kaplan course..

[6inthemorning]

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to those that have taken the kaplan course.. does this really help you on the DAT??? improve your scores??

-noob in need of advice

 

[TheWiredNerv]

Waste of time if you ask me, unless you have the money to burn. The online resources are pretty helpful but the classes are complete poo.

Word of advice, if you take the Kaplan course make sure you study from other materials too. The Kaplan review notes alone will not cut it.

 

[toothgirl86]

i completely agree. my kaplan teacher didn't help at all and the resources and tests that kaplan gives are way too easy compared to the real thing. i suggest just getting the kaplan blue book from a book store instead of wasting money on the class

 

[delsol7]

Don't go. Just get the online course to practice.
One of the book that they give to you is exactly the same book that you can buy from local book store. Only difference is that the book from course has less than 10 questions at the end of each chapter.
Even the errors on both books are exactly the same. I don't think they update things often.

 

[Matchstikmatt]

I took it, It helped in all but QR. Make sure you do all the questions they provide you, its good practice. I would recommend that you get another source too.

 

[mena22787]

.

 

[xdianaax]

I know people who have taken the course, exhausted every other resource and then some and STILL have not scored in the 90th percentile in every section. The kaplan course is like a basic foundation, it gives you the fundamentals of the subjects. You need to build on that with other resources. I personally do better reading on my own than having people read to me. That's pretty much what they do in the class.

 

[Daniel Schruth]

If you have the money I would do it. They do have the rep of being the big bad wolf, but it would be hard not to improve your scores with it. I think it also depends alot on what kind of student you are. If you need the extra kick in the rear each week to get prepared then the classroom might benefit you alot. On the other hand, if you are very disciplined then the online course will probably suffice. As the others said though, make sure you consult MANY sources. kaplan, textbooks, wikipedia, schaums, friends, family, teachers, guys on the street, etc etc etc.

 

[mena22787]

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[xdianaax]

I thought it was funny too, but you never know who you'll run into. My cousin met a guy on the street starting talking about what he does and before you know it offered my cousin a residency in Dermatology with him. Now my cousin appears as an assistant sometimes with the doctor on Dr. 90210. 🙄

 

[phraud]

anyone else?? i'm curious, b/c my crazy advisor told me i needed to take the kaplan course and then retake the dats (my dat scores are linked into my predents.com page in my profile). he claimed that if i took kaplan i could get a 90th percentile in every category. 😱. don't really know how accurate that statement is... anyways, it's expensive, but i saved up the $ so it won't hurt toooo much to splurge on the damn course. now i don't have a car, so my rents would have to shuttle me to and from the classroom on the weekends. do you guys think it'd be better to do classroom or online?? sooo confused🙁

If you need a place to start, then the Kaplan class is pretty worth it. Mostly it's the online resources that they give you that make it worth while. The bajillion diagnostic tests and online workshops are awesome. The practice tests are a little outdated, but you should try learning from those rather than trying to predict your score. The classes depend on your teacher. I had different people teaching different sections. My chem, PAT, and OChem teachers were awesome, but the rest... not so good. I missed a few lectures and did the online lecture and it was SO BORING. Keep in mind though, you need to actually keep up with the homework, and do a sh*tload of studying on your own. A lot of people take the classes, and expect to learn everything from just the lectures themselves. Then they go on SDN and b*tch and whine about how they didn't score that well even though they took the class.

Like I said, it's a great place to start. Since it's a little outdated, you're still going to have to seek out more material to study, especially for the biology section.

Looking at you stats Mena, I don't think the Kaplan class is worth it for you. Your sciences are pretty strong, and I don't think the classes will help in boosting up your scores. You just need to boost up your QR, and usually that just takes practice, practice, practice.

 

[rose786]

You'll hear this over and over I'm sure: The class isn't helpful, but the tons of practice tests they give are. My solution was to buy just the tests off of someone (let them pay the $1k ). I would check the SDN classifieds or Ebay.

 

[kokks]

I took the kaplan class, studied the blue book in and out, didn't get saticified. Infact, I got lot of questions in bio that I never even read from kaplan material.I ordered DAT destroyer, Crack Dat Pat, for second time prep.There are really some good links for DAT prep books and lot other good study stategies,given by sdn users... try to search. Good luck.

 

[UNR.Grad]

Overpriced, but decent. It's all I used. Use the Kaplan book in conjunction with other books.

 

[SspeedyS]

It's kind of overpriced...but kaplan online course is the only material i used (did it in 2 weeks) and I got a 22+ score...

 

[TestingDept Rep]

We cannot and do not endorse any third party review courses because we cannot verify the content. There are, however, some items on our website that you may find very useful. http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/index.asp

In the Examinee Guide, you will find information on test content. Also, in the column titled "Additional Resources" you will find links to Test Specifications, Sample Test Items, and a tutorial designed to familiarize you with how the test functions on the computer.

Good luck!

 

[rose786]

We cannot and do not endorse any third party review courses because we cannot verify the content. There are, however, some items on our website that you may find very useful. http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat/index.asp

In the Examinee Guide, you will find information on test content. Also, in the column titled "Additional Resources" you will find links to Test Specifications, Sample Test Items, and a tutorial designed to familiarize you with how the test functions on the computer.

Good luck!

Do you work for ADA? If so, for the love of chocolate could you please tell someone to make the "Test Specifications" actually specific. Like not just saying "Ecology" or "the 5 Kingdoms." Because you know that's not actually helpful. /rant

 

[169745]

kaplan sucks

 

[rose786]

DO NOT TAKE THE KRAPLAN COURSE!!!

What in the world?

 

[mena22787]

.

 

[PTbecomingDDS]

I took the course and the online material is alright. I am weary on these courses as my parent made me take a Princeton Review course for the SAT's and got a refund as my verbal score did not improve the 150 points they gurantee. When I took the GRE's for grad school, I just purchased a $10 CD to review math equations and aced the GRE's. For the DAT's, I decided to shell out the $1300, which was a waste. You are better off reviewing your old notes from bio/chem/ochem and purchasing a study guide(s) and a CD with a CPU version of the DAT to practice. If you want to know, my scores in two sections actually dropped from my Kaplan scores (QR-22 (Kaplan) 17 (DAT) and RC-22 (Kaplan) to 18 (DAT)). The rest increased but I reviewed my old chem/o chem notes which were more organized and detailed than their book. For me the RC is just luck as I am a slow reader, but the QR was tough...I had way more word problems than any of my practice tests so be prepared to skip them to get to the easy ones and then hit the harder word problems. Good luck.