Kaplan Home Study vs. Lecture

[Molly Maquire]

HI,

I signed up for the Kaplan prep course through my school and received the seven volumes of lecture notes.

Now, however, I'm thinking that I might not want to spend seven hours a day in lecture, and it might be better to study on my own.

Is there any significant difference between the lecture notes and Kaplan's home study books? I know that they are organized differently, but can the lecture notes be used without the course?
The preface says this is not a good idea, but this might be marketing BS.

Also, has anyone used the Board Simulator Series? Is it any good?

Thanks.

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[layne20]

I was wondering the same thing. I bought the course that comes with around 7 or 8 review books and a question book and also allows one to watch videos of the lectures in our school library. It is from Kaplan, and I was wondering if just studying the books would be sufficient, as I found the videos very boring and repetitive. I would be able to learn the material much more quickly without watching the videos. However, the book also states that it is not appropriate to just use the lecture notes to study; that one must also use the videos. I am so confused! Someone please give us some advice!!!

 

[vitaminj]

I can only speak with what worked for me. My school has included in its tuition a Kaplan fee so I felt that I should use this and get my money's worth. Most of my class did the same and in general our average was 10 points higher than any other class in recent history.

I started watching one Kaplan video every weekday during our lunch block in February while I ate my lunch...as miserable as that I might sound it wasn't that bad. For me I thought it was good to hear the material again instead of sitting down and trying to digest difficult concepts from physiology just by reading it. Then the month before the boards I had almost no videos to watch and just spent my time reviewing in the library writing notes in the margin of First Aide, I supplemented some of the Kaplan material with BRS books that everybody recommends. The last week I was solely looking at First Aid.

In general I found some of the Kaplan tapes very good and others poor. Here are my recommendations:

1. Biochem
2. Physio (the guys voice is like nails on a chalkboard)
3. Immunology
4. Behavioral/epidemology
5. Path (this one not sure about...the guy is like a used car sales man but the slide review tapes are excellent)
6. Neuroscience--excellent

Ones that I looked at and would say do not waste your time:
1. Micro (used micro made ridiculously simple)
2. Anatomy/embryo (first aid is enough--neuro tapes are excellent)
3. Pharm--I think first aid with high yield was pretty good--pharm is really just broad concepts
4. CMB--glanced at high yield book

I have to say that I am one of those people who uses a ton of books and kind of cross-references topics...however I did not use any text books throughout this time. My first aid which i still have has notes scribbled on every page and I feel as though that was the best thing to do the last month. Just have a schedule and try to stick to it...easier said than done. Also Kaplan Q-bank is great for questions and I would highly recommend it. Step 1 is not the time to be trying to save money...my philosophy was I didn't want to get my score back and say, "well if I had spent 40 bucks on book X I could have done better"

Hope this long convoluted post helps...just do your best and best of luck to you.

 

[vitaminj]

I don't think the Kaplan live lectures would be any better than the tapes...I mean all they do for some of them is tape the live lectures.

 

[Brewster]

I have no experience with the tapes. Heck, I didn't even know they existed until recently.

I did, however, do Kaplan intensive prep. I got the books (it was three fat spiral bound volumes plus a question book at the time) and went to the lectures. I thought it was fantastic. When I reviewed on my own I used primarily the Kaplan books (with notes from lecture in the margins) and supplemented with things like BRS path and BRS physio. It worked out nicely in the end.

Then again, I know that I am an auditory learner. I also knew that if I was going to study for 5-6 weeks, I would need some structure.

In the end, it comes down to learning style. Again, know nothing about the tapes, but is sounds like they provide the "auditory learning," but without the structure of the lectures. You just have to figure out how you work best and do what you need to do. (Easier said than done...)

 

[southerndoc]

Yes, there is a difference between the home study books and the lecture notes. The lecture notes are just that -- notes. The home study books are written like texts (in paragraph form).

I did the home study program and was very pleased with my score.

 

[The Pill Counter]

I just picked up the 2002 edition of the Homestudy notes brand new off eBay for less than half what Kaplan is charging for the 2003 notes from their website. From what I understand, nothing has changed except the binding. So Geek Medic, how long did you spend going through the books? I'm budgeting a slow eight months on the side of second year followed by an intense six weeks. Too little, too much, what do you think?