Classroom courses: Differences between Kaplan and TPR? Which do you think suits me?

[Avicenna04]

Ok guys, i ask this after having read some threads on this board and another board.

Some of you are saying TPR is focused more on the teaching, whereas Kaplan is focused on strategy. Others, however, are saying the opposite.


About how i study:

I study best on my own, but with some direction (the instructer telling me what to focus on, etc). A class that makes me take the full practice exam is important, for i would probably not have the self-determination to spend 9 hours and do it on my own. But it seems both classes give the same amount of practice exams?

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[ichimaru]

For you, Kaplan should be great.

 

[McGillGrad]

For you, Kaplan should be great.

 

[sscooterguy]

You should really ask around your local area and see what students have been saying about the teachers. I taught for PR a little while back in Ann Arbor, and PR was probably the better choice, because the caliber of my fellow teachers. When I was a student, everyone said teachers at PR were excellent...my friends who went to Kaplan said theirs were OK to good, I chose PR. Now I'm in Columbus, and the more popular course is Kaplan, either because of the teachers, or maybe the location, I don't know.

An important factor you must guage is caliber of students at specific locations. As teachers, you are taught to run your class near or just above the average of the class. In Ann Arbor, classes were advanced and we moved quickly. However, when I covered classes closer to Detroit, I had to slow down the pace of the class, ALOT. Average scores from different sites are dependent upon the caliber of students as well as teaching pace/location. AA had the highest mean MCAT score of all PR's in the nation (at least for my year).

As for material, I can attest to PR because I'm more familiar with it. PR's policy is to cover all material that has ever shown up on previous MCATS. This may/may not be overkill. If you want one source of info, then I would go for PR, but its a lot of material. If you just want an overview of material and would like to read more on subjects in which you are weaker, then just lectures may be sufficient, or maybe another course would fit you better. In class you go over an outline of the subjects of the day as well as important concepts and key points, and then you spend time going through questions and strategy.

goodluck, make sure you want to do medicine. if you do, its worth the hell you're going through now.

sscooterguy