores. I now teach MCAT physical sciences for TPR. Their "Science Review" is the best piece of material out there. Their verbal materials are challenging and prepare you well for the actual MCAT. And you receive all the materials so you can study wherever you want unlike Kaplan. And you get unlimited extra help with your intructors, not video tapes like other companies. A slightly biased opinion I guess, but I know that the practice tests that TPR gives are great, and they end the course by taking AAMC Practice test IV and V which provide you the most honest appraisal of your progress possible. I do not know if anyone else does that.

 

[praying mantis]

I took both TPR and Kaplan. I think TPR is much better, especially their materials. I now teach the verbal section for TPR. I like their "let's beat the exam" approach.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

If it's verbal you are looking at, TPR beats all. They have a book devoted solely to passages you do on your own, not to mention the in-class passages you go through, PLUS the passages in the practice tests.

 

[Bama]

I appreciate the responses so far. I know a lot of people on this board have taken these review courses. We would all appreciate you input.

 

[Dr. Kermit]

I enrolled with Kaplan the first time I took the MCAT in April 2000. Although I went to every class and took 3/5 practice exams, I did rather poorly on the exam. I studied the majority of the material, but came down with bronchitis in February prior to the exam and was also taking 17.5 credits. My instructor for the verbal and PS section were good, but my Bio teacher sucked. He essentially told us that he tests well and did well on the MCAT, but had a hard time teaching us the material.

I took the MCAT again the following summer and did 7 points better on my own. I used the review materials from Kaplan, but really looked over my own text books because I felt a text book connected the material better. For the verbal section (which I needed the most improvement), I read anything I could get my hands on and really focused on humanities passages such as the philosophy ones and took a lot of practice tests so I could read and answer question in under 8 minutes a passage. It worked for me. If you need any other advice on Kaplan or PR (my friends took it and had both good and bad to say) PM me.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I took Kaplan and did really well on the MCAT. I think the most important part of Kaplan are the practice exams. I think Dr. Kermits answer was important in that he only did 3/5 practice exams and had a lot of other things going on. I assume he didn't do many of the smaller topical exams Kaplan offers. These were crucial. Not only do they prepare you for test day, the answers teach you a lot of facts that you need to know.

I remember when I took kaplan I wasn't doing well with the physical sciences with about 3 weeks to go. I decided to focus on this topic and did all of the topical tests. I ended up getting a 13 on that section. Although I don't know much about the others, I think Kaplan did well to prepare me. There is a lot of self motivation involved in terms of doing nearly all of the practice material.

 

[A. Caveman]

There have been various, various, various posts on this topic. Just search through SDN for them, and you'll get more opinions than you will ever need. But you have to be industrious and go out and search for your information rather than depend on people to give it to you on this thread. simply put, Bama (and everyone else in the future that will inevitably create this same thread yet again), time--lots of time, and a "how do the testmakers try to fool me--how do i beat them" attitude are what will take you to the top. not asking this question that everyone asks (including myself when i didn't know better). in my opinion, tpr-hyperlearning is the best for the reasons you already know...they give you the materials so you can learn and test yourself without being in kaplan's little center. their review books are also better (more thorough). that's it and that's all.

I could just skip this thread when i see it in the future, but i couldn't live with myself unless i knew i tried to put and end to this madness and bs. want to do well....TIME, STRUCTURED EFFORT, SMART STUDYING, LOTS OF TESTS FOR PRACTICE AND TIMING. those are my suggestions (a thread about ways to attack the mcat would be sooo much more of an original question, and probably better in the end for the MCAT student.