hey, I will like to get some advice...have you heard of the columbia MCAT review course? have you taken it? is it good? do you recommend it? I took the August MCAT after take the princeton review course..scored well in my sciences but my verbal was weak, so just in case something goes wrong and I don't get in anywhere this year, I'm planning on preparing myself from the April MCAT, but I don't want to study off my princeton review material, any recommendations?
Columbia MCAT review
- Thread starter Dr. Don
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Hey Don,
Man, take another review course?! I am assuming that money isn't a problem and you are a masochist (just kidding about the last part). Anyway, I have heard of Columbia review and that their science teaching is very good, not sure about the verbal, however. In all honesty, if I were you I would just go over the science material (The BIG SCIENCE REVIEW BOOK) as you can see I took TPR too. Since you said that you did well on the sciences then this part of the test shouldn't be a problem for you. Then try to buy up as much TPR, Kaplan, and Columbia verbal passage/review material as you can and do passages every day on your own. I'm not sure if this is true for most but for me, I was in the same boat as you this past August (getting 11's and 12's in sciences and 7's in verbal), and what I did was just get up at 7 a.m. every morning and did 3 timed passages a month before the test. The verbal section is really more of a teach-it-yourself thing and so I wouldn't spend any more money on another course just for the verbal instruction. Just my two-cents worth. I hope things work out well, and good luck with everything! Ciao.
Man, take another review course?! I am assuming that money isn't a problem and you are a masochist (just kidding about the last part). Anyway, I have heard of Columbia review and that their science teaching is very good, not sure about the verbal, however. In all honesty, if I were you I would just go over the science material (The BIG SCIENCE REVIEW BOOK) as you can see I took TPR too. Since you said that you did well on the sciences then this part of the test shouldn't be a problem for you. Then try to buy up as much TPR, Kaplan, and Columbia verbal passage/review material as you can and do passages every day on your own. I'm not sure if this is true for most but for me, I was in the same boat as you this past August (getting 11's and 12's in sciences and 7's in verbal), and what I did was just get up at 7 a.m. every morning and did 3 timed passages a month before the test. The verbal section is really more of a teach-it-yourself thing and so I wouldn't spend any more money on another course just for the verbal instruction. Just my two-cents worth. I hope things work out well, and good luck with everything! Ciao.
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Italianlove, I am curious as to how much your verbal score improved after retaking the test. I had taken Kaplan and I would not retake Kaplan (it would not hurt if my science scores improved a little but my verbal on the otherhand..). If I don't get into med school this cycle, I am going to have to retake the test to improve my vr. 
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Hey daisygirl,
Actually the August test was the first (and only thank God!!!) test I took. The tests I was refering to before were the TPR exams and then AAMC IV and V. My verbal reasoning scores were really all over the place: 7,6,9,8,5 so my average was about a 7. The biggest problem I had was finishing (I always left 1-2 whole passages blank). After lots of practice (the morning torture sessions) and a new reading technique I brought my verbal up to a 10 on test day in August.
Basically the reading technique consisted of skimming to get BASIC ideas of each paragraph and then try to connect each paragraphs individual ideas into a sentence to give me an overview of what I had just read. The August test was the first time I ever FINISHED the verbal section and I am convinced that the extra passages I was able to finish got me into the double digits.
I don't know what you scored in verbal but if you do retake I would recommend what I told Don to do. Like I said before, the verbal reasoning is really subjectively taught and learned and you have to find out what works best for you. I hope this helps, if you have any other questions let me know. Take care and good luck! Ciao.
Actually the August test was the first (and only thank God!!!) test I took. The tests I was refering to before were the TPR exams and then AAMC IV and V. My verbal reasoning scores were really all over the place: 7,6,9,8,5 so my average was about a 7. The biggest problem I had was finishing (I always left 1-2 whole passages blank). After lots of practice (the morning torture sessions) and a new reading technique I brought my verbal up to a 10 on test day in August.
Basically the reading technique consisted of skimming to get BASIC ideas of each paragraph and then try to connect each paragraphs individual ideas into a sentence to give me an overview of what I had just read. The August test was the first time I ever FINISHED the verbal section and I am convinced that the extra passages I was able to finish got me into the double digits.
I don't know what you scored in verbal but if you do retake I would recommend what I told Don to do. Like I said before, the verbal reasoning is really subjectively taught and learned and you have to find out what works best for you. I hope this helps, if you have any other questions let me know. Take care and good luck! Ciao.
