Kaplan course Vs. Dr. Collins study guide

[pali Kaur]

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I am confused and need your opinions.

I am planning to take October PCAT and using the Kaplan book right now.

I want to use an another aid for preparation and confused which option should I choose.
1. Kaplan course
2. Dr. Collins study material.

Which one do you guys think is better? I don't have time to do both but I like to cover all my bases. I would not like to have any doubts before the exam.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CK8652]

I'd go Dr. Collins.

Kaplan test prep course is WAY WAY too expensive for what you get. The course books are the exact one you buy from the store (broken into two books to make it look different) and the workbook isn't anything special. The only real nice thing is the flashcards.

Take some time off work and you can study on your own. You have to put a good amount of time to do well on the PCAT, but I did much better on my own than I did with the prep course. Dr. collins packet is pretty basic, but it's got most of the information you'll need for the PCAT.

 

[desertsnow]

I got Dr Collin's PCAT materials because I saw so many good feedback on them, but it was a waste of $300 for me. If you can afford it, I'd go with Kaplan. The books they use are more comprehensive than the one you get in book stores and they were extremely helpful to me. It'd been couple years since I've taken Chem and Bio and the books were a fantastic review. In addition, you get 3 mock exams (1 is diagnostic, 2 full length) and lots of short practice tests with answers and full explanations to every single question. The instructor is also very helpful. The course also kept me very focused and kept my weekdays very productive. Now, the real question, did it help? Here were my scores -- Diagnostic: 432, Final: 456.

 

[pch]

I got Dr Collin's PCAT materials because I saw so many good feedback on them, but it was a waste of $300 for me. If you can afford it, I'd go with Kaplan. The books they use are more comprehensive than the one you get in book stores and they were extremely helpful to me. It'd been couple years since I've taken Chem and Bio and the books were a fantastic review. In addition, you get 3 mock exams (1 is diagnostic, 2 full length) and lots of short practice tests with answers and full explanations to every single question. The instructor is also very helpful. The course also kept me very focused and kept my weekdays very productive. Now, the real question, did it help? Here were my scores -- Diagnostic: 432, Final: 456.

I'm also taking the Kaplan course right now and I feel like I'm progressing really slowly and I dont feel like I'm getting the best out of the course. I'm read all the chapters before class, I do those short excercises after class. I did the diagnostic again for practice and my score was only in the 60s. Can you give me some hints on how I should study? MY weakest points are reading and verbal.

also, I found the kaplan chemistry and math material very hard. is the real PCAT like that? or easier?

 

[edbPharm]

Im studying now for the Aug PCAT. I am using solely the Kaplans 10-11 book, my old class notes and books. The kaplan does a great job in Bio and most of the Chem, however it leaves a few of the chem topics pretty vague (acid/base, organic, kinetics).

Another issue with the Kaplans book is that the Math and Chemistry questions in the book are very challenging and they don't give you easy numbers like 1, 10, 100 so the calculations are very tough almost not possible w/o a calculator.

In my opinion, i would get the book, review the material, attempt the problems but don't freak out if you understand them because like I said, they are pretty ridiculous.

You can find great FREE sample questions on the internet just my searching PCAT REVIEW QUESTIONS or something along those likes.

I dont have much to say about Reading/ Verbal