Kaplan course and when to take MCAT

[premedmind]

I am registered for a Kaplan course starting this Oct 5th to April 5th. I just received the package of prep books they sent me in the mail.

In the informational booklet they sent it states that "we recommend that you take your exam approximately 2-4 weeks after your final Kaplan session".

I will be a Junior this coming year and will not finish taking Physics until mid-May. I took Physics I this summer but still need to take Physics II this spring.

My question is this; how soon do people take their MCAT after completion of a prep course like Kaplan? Do people usually self-study after the course or register for the MCAT right away? Since I have not finished all my pre-reqs I will probably need to take the MCAT sometime in the summer of 2009.

What would you recommend for my situation? Should I move my Kaplan course closer to the time I will take the MCAT? Or should I reserve that gap-time for self-study?

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[futuredoctor10]

My question is this; how soon do people take their MCAT after completion of a prep course like Kaplan? Do people usually self-study after the course or register for the MCAT right away? Since I have not finished all my pre-reqs I will probably need to take the MCAT sometime in the summer of 2009.

What would you recommend for my situation? Should I move my Kaplan course closer to the time I will take the MCAT? Or should I reserve that gap-time for self-study?

My prep course ended approximately 1 month before my test date. I used the month to do practice FL exams and self-study.

I agree you should take the exam as close to the end of the course as possible, assuming you completed all the assignments during the course and are prepared/ready for the exam.

If you wanted to wait around 2 months after the course ended before taking the exam I think that'd be okay too. Your course ends Apr 5 when do you plan to take the MCAT in the summer- May/Juneish? That'd be fine I think.

 

[premedmind]

My prep course ended approximately 1 month before my test date. I used the month to do practice FL exams and self-study.

I agree you should take the exam as close to the end of the course as possible, assuming you completed all the assignments during the course and are prepared/ready for the exam.

If you wanted to wait around 2 months after the course ended before taking the exam I think that'd be okay too. Your course ends Apr 5 when do you plan to take the MCAT in the summer- May/Juneish? That'd be fine I think.

I plan to take the MCAT April 24th...but the only problem with that is I will not have finished Physics II yet (I will be taking it concurrently with the prep course). Is this OK?

I am going to mostly base my decision on my practice FL exams, and how well I am scoring on them. If the scores are not where I want them to be, I will push the test date back into May/June.

What do you think of that plan?

 

[futuredoctor10]

I think that's a good plan. I wrote to you about the Phys II in the other thread, and I think this really depends. I thought Kaplan Physical Sciences Notes were the best (out of their books for the 3 sections), and I thought Physics concepts were explained well.

However, I had Phys II before I started my Kaplan course - so my viewpoint is biased in that way. Hopefully someone who took Physics II with the Kaplan course simultaneously can post about how it was, whether they recommend that.

But I think your plan sounds fine. Any Physics material you would be learning from April 24 until the term ends (probably 1st or 2nd week of May) would have been covered in the MCAT course, and you will probably master it through FL exams as well. Shouldn't be a problem.