Step I Kaplan or solo
Started by ziffy 850
Our school doesn't recommend kaplan..........self-study is usually fine. depends on what kind of learner you are.
if you never went to class for the first 2 years it does not make sense to think that suddenly you are going to want to go to 2 weeks of 8 hour days sitting in lecture.
it is personal opinion. some people swear by it and others hate it.
my school is about 50-50 and almost all of them pass.
if you never went to class for the first 2 years it does not make sense to think that suddenly you are going to want to go to 2 weeks of 8 hour days sitting in lecture.
it is personal opinion. some people swear by it and others hate it.
my school is about 50-50 and almost all of them pass.
I think a lot of schools are against Kaplan because students might think this is all they need- that if they go to all the Kaplan classes they will rock the boards, and this simply is not the case. Kaplan is giving you a framework to study from- you can't expect to sit in Kaplan lectures everyday and come out knowing it all. You still have to put in the time to study the material and I think this is the downfall for some students. That being said, I am not the type that gets a lot out of lectures and do better studying on my own. HOWEVER, with Kaplan it is different. The instructors so far have been superb, have hit the MUST knows, and I feel that the Kaplan lectures have actually stream-lined my studying. So I guess it is a matter of personal opinion. I like it, and I am glad I forked over the money to do it. 😎
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I don't know if others medical schools do this or not but it may be helpful....
My school tapes every lecture from the first two years of medical school and they also give brief USMlE reviews in the spring each year and they tape those also. Students are able to watch these videos in streaming videos over the net from any computer that has high speed coonection to the net.
Before reading a particular section of my review book, I view the review lecture of that section in the streaming video of the lecture from school. For example, in the review video for the cardiopathology section, they hit all of the major cardiovascular diseases in about an hour or so. I began to use them last week and they seem to be very helpful...saves a lot of money and they are nice and concise for USMLE prep.
If you have access to this at your school, I would consider giving those a try before coughing up the dough to just have Kaplan people go over the same thing that could be covered in a review lecture at your school.
My school tapes every lecture from the first two years of medical school and they also give brief USMlE reviews in the spring each year and they tape those also. Students are able to watch these videos in streaming videos over the net from any computer that has high speed coonection to the net.
Before reading a particular section of my review book, I view the review lecture of that section in the streaming video of the lecture from school. For example, in the review video for the cardiopathology section, they hit all of the major cardiovascular diseases in about an hour or so. I began to use them last week and they seem to be very helpful...saves a lot of money and they are nice and concise for USMLE prep.
If you have access to this at your school, I would consider giving those a try before coughing up the dough to just have Kaplan people go over the same thing that could be covered in a review lecture at your school.
ziffy 850 said:
Definitely not necessary. Most people do not take the extra prep course for Step 1. Get yourself good review materials, make a schedule, and stick to it. That's all you need.
I've worked at Kaplan for about 9 months now (things got slow at the start of fourth year) and would only recommend taking the course under the following conditions
1. you have lots of discretionary income
2. self-study alone won't work for you (short attention span, etc).
3. Passing step one will keep you from repeating a year of med school
I think Kaplan is fine, but totally unneeded for the average student. The material is great and the instructors have wide variations in quality. In the end you have to spend lots of time studying anyway . . . .
1. you have lots of discretionary income
2. self-study alone won't work for you (short attention span, etc).
3. Passing step one will keep you from repeating a year of med school
I think Kaplan is fine, but totally unneeded for the average student. The material is great and the instructors have wide variations in quality. In the end you have to spend lots of time studying anyway . . . .
