HELP! Should I take an MCAT prep course?

[Liz83]

Guys, I need help deciding. I am planning on taking the MCAT in May and I am having trouble deciding whether I should take an MCAT prep course or if should study on my own. I have been looking into the Kaplan LiveOnline prep course but its $1899. I also have all the Exam Krackers books along with Audio Osmosis. Is the Kaplan course worth the $$$. Has anyone taken the course? Any input would be helpful. I am limited on time. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DendWrite]

You might find your answer better served in the MCAT prep forum. Here's my $0.02 (bear in mind that I haven't taken the MCAT yet but I'm starting to prep).

Get ahold of the AAMC practice tests and take them. They are pretty much universally accepted on this board as the best diagnostic indicators of how well you will do on the actual exam (some are judged to be "better" indicators...you can find this info in the MCAT forum).

IF you know the material, the ExamKracker's series is known to be pretty good (though I've heard some people recommend The Berkeley Review for Physics). I think a good suggestion is to get a few prep books and use them thoroughly rather than to swamp yourself with 15 different books that you only do halfway.

If you already have good background in your courses, my advice is: go through all the ExamKrackers books, take an AAMC diagnostic and see where you stand. If you are within 5 points of your desired score, go over your answers, review your weak spots and take some more AAMC tests. If you are 5-10 or more away from your desired score, this probably indicates that you are deficient in a particular area of the content and so will need more thorough review. The Princeton Review / Kaplan books can give you more review than the ExamKrackers (it's really not recommended to go back and try to review your textbooks, as it's simply not high yield enough, but it's good if you need to learn a particular thing like titrations).

Fortunately you still have a good bit of time to prepare (so long as you've taken all your prereqs). Sn2ed prepared a fantastic study schedule (that fits in your timeframe) over in the MCAT forums. Go check that out...I highly recommend it.

You don't -need- a course. Plenty of people get by fine studying without them. It all depends on how motivated you are, how well you understand the basic material (did you do well in your prereqs) and how you learn best...for some people it helps to have a class to guide them along; others prefer going at their own pace. A class isn't going to give you anything that you couldn't teach yourself...it simply might help you learn things more quickly.

 

[harvman11]

First, I would like to state my bias that I didn't take any courses, or even purchase any of the extra AAMC practice tests when I prepared for the MCAT. I just had an old review book that I had borrowed from someone else (Baron's, I think).

There's really 2 things you need to prepare for: the exam format, and the content. For the content I would just get a good, solid prep book. It'll take you a couple weeks to read through it, but just keep going through it until you feel you completely understand the material. You're going to have to do this whether you take the course or not, as I imagine you're not going to understand the material just from the class.

For the exam format, the best way to learn (imo) is to simply take the practice tests. If you can afford them, I would start taking practice tests as soon as you finish your first content review, and pace them out until right before the actual test.

The Verbal section is a bit tricky, as the only way to really "study" for it is to do more practice sets. If I could go back I would've tried to find a book with just verbal passages to practice more.

Where I feel the class may help is directing your studying. They will likely tell you exactly what you need to study, and give you a decent way to study it. They also might give you some test-taking strategies, though I don't know how useful these are.

My final opinion is just get a review book, the AAMC tests, and a verbal passage practice book and skip the class. This will probably come out to around $500-600, maybe more, but you can always save money by seeing if any of your friends have books they could lend you.

 

[RevMD]

I have taken a Kaplan classroom course, I will tell you that it is not worth it. I did not do so hot on the first mcat and now I am stuck having to study for a retake in order to improve my score. They do provide a lot of practice material online, but I think they tend to emphasize more on details than otherwise needed. Mcat tests understanding and application, not detail. The other thing I will point out is their practice materials are not a very accurate representation of the real test. So what I found myself doing well on their practice stuff turned out to be just average on the real test. What makes me feel more worse is that not a single person on this forum recommends kaplan as their top choice. There are people who have succeed using their methods, but you will not find many here that agree that it is a great option.

