Kaplan or PRivate Tutoring?

[DO dreamin]

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I have the option of taking Kaplan or paying a premed who teaches for kaplan and whom scored a 41, $25 per hour for private tutoring. Either way i would be spending about $2000 for about 4 hours of teaching per week for 3-4 months.

My situation is this, i did well in my basic premed courses (3.75 gpa) but that was over 3 years ago. I have not looked at a science problem in over 3 years. I glanced over a practice MCAT and about freaked out. I need to freshin up on everything especially physics.

Do you guys feel i'd get more out of the private tutor or from the kaplan course.

Thanks!!

 

[RoadRunner17]

Your mileage may vary but I don't think most people can really benefit from taking a classroom course or getting a tutor if they can keep themselves motivated and on a study plan for however long they need to be prepared for the MCAT.

You can purchase home-study review materials from prep companies, purchase practice exams from the AAMC, maybe even buy something like Kaplan's QBank access. Those would all be very useful if you can apply yourself to taking advantage of them. You will save a lot of money in addition.

However, if you need someone there, whether it be an instructor or tutor, to go through concepts and explain them to you, then it would be a good investment to do either of the options you just listed. Whether it be a tutor or the classroom, I do not know. If you get the Kaplan practice materials (practice exams, topicals, sectionals, everything) with tutoring, then you should choose that over the classroom. You will at least get the personal attention you want/need to be prepared. That's just my opinion based on experiences of friends who have taken the course as well as others who chose to study on their own.

Good luck.

 

[Hindiana_Jones]

That tutor is kind of pricey... If you pay all that $$ to kaplan you get books, online access, practice tests, all the CBTs from the AAMC. If you pay the tutor all you get is face time with a tutor. I have a tutor for physics. Its just a physics TA that I see once a week, $15.00 an hour. They help with questions I didn't understand, passages I goofed, et al. I would say, don't get a tutor, you get more resources from a test prep course. BTW, in my experience, Kaplan's in class time is worthless. There is a broad spectrum in terms of quality of kaplan instructors, and you may be lucky with a good one... But what I found is that my in class time was a waste. Essentially unless you get a great instructor, most just read off the script and pound there "Stop, think, predict" methodology over and over again. The good thing about prep courses is that if you have trouble sticking to a schedule you can follow their regiment and keep up. My suggestion is to :

1) consider The Princeton Review (they focus much more on content during their in class time, and they give you a lot of resources as well) or buy the Kaplan course and get help from your Kaplan instructor. You've paid them to help you, they are supposed to answer your questions by email. I know e-mail pales in comparison to face time with a tutor. so you could also

2) find a T.A at a local college that would be willing to tutor you and go to them if you need additional help.

I just think that if you're going to spend 2000 dollars, don't spend it all on tutoring. You could also not do a prep course, and buy the Exam Krackers books and get tutored,
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Study-Package-Sixth-Krackers/dp/1893858421/ref=sr_1_11/105-7819581-7462040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187844390&sr=8-11

or but the Berkely Review books and get tutored.
http://www.berkeley-review.com/

Pply here rave about the Berkely Review. Apparently their Verbal Reasoning is a little weak, but Exam Krackers has 101 Passages in Verbal Reasoning, which is a great book.

 

[artaxerxes]

buy books, aamc exams with your money, and maybe pay for a few session of tutoring more as Q&A sessions to help you figure out select topics that youknow you have difficulties with.

If you do go with full scale tutoring, do it privately....the tutor is probably more motivated since he's getting paid more, and doesn't have to deal with all the BS that kaplan dishes out. not sure if kaplan tutoring has a score guarantee, but I still don't think its worth it.

If you really want to spend money, the TPR center that I'm training for has a premier level tutor, he gets paid $95/hr....so it'll probably cost you 150/hr

 

[PreMD86]

Dude, $25/hr for private tutoring by an MCAT god? That's pocket change.
One of the doctors where I work told me when he taught privately for TPR, they'd charge $125/hr and pay him $27. Cut the middle man and jump at the opportunity.
By the way my gf is in the process of finding an accounting tutor for a class and they're all $60-$85/hr. Get Kaplan materials and have him sit down with you and tailor the class to your needs.

 

[malta97]

Dude, $25/hr for private tutoring by an MCAT god? That's pocket change.
One of the doctors where I work told me when he taught privately for TPR, they'd charge $125/hr and pay him $27. Cut the middle man and jump at the opportunity.
By the way my gf is in the process of finding an accounting tutor for a class and they're all $60-$85/hr. Get Kaplan materials and have him sit down with you and tailor the class to your needs.

If the tutor is an excellent tutor, then that is the way to go, and I am a Kaplan teacher. I would get the private tutor and pick up as many of the examcracker materials you can. Make sure the tutor knows what they are talking about, 25 is actually a cheap price for a quality tutor.

 

[bunnylove]

$25 is very cheap 😀 for an MCAT tutor. I payed $125/ hour 😱 for a Kaplan tutor.

 

[xrevision]

I would go for the class. Although I feel that a lot of the class (kaplan) wasted my time, it's because I was already solid in General Chemistry, Biology, and Organic chemistry. If I could go back i would probably go for the tutor, but thats only because I only needed help in physics.

 

[DO dreamin]

Wow you guys are great! thanks for your advice. I think i'm going to buy that Kaplan materials and then Pay the tutor. I've heard from too many people that the kaplan in class in not worth it's cost.

I hope the best for all of you!

 

[nova1983]

I did private tutoring through Kaplan (yes, a buttload of money but I knew my app would rest on my MCAT since I have a lowish science GPA but a great non-science GPA).

I had a great experience with them, AFTER I insisted to switch from my first tutor and then get 3 "subject tutors." I had 35hrs over a 2.5 month period.

In the end I improved from 26 on my diagnostic (8, 11, 7) to 34 on the july 24th test (10, 13, 11) -- though I didn't do ANY verbal or writing practice with my tutors, and rather just focused on learning the science material, since I am non-trad and hadn't taken gen chem or bio for 6 years.

So yeah, I would recommend that you go for the private tutor -- $25 is REALLY a good deal.

 

[Summer Sweet]

Take a course and ask the instructors individual questions during office hours.

I thought I would have a ton of questions to ask my prep course instructors, but it turns out the material isn't as massive as it seems. I mean, it's a lot to know and it's collectively intimidating, but as you pick up the books and start reading, many concepts start coming back to you (assuming you learned them in school). Also, many MCAT instructors don't mind staying a few minutes after class or during office hours to answer your questions. Plus, since MCAT courses would come with lots of materials, they're a good resource for all your practicing needs.