EK versus Kaplan

[honestgirl]

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Okay. I've taken kaplan before and need to take the MCAT again b/c i didn't do so well the first time. I studied my butt off though and used all the Kaplan materials--i.e., videos, books and full-lengths. I re-enrolled in kaplan again but have recently heard that exam krackers has excellent materials as well. Is it important to take the exam krackers course (very expensive) or are there books in themselves good enough? Anyone who has experience with both companies I welcome your experiences!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Kaplan is far superior to EK, as is TPR. In fact, I think EK only beats Arco. EK has sub standard funding for research and material research; Kaplan is comprehensive, and the best around..

 

[lotrfan81]

See I don't know if I really agree with you Blietzkrieg. Ek doesn't have courses to take. They just offer materials and audio osmosis which are listening cds. I have those cds and I am doing the Ek material. I am also in the TPR class and I would have to say that Ek does a pretty good job. I didn't take Kaplan but I have heard that in the area that I am in, people who take Kaplan end up dissatisfied with their results.

Now, obviously, this could be different in your areas but that is just what I have heard. Plus, I have generalized all people taking Kaplan to be dissatisfied. There could be some brilliant people taking Kaplan and they just did it because the materials were good. I have heard that Kaplan has some pretty good materials.

So, basically what I am saying 🙂 is that one can't possibly say which is worse than the other. I think Ek does a pretty good job.

 

[honestgirl]

Actually in Manhattan EK does have courses. I'm already signed up for Kaplan again but b/c I heard such overwhelmingly good stuff about EK I was wondering whether I had made a mistake.

 

[WonderBoy]

I have to disagree with Blitz on this one.

I am currently taking EK prep course for the april MCAT. And so far I am extremely happy with the instruction I have received. One of my teachers is actually Jon Orsay, the author of the EK books and the founder.

If you get a chance I would urge you to try to look through some Ek books at the local bookstore. They may seem small, buts it has a lot of information in it once you start reading. The books are colorful, not boring black and white like kaplan or TPR. Plus, throughout their five books, as you are studying, they explain in the margin what you should pay attention to and what to ignore.

Most of other test companies just through everything at you, just that you really don't need to know. I took TPR last year, but that didn't work out well. The instructors were not great, plus their material was like reading a textbook.

In the end whatever course you take, it depends on you what score you get. You have to put in the effort ! I think Ek makes the ride a lot more smooth than some of the other courses.

Check out their site, if you want more info
www.examkrackers.com

Good luck.

 

[MeowMix]

For most people, the materials are not as important as how much time you spend practicing. If you spent a lot of time practicing (not just studying) and worked hard, then maybe the strategies were not the right ones for you. It would be good to have some idea what happened: content knowledge? strategy? running out of time? where did you lose points?

I am about to start training to teach the local MCAT course for one of the large national test prep companies. EK will not even consider me as a teacher yet (partly because I haven't done the MCAT). There are big differences in these companies' idea of what constitutes a qualified teacher. That matters if you learn a lot from lectures.

I bought the EK materials, and that is what I will continue to use for my own MCAT prep.

 

[lotrfan81]

Oh, I am sure that EK does have courses, we just don't have them in this area. Yet

 

[Blitzkrieg]

oh well 🙂 It's just personal opinion...one that's backed up by a top notch MCAT score, but I guess other people can say that about any prep....I would definitely say that the true key to doing well is PRACTICE.

 

[Steinway]

Blitz,
How much of the Kaplan library did you complete?

 

[WonderBoy]

Practice is certainly an important aspect of prepping for the MCAT. But before you start prepping, you need to know the mateial, otherwise you score will not more.

To the OP once you have completed a significant portion of prepping, than practice a lot. This depends on how much you know before you start studying.

Obviously, if you start with 6's on a diag. you need to study a lot more, before you start to tackle practice exams, than if you get 8's.

good luck

 

[LukeWhite]

honestgirl,

If you're in Manhattan, definitely stick with Kaplan! I'd recommend Kaplan generally anyhow, but Manhattan is the center of the Kaplan world, and the teachers that you see are going to be about as good as they come. Kaplan spends millions and millions of dollars every year on research; a lot of your tuition goes to creating great questions. So as others have mentioned, it's crucial to spend a lot of time practicing those questions as much as you can.

The entire Kaplan training library is online for enrolled students now, so it's much easier to study than ever before.

 

[honestgirl]

Thanks lukealfredwhite,
I think the last time I took the test I studied the material a lot and spent less time on the Kaplan topicals. And I took about seven full-lengths. Definitely the bulk of my time was spent on studying the material. Maybe this time around I need to spend as much time doing the topicals?

I did buy the EK books and have started to read both the kaplan and EK books but I will definitely not have enough time to do both as time goes on. Thanks for telling me to stick with Kaplan though. It's nice to be reassured. What's your mcat experience?

 

[LukeWhite]

My MCAT experience biases me a little, but it's a sort of chicken-and-egg thing. I've been teaching for Kaplan for a few years and plan to keep doing it a bit in med school. I'm also a writer for the Verbal division.

I started teaching for Kaplan after having taken the course at the Notre Dame center. It's a strange school in that nearly EVERYONE takes the Kaplan course. Out of 200 premeds in each class, about 180 take the Kaplan course.

I didn't do nearly as much as I should have in the course, but it still helped me immensely. When I took the test, I hadn't even taken physics. I took the MCAT again after taking physics later on but without studying at Kaplan and got exactly the same score. They really do give you everything you need. I'm pretty convinced that I wouldn't have gotten into school without Kaplan. So though I'm a shill, I come about it honestly 🙂

I'd highly recommend taking the topical tests and spending a LOT of time on the explanations. I generally recommend at least an hour per session on any given set of explanations, going over both right and wrong answers. Most students make the mistake of thinking that topical tests are supposted to test their knowledge. They're more instructional, though. If you use them as a baseline, you'll be disappointed because they're very difficult. Topical test questions are far harder than AAMC stuff but are designed specifically to teach you how to think in an MCAT format.

I'd go through all the topical tests you can, make sure you understand the explanations, and if you have time, go through the questions you had trouble with a second time a few weeks later. Repetition is key; you want to make sure that you not only understand the explanations but can apply them again to the same questions.

I think you'll be pleased with how quickly your scores start to improve once you start the questions. It sounds like you have a good foundation in the basics since you've gone over the materials, so it will be easy to focus on the strategy once you get to the questions. The test really is so much critical thinking that studying without good questions is a losing battle.

If you have any questions as you go through the course, let me know! The teachers there will also be willing to walk you through the best way to attack a topical test. Personally, I think that the bulk of the course's value lies in the topical tests. They really are fantastic.

 

[trojan horse]

Exam Krackers is not that helpful, most of my classmates would agree.

 

[honestgirl]

Trojan Horse,
Could you expand? Your in a course at EK and haven't found it that helpful? What have been you and your classmates experiences? Have you taken the MCAT before and has EK really helped you out since the prior testing. I'm sort of relieved b/c I was beginning to feel like without studying EK materials I'd be behind the curve. Possibly studying Kaplan materials is enough then? Thanks so much. Any honest feedback you can give is sooo appreciated.