KAPLAN Question...
- Thread starter illbirz
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As far as less time between sessions, and understanding the material. My dilemma is this I registered for April 1st to take my test But i think i need kaplan to learn the math and reading and it also wont hurt to refresh the sciences. So I have 2 options, one to take a course that already started which meets once a week, and then i would have to postpone my test to may 1st, or to sign up for a kaplan course that takes 2ice a week whcih then it would finish 2 days b4 my test day. Can any1 out there help me? or am i just being dumb and i should just sign up for the 2ice a week class and suck it up and finish this once and for all? lol 😕
Suck it up, delaying the test will only make you more likely to forget things you learned earlier in your studying. How helpful Kaplan is is really up to how much you put into it. You should be more work outside of class than you do inside of class. If that's a problem doing it twice a week, maybe you could do the 1/week, but I think that tends to lose some of the material waiting that long.
Why not just do the online material?
Why not just do the online material?
W
whateveryoulike
your best option is to save the huge sum of money that Kaplan robs people of for their course and just pay a private tutor for the areas you cant review on your own. Im curious what the hourly cost would come up to if you actually sat down and crunched the numbers. Im willing to bet Kaplans course is around the same per hour (if not more, I would predict more to be honest) as a private tutors time. We've got a Kaplan office and class on our campus so a few of the people I tutor with have taken the course. Without getting too negative, the general comments I hear are that they arent just upset about the loss of the money but more so about the loss of time. They think the course is for people that need to invest the money to get the motivation to actually study, and that the class doesnt cover much that cant be picked up from their cheap blue book.
On another Kaplan note, I wanted additional practice so I contacted a member on here about their kaplan course materials and when he found out I had already purchased destroyer he told me to not waste my time with the Kaplan stuff. To restate that since it was a bit shocking; he actually told me NOT to buy his review materials that he was actively selling because he thought it would be a waste of my time and money.
On another Kaplan note, I wanted additional practice so I contacted a member on here about their kaplan course materials and when he found out I had already purchased destroyer he told me to not waste my time with the Kaplan stuff. To restate that since it was a bit shocking; he actually told me NOT to buy his review materials that he was actively selling because he thought it would be a waste of my time and money.
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One thing i learned through out my educational lifespan, there is noting wrong with having too much resource. James is right, i gotta suck it up and just take the twice a week class, get it over with and take the test. Thanks guys!
have you wrote the DAT yet?
you do realize that there is a HUGE online component to the Kaplan course... including atleast 4 full practice tests and atleast half a dozen subject tests in each subject...
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whateveryoulike
you do realize you can buy multiple practice tests from topscore and achiever and do so without spending the kind of money Kaplan charges? you do also realize that "practice tests" are just a sum of questions related to a particular subject, kind of like the free questions in the back of every chapter of your textbooks. 🙄 if you are going to justify Kaplans costs then youll need to do so on the basis of something they actually offer that you cant get elsewhere (where its usually superior anyway) for 1/5th the cost.
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I thought Kaplan was by far the most accurate depiction of the practice tests I took.
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whateveryoulike
his numbers are good but no one should be listened to exclusively when considering opinions. i simple search will bring up people with higher scores that have put down Kaplan as I do. sre they DAT mutany to you?
i don't know why i'm trying this hard to recommend people to take kaplan, but i'll continue anyways.....
1) kaplan offers the test online, in the same user interface, same timer, etc as the real DAT. It helps a lot with timing when you are always timing yourself and doing questions in the 30/30/40 block chunks that they will be presented to you on the DAT.
2) kaplans questions are really close to the difficulty of the real DAT
3) the questions at the back of a textbook are not focussed like the questions in kaplan's subject test. You know that if you see it on Kaplan, you should probably know it, however, if you pick up a bio book, it is likely that a lot of that stuff won't be on the DAT. It saves you a lot of time to only study what you need to. But i do think it is important to use other sources with kaplan. As for bashing topscore/achiever: i've never used/seen either, so I can't speak to their merit.
4) the whole application costs a lot.. I suppose the dollar to benefit value of Kaplan will vary depending on your financial situation.. so it could be true that Kaplan isn't for everyone.
I do know that Kaplan helped me a lot... on both the American and Canadian DAT i did pretty well.. Hey, who knows, maybe if I didn't use Kaplan and used Topscore/Achiever/the bcak of my textbooks I would have done better... I believe in the Kaplan system, and that's why I'm trying to teach the DAT for Kaplan.
you pick.
W
whateveryoulike
for future reference, dont insert evidence of bias when in a debate/discussion. it will immediately deflate any opinions you give. i could have just assumed you were smart enough that you would have done good with or without the Kaplan course and that since you took it, you attributed your success to that. now i think youre just in that brainwashed phase where youre pro-Kaplan because you want/are working for them. 😛
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I personally thought the Kaplan course was an incredible waste of time and most importantly money ... check out my DAT story and see how I did after the course and then my second attempt after studying on my own with recommended resources.
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Let me start of by saying that I work for Kaplan.
Secondly, let me say that Kaplan isn't for everyone. Some students do not like the course and are bitter from the beginning, Kaplan is not for them [cough, cough....].
Thirdly....why do you appear to be angry with them? You said that they "rob" students? Sure the course is expensive, but if you've actually taken it, you'll know that you get a lot more material than the so called "cheap blue book". There is a plethora of online materials students can use. Sure, you can go out and buy test prep from Achiever, Destroyer, Topscore,Cliffs, etc...and they are all great sources as well.
However, they are not going to be as encompassing as the entire Kaplan course. 12 sessions at 3 hours each, 6 full length practice tests if you include the diagnostic, many online workshops, online versions of the classroom in case you want another explanation, a lesson book, and the "cheap blue book".
BUT, you know what? I still recommend that my students use outside sources in ADDITION to their Kaplan materials because they all provide another perspective on the material and the test itself. This isn't a test that any one source that does a perfect job of prepping you for the DAT, however, I KNOW, not "think", that the Kaplan course does a tremendous job. How can I say this? I have taken the DAT and taught the course.
One thing I think students may not understand, is that most of the work is still done outside of class. We don't spoon feed you. However, we give you the tools and the online materials to practice and learn the materials so you can be confident and ready for the test.
So I would appreciate, as well as other students who are looking for perspective on the issue, if you would refrain from bashing everyone at Kaplan and the course. Everyone has an opinion and is free to express it. Yes, it's expensive, but I challenge you to find a more structured, lengthy, personalized, and realistic source. When you do, go ahead and post it on here.
As a teacher you can tell the student who comes to class without preparing or doing any work outside of class (which is required to get anything out of the class) and expect to learn everything from just the class time. They don't get into dental school. It is the students who come ready to go and are passionate about doing well that do well. I think those students would do well however they studied because they have the drive to do it. The 3 students of mine that I will be classmates with next year all were fantastic students, stayed after class to talk to me, kept in touch after the class, and interviewed together. If i had to pick out who I thought was going to succeed without seeing scores I would've picked them hands down.
Kaplan is a good jumping off point - but I think students that only do work in class and get bitter because they're scores do not improve... well, comon.
Of course I have bias, I really thought Kaplan helped me.
Do you think my wages depend on your subscription to Kaplan? I hate to break it to you, but I'll get paid either way. I couldn't give a shi* if you enroll or not.
So you would rather me not disclose that I may soon be working for Kaplan, than me tell you up front that this is my plan? I'm not trying to get you to enroll, I'm just telling you of my experience. Here is the problem: you see this as an argument to be won (where "bias" and "strength of opinion" are involved - give it a break), whereas I don't care either way..
