kaplan - is it worth it to take it twice

[booboo]

Hi, I am planning to take MCAT in 2006 and I am planning to take kaplan in summer of 2005 and again in Jan 2006. Do u guys think its wise to take it twice. If not when is the best time to take kaplan? My main goal is to get as much practice before i take my MCAT. I will be done with most of my chem bio physics by fall 2005. However, i think will be finishing last quarter of organic in Winter 2006. do u think i really need the last quarter of chem organic for mcat.

thanks and happy new year..wish you all best of luck in 2005.

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[DrKT2009]

Hi, I am planning to take MCAT in 2006 and I am planning to take kaplan in summer of 2005 and again in Jan 2006. Do u guys think its wise to take it twice. If not when is the best time to take kaplan? My main goal is to get as much practice before i take my MCAT. I will be done with most of my chem bio physics by fall 2005. However, i think will be finishing last quarter of organic in Winter 2006. do u think i really need the last quarter of chem organic for mcat.

thanks and happy new year..wish you all best of luck in 2005.

You will need the last part of organic on the MCAT, but you may be able to teach yourself most of the reactions before you take the MCAT. It just depends on how much of an independent learner you are and how hard you think organic is. Everyone is different. Some people think it is really easy to pick up while others need the instruction from someone else. After you take one semester of organic, you should be able to figure out which area you fall into.
I really don't see too much sense in you taking the Kaplan course twice. You should probably take the course in January 2006 before you take the test. The main reason is because you take the full length MCAT tests for several Saturdays before the test -- I think there are 4 of them. This way you are used to taking so many simulated MCATs before the test. This way you don't wear out so easily during the actual test, and you are already used to the testing environment. If you have the extra money you could take it twice, but I would just buy a Kaplan review book for the summer of 2005. Plus, you mentioned that you won't be finishing all of the pre-reqs until the end of the fall of 2005, so you could have trouble following the course on those subjects -- that would again depend on how much you can teach yourself and how much you study. You most likely won't get a full understanding of everything until you have at least had the course in school.
If you don't like that idea, you can take the course in the summer of 2005 and then just buy access to the study resources in the center for January 2006-- they offer a discount for students that have taken a course within a certain amount of months. I just don't see you needing to take the same course twice, but you may like having the resources available to you the semester before the test because it is extremely difficult to get through all of the resources.
If you don't like that idea either, maybe they offer the Princeton Review or another prep course in your area. This way, you can take the Kaplan course and then take another prep course -- I am not sure how much the money is of a concern. If you are set on taking a course at two different times, taking two different MCAT courses would make more sense, but of course, that will depend on whether your area offers both courses. I hope that helps you out a little bit. Best of luck.

 

[QofQuimica]

Hi, I am planning to take MCAT in 2006 and I am planning to take kaplan in summer of 2005 and again in Jan 2006. Do u guys think its wise to take it twice. If not when is the best time to take kaplan? My main goal is to get as much practice before i take my MCAT. I will be done with most of my chem bio physics by fall 2005. However, i think will be finishing last quarter of organic in Winter 2006. do u think i really need the last quarter of chem organic for mcat.

thanks and happy new year..wish you all best of luck in 2005.

People usually do not take the Kaplan course twice unless they finish it the first time and either feel unready to take the test or they do not score well on the actual test. While re-taking the class is always an option (and free to you, if you complete all of the HSG requirements), it's not good psychologically for you to be going into the class EXPECTING to take it twice! The best thing for you to do, based on when you're finishing your pre-reqs, is to take a class to prep you for the April 2006 exam. Most classes will start in January, but you can probably also start in the fall (November 2005 in your case) for the April exam if you would like. This gives you six months of class time and a much more relaxed study schedule, and in my opinion (I teach the extended class at my center!) it is the best class to take if you are able to do it.

 

[doogyhowser]

don't take the kaplan twice.

once okay, it'll give you structure with which to self-study if you need more review.
if you find you are still not prepared, and want to take another course, go with princeton review or examkrackers review course. that way you get some variety cause they may hit different points and/or have additional exam techniques. a second kaplan would practically be a word for word repeat of the same stuff, there's not much to get out of that.

also, if you've got that much dough, you may consider a private tutor instead of classroom course. that would cost about the same as two classroom courses.

 

[sentrosi]

Hmm...it's going to be mostly the same stuff...if you need lots of repitition to learn stuff...it might help. If you're going to take two classes...it might be better to take two different ones...like Kaplan one summer and then Princton Review the next summer. They'll most likely cover the same things for the most part but in different ways and have some different strategies so you can choose what is best for you.

 

[MeowMix]

you will die of boredom and stress if you try to do it twice. Or at least you will burn out. Studying full-on for the MCAT is a lot of work.

To maximize your chances of med school acceptance, instead I recommend taking ONE MCAT prep course, allocating plenty of time for studying, practice tests, and review (if you're really smart, maybe you don't even need a prep course). Spend the extra time on clinical work and shadowing.

 

[Taty]

i took kaplan twice....second time it is a waste of time....same tests same diagnostics and everything

 

[booboo]

thanks for all the input guys. I am going to take kaplan only once now but now i am wondering if i should take it during summer 2005 or January 2006. This summer, I will try to finish my physics, bio, second quarter of o-chem. ALso, I am going to borrown kaplan material from my friend but that material is from 2002. I was thinking to either study from the material from 2002 kaplan and thn take kaplan in Jan 2006. do u guys think the material changed since 2002. Also, i dont have any tests for practice, i only have the material. Also, In summer i will have like 12 units. I dont know if its possible to focus on kaplan and still take 12 units. what you guys think?