I am currently about to start using SN2ed's 3-month mcat study schedule (slightly modified to fit stretch it for 5 months, test date is in May). Since you already have the EK books, consider studying those thoroughly. If you feel you might want something more comprehensive, Berkeley Review books are great despite being a bit expensive. Both of these have lots of practice passages on par with the actual difficulty level and question types of the real test.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Moving to MCAT Discussions.

 

[WhitJord85]

I have also taken an MCAT class...and would say that it wasn't very helpful... I am probably going to be retaking the MCAT....because my score was not good and is still the weak point in my application.
I would say you are mostly paying for access to a lot of material... and depending on your situation you may or may not have time to take advantage of it. I think you should honestly assess how much time you will have and will be able to put towards studying... if you will have lots of extra time, access to the extra material may be worth the money... but I would say not... there are a variety of books available and plenty of methods/study plans available on these boards for you to follow... Just find one that works for you...

 

[PRamos]

I've taken two prep courses.

The first one I can't say was worth it, but that is in part my fault for not getting much out of it. The teaching was okay (two good teachers and two bad teachers), but they didn't really know what the MCAT was going to be like. Their practice tests were actually counterproductive and I ended up bombing the MCAT after going in expecting a 30 to 32. Based on that experience, I wouldn't recommend a course.

My second course was MUCH better, as they focused on strategies and techniques. I think the fact that all they do is MCAT preparation, they make it a point to run an excellent class. They reviewed the material well and I learned tricks for saving time. I got a 33 my second time around, and would have to say they are 99% responsible for my big climb. If you can take a course from someone that only does MCAT, then it's worth it. Make sure the teachers are excellent before you sign up, because that's really what you are paying for.

So in the end, I'd say I recommend taking a class only if it looks promising and not to take one just to do it.

 

[drive333]

What companies were your first and second courses through?

I've taken two prep courses.

The first one I can't say was worth it, but that is in part my fault for not getting much out of it. The teaching was okay (two good teachers and two bad teachers), but they didn't really know what the MCAT was going to be like. Their practice tests were actually counterproductive and I ended up bombing the MCAT after going in expecting a 30 to 32. Based on that experience, I wouldn't recommend a course.

My second course was MUCH better, as they focused on strategies and techniques. I think the fact that all they do is MCAT preparation, they make it a point to run an excellent class. They reviewed the material well and I learned tricks for saving time. I got a 33 my second time around, and would have to say they are 99% responsible for my big climb. If you can take a course from someone that only does MCAT, then it's worth it. Make sure the teachers are excellent before you sign up, because that's really what you are paying for.

So in the end, I'd say I recommend taking a class only if it looks promising and not to take one just to do it.

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Okay so general advice here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/breaking-down-the-mcat-100-days-to-mcat-success.1043255/

Note that this plan does not involve taking a class. The overwhelming majority of MCAT lecture classes are not going to give you a price-to-performance ratio to make it worth it.

If you would feel really uncomfortable without someone outside providing you the structure and motivation needed, you would be much better served by spending that money on tutoring. But tutoring can also get pretty expensive (Next Step is just about the least expensive reputable company you'll find, and even our prices are too high for lots of folks).

If you absolutely insist on taking a classroom course, take Kaplan. If you're in CA, take Berkeley and if you're in Utah, take Altius. If you're anywhere else in the country, and you feel you must have a lecture classroom course, take Kaplan.

Okay so why would I be suggesting a competitor's class?

Simple: lecture courses themselves are a waste of time. So trying to judge KTP/EK/TPR/etc on the basis of the classroom sessions themselves, and the "teachers" teaching the classroom sessions is a waste. The value in the money you're spending is on the materials they provide, and the fact that you have classmates with whom you can form study groups.

And when it comes to total volume of materials (at a generally acceptable level of quality), Kaplan blows everyone else out of the water. The tuition will include every single AAMC material, 11 Kaplan full exams, a Qbank, hundreds of workshops/quizzes/etc and lots of other little video refresher courses and so on. It's a staggering amount of stuff.

Now I think most of that is kind of pointless, because really good prep requires little more than the EK study package, the AAMC tests, and the AAMC self-assessments (as my link above says, all you need for the MCAT should cost only $500 or less).

But when people have their heart set on a class, I usually recommend Kaplan.