Kaplan or ExamKrackers Class?! Help Quick!

[davidb25]

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So, I have the option of either taking the Kaplan or ExamKrackers course for the Mcat in January.

I feel like I'm rusty on my pre-req's and I've heard Kaplan is a little more in-depth so I'm leaning towards Kaplan.

The Kaplan course I want to take started today, so I should theoretically be takign my diagnostic now. Examkracers starts in about a week, and they both end around the same time.

From looking at the schedules, I noticed EK has practice tests every other saturday, while Kaplans seem to be all stuck at the end? Why would I want to take 4 back to back practice tests?

Any help is appreciated!

 

[mightymoose02]

80+ views and 0 posts. lol poor guy.

I would recommend The Princeton Review. I don't think Kaplan or EK is that great. Princeton Review has better books/tests overall than those companies.

But if those are your only choices... uhh... just flip a coin. ACTUALLY... go to their places and see what kind of teachers they have or find out. If you are going to take a class, then you should try to take the class with the best teachers. If your Kaplan is like others and they force one teacher to teach all the subjects... then stay away from that.

To answer your question about taking tests...

It's probably better to take tests at the end (near your test date... starting about a month before) rather than taking them while you are not even ready for full-length tests.

Most people on here would most likely recommend that you take Full-Length tests ONLY after you are pretty much done with the content review. It worked for me.

 

[vin5cent0]

I couldn't recommend EK based off the experience I had with their books (too concise, left too much for me to have to look up via other sources)

 

[eDITN]

I don't know much about EK's class course but if you take the Kaplan course, I would recommend completing EK's 101 Verbal book to supplement. The Kaplan verbal is not adequate preparation for the MCAT, in my opinion.

Take 2 or 3 passages from EK 101 a day, as suggested by SN2ed.

 

[AvidAvatar]

I took the MCAT seven years after my standard classes. I started studying with Kaplan and EK, and I eventually went totally EK for my science review. It was awesome.

EK teaches you just enough for what you have to know for the test without wasting your time on 'extras'. They even tell you where you shouldn't be wasting your time, like for the evolutionary and development biology. I roughly followed the SN2 schedule, but only using EK and the 1001 passage books. This really prepared me well for the exam. Don't forget to practice with the AAMC tests as well!

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I took the Kaplan course and felt that it did a great job. If you have a good tutor, I;d go with Kaplan. However I do not have experience with the other companies.

However, from personal experience, Kaplan worked out for me. I was skeptical going in, but had a great instructor and worked a lot. Also, I don't think there's much value in doing practice tests in the beginning. You'll want to take one before studying as a baseline, but until you finish most of the content review, I don't think taking practice tests would do much.

Best of luck, no matter what you choose, stick with it and give it your best shot. More so than the prep company, I think just putting in the hours to study will help either way.

 

[DocKayEMDEE]

I took the Kaplan course and because my instructor wasn't that great, the course didn't really help. I would highly suggest The Princeton Review course Online if the live instruction isn't offered at your area. The Princeton Review would be great for those that need to refresh on the material.

 

[kokocipher]

Is this the book for EK verbal 101? This is the 2nd Edition. The reviews aren't very good though
http://www.amazon.com/Examkrackers-...soning/dp/1893858553/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Is this the book for EK verbal 101? This is the 2nd Edition. The reviews aren't very good though
http://www.amazon.com/Examkrackers-...soning/dp/1893858553/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I used EK101 with my Kaplan verbal book. For practicing passages/timing I think it's good, and a lot of users on SDN seem to like EK101.

It's not great and has it's flaws, but for MCAT style questions, this was pretty good. I heard Princeton Review had great verbal too, but I never used it myself.

 

[mightymoose02]

Is this the book for EK verbal 101? This is the 2nd Edition. The reviews aren't very good though
http://www.amazon.com/Examkrackers-...soning/dp/1893858553/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

REMEMBER these passages were written more than 5 years ago... meaning they were written for the PAPER-based tests. They just re-arranged it using the same material. If you look around the forum for 2008 posts, people will confirm that it's the same exact passages as 1st edition.

The book is good for PRACTICE. But don't think that the MCAT will be like ANY of the tests that EK gives out. The passages are way too easy to read and ... again... it's ON PAPER.

I think it's valuable to get verbal tests ON THE COMPUTER using the AAMC format and practicing that way when you get close to the actual test date. (I read faster on paper as opposed to computer)

As long as you don't get comfortable with your EK101 scores and realize that you are taking those tests in a totally different environment than the real test, then you are fine.

There are numerous people on here that say... "oh my avg score for EK 101 was a 10-11 but I ended up getting a 6 on the real deal" It happens so watch out.

 

[MT Headed]

When I was researching courses, I noticed that the EK courses got terrible reviews. It seems they mostly consisted of a tutor telling you to follow the EK 10 week program already available on their website. I couldn't get to California, so TBR courses were out. Thus it was a decision between Kaplan and TPR, and everybody just had nicer things to say about the TPR classes. As it turns out I never signed up for any of them.

My conclusion was TBR = TPR > Kaplan > EK when it comes to MCAT courses. So in your case I would go with Kaplan.