Is Kaplan the only way?

[Ahab99]

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My classmates and i have been bombarded with Kaplan propaganda over the past few months urging us to sign up for their USMLE I prep courses. i signed up for the whole Kaplan class and materials for the MCAT and did not find it very helpful. what are some alternatives to Kaplan, aside from that $67 guy from beaumont, tx? thanks

 

[TigerPath05]

I bought some Kaplan books off of ebay and used those and others - first aid, step up, brs pathology & physiology. I found them all to be very help & I did fine without spending all that money. I also used the qbank from kaplan, but I have heard there is usmleworld that is pretty good as well and much cheaper. Good luck!

 

[JMK2005]

Qbank is definitely worth the money and almost essential in my opinion.

Not sure about their review material. There are many good sources with different styles, so you're going to have to try them out and see what's good.

 

[mjl1717]

I know its for step2, but is usmleworld also for step1??

 

[Ahab99]

has anyone used princeton review? does p review have a question bank similar to kaplan's? i remember hearing that they provide more materials than kaplan, without having to head to the company's classrooms.

 

[Stinger86]

If you're a self-guided learner, then set up your own study schedule, buy your own review books, and do some studying/review. Only sign up for a commercial review program if you're too busy to schedule yourself or you don't think you can do it alone. Just don't let them scare you into buying into their program because "it's the only way to beat the USMLE". You'll save a ton of money, plus you can devote more time to your weak areas rather than letting someone else decide what to study next

 

[carrigallen]

I will not become popular by saying this, but in my view, prep courses may promote social injustice. These prep course kids spend money just to get ahead of everyone else, and usually only end up bettering their score by a few points anyway.

That said, I know students who have had their own private SAT tutors, which is even more insane. The irony is that students talk about fixing economic disparities in education, then they go spend hundreds of dollars on review courses.

 

[stomper627]

Dont waste any money on any review course....but maybe blow some on the Qbank....but get a group of people together and divide the cost up evenly. Get a few of the mentioned books, and "borrow" a CD or too....but ***Do Not Copy*** that would be piracy 😉
stomper

 

[maxine]

I wouldn't say Kaplan is the ONLY way. However, I would be cautious with Princeton. A friend of mine took Princeton a few years ago and swears by it. Last year when I was researching prep materials, I contacted Princeton. The response from an "honest" princeton employee, was not to bother, they were getting out of usmle prep, "they didn't make any money on it". Each of us have to prep according to our educational background, strengths and weaknesses... one-size-fits-all approach will not work. This site, however, has provided a great deal of info.

I will provide a disclaimer... I failed the first time by 1 point. I am rescheduled for thursday. 😱 I used Kaplan exclusively the first time, but don't blame them. I didn't feel well that day, physically or mentally. This time around I have reviewed my Kaplan books and more questions. While no one likes advice from a loser, I feel you can learn from your mistakes.

 

[Long Dong]

I will provide a disclaimer... I failed the first time by 1 point. I am rescheduled for thursday. 😱 I used Kaplan exclusively the first time, but don't blame them. I didn't feel well that day, physically or mentally. This time around I have reviewed my Kaplan books and more questions. While no one likes advice from a loser, I feel you can learn from your mistakes.

Did you go threw all of the kaplan material/notes and just felt bad that day, or would you say you just didn't know the kaplan stuff well enough? So if had known the kaplan notes solid could you have done alot better? Which kaplan stuff did you use webprep or live lecture?

 

[maxine]

I did the center prep.. you got 30 visits to view the video's. I feel I needed more time to adequately digest and review the material. To listen to the video's for 8 hrs a day (or more) was numbing for me. Then I would try to go through 50-100 questions on qbank at night. My q-bank score was not bad, but I feel I did not spend enough time on the explanations... ie why I got it wrong/right.
I am not a good test taker, I get alot of anxiety over the simplest things. The best medicine is to be prepared. Different people have different methods of preparation and differnt time-lines. Best of luck to you.