Kaplan or Princeton Review

[trunksvegeta]

Hello everyone,
I know there have been a lot of posts regarding these two prep courses, but I'm in sort of a dilemma and would appreciate any advice quick. The princeton review is being offered close to my home, while the Kaplan is being offered about 25 min away. Usually Kaplan has a course closeby too, but that particular section is closed. I understand the discipline being the most important factor in preparing for the MCAT, but if Kaplan is better, I wouldn't mind driving 25 min to get there than enroll in the very convenient princeton review right nearby my house. Anyone have anything good or bad to say about the PR? over Kaplan? vice versa.
Thanks guys,,,I would do a search, but for some reason it is disabled. =)

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[monchi]

I've only taken Kaplan, so hopefully someone who's taken the Princeton course can add some input.
I liked it a lot. I felt it was concise, yet thorough, and the written materials were good.
The instructor can be a little bit of a crap shoot though. Mine was excellent, but some others whose classes I sat in on were not as good. You can change sections if there's room, so if you prefer another instructor it's possible to switch into their class.
The most helpful aspect of the course was all the practice exams and questions. There were four or five full length exams. There is no substitute for practicing for the real thing, and that's what kaplan provided. There are also so many parctice test questions that it's almost impossible to run out.
Hope this is helpful. Good luck.

 

[trunksvegeta]

thanks.....any other advice would be great, I need to order one of them soon, hopefully they won't close on me again!

 

[anxiousmed]

I've take both and I would totallly recommend Princeton...its like going to preschool vs. grad school..no joke. hope this helps
ps. plus they let you keep ALL the material

 

[NineSixteen]

My opinion is 100% biased since I'm an instructor for TPR. I like details, and TPR's materials are better in that respect. If you get bogged down with details, however, maybe Kaplan is better for you. I've heard that you need to go to Kaplan's testing center to take extra practice tests and such...anyone can confirm that? TPR gives you all materials, and we have more tests if you ask for them. Instructors are probably equal at both places; some great, some not so great. Some will be interesting and will really know their stuff, others will really know their stuff but will fail at being able to pass on that knowledge to you...either course requires discipline on your part to DO MANY MANY MANY MANY passages at home, that's the only way you'll do well.

Good Luck!

 

[Doc AdamK in 2006]

TPR!

 

[Assassin]

go with kaplan.
i'm not saying this because i work for them, (they're not paying me enough <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> ) but because it's a smart move - they far exceed tpr (or anyone else for that matter) in terms of the quality and sheer quantity of the practice materials.
and so far as teachers go, it's a crapshoot for both (i'm familiar with both hiring practices :wink: )unless you're in my class of course

 

[monchi]

I've heard that you need to go to Kaplan's testing center to take extra practice tests and such...anyone can confirm that? (Sorry, I was trying to quote but all I did was bold. I've just figured it out, and I'll get it right next time.)
When I took Kaplan, the extra practice questions and exams were held at the center. The full-length exams that are included in the regular course (the four or five I mentioned) are your to keep.

 

[Assassin]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by monchi:
•I've heard that you need to go to Kaplan's testing center to take extra practice tests and such...anyone can confirm that? (Sorry, I was trying to quote but all I did was bold. I've just figured ti out, and I'll get it right next time.)
When I took Kaplan, the extra practice questions and exams were held at the center. The full-length exams that are included in the regular course (the four or five I mentioned) are your to keep.•••••confirmed
they're strict about copyrights or whatnot, so except for the topicals, yes, you need to be at the center to do most practice stuff.

 

[Tweetie_bird]

I personally liked Kaplan science stuff and PR verbal stuff. I won't go into details as to which one is better, I suppose everybody else is already doing that.

One perk about Kaplan I found out was that since it's actually considered a "college" you can have some of your college loans deferred while you're in Kaplan. This helped me not pay interest for like 6 months! This is not allowed by Princeton, I checked.

 

[paean]

In my humble opinion, you should buy the Berkeley Review &lt;www.berkeley-review.com&gt; books and do that instead. I thought they were far superior to either Kaplan or Princeton's printed materials (although given Kaplan's high security, I saw less of theirs), and cheaper too. That said, if you need the discipline of a class, most the people I know who took Kaplan regretted it, while those who took princeton were relatively satisfied. But the best scores were from my friends who took the berkeley review.