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Kaplan vs. BR vs. TPR
Started by IamtheW
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Just a few quick points. This is not meant to be an end all list. Additionally, this will only pertain to the factors which do not change much depending on where you live. For instance, teachers in one area may be better at Kaplan in one place and TPR in another. BR's teachers are usually consistently good due to only holding classes at a few sites. Lastly, keep in mind that this does not apply to the future 2015 MCAT.
Kaplan:
- Good amount of online material, though practice passages are so-so for the sciences and bad for verbal
- FLs 1-6 are a decent option if, and only if, you've used up ALL of the AAMC FLs and self assessments
- Content review books are decent, but there are better options that are easily available
BR:
- Great content review books which include plenty of tough passages
- Inconsistent verbal passages due to the book being written by three different people (1/3 good, 1/3 decent, 1/3 bad passages)
- FLs are a decent choice if you've used up ALL of the AAMC material
- Somewhat difficult to buy materials because of a website that is from the early 90s. Yes, that website is actually their website. No, it is not a scam website made by a 10 year old.
TPR:
- Great content review books, right up there with BR, that can be easily bought through Amazon (the TPR Hyperlearning books are the same as the individual MCAT subject books)
- Only a small handful of passages included in their books through Amazon. Not even close to enough for a study schedule
- Must get separate workbooks for passages that are NOT obtainable through Amazon and there aren't as many passages as BR.
- Great verbal passages. Considered among the best available
- Horrid FLs
Kaplan:
- Good amount of online material, though practice passages are so-so for the sciences and bad for verbal
- FLs 1-6 are a decent option if, and only if, you've used up ALL of the AAMC FLs and self assessments
- Content review books are decent, but there are better options that are easily available
BR:
- Great content review books which include plenty of tough passages
- Inconsistent verbal passages due to the book being written by three different people (1/3 good, 1/3 decent, 1/3 bad passages)
- FLs are a decent choice if you've used up ALL of the AAMC material
- Somewhat difficult to buy materials because of a website that is from the early 90s. Yes, that website is actually their website. No, it is not a scam website made by a 10 year old.
TPR:
- Great content review books, right up there with BR, that can be easily bought through Amazon (the TPR Hyperlearning books are the same as the individual MCAT subject books)
- Only a small handful of passages included in their books through Amazon. Not even close to enough for a study schedule
- Must get separate workbooks for passages that are NOT obtainable through Amazon and there aren't as many passages as BR.
- Great verbal passages. Considered among the best available
- Horrid FLs
Thanks for your input. I noticed on your study schedule you like to supplement with EK but not with the Bio 1001 questions. I was just wondering the reasoning behind that.
Also, do you have any thoughts on the Kaplan QBank? Personally or what you've heard of it?
SN2ed: I admire you for your efforts in helping those of us in need of help preparing for the MCAT. I have read through your posts and what stood out to me was your advice on devoting 3 months for MCAT prep, which I strongly agree. I am a single mother, however, working full-time nights at my local Emergency Room. I have been for 7 years now, so the schedule and odd sleep hours are not anything new for me. I would really like to follow your schedule, but I noticed another piece of your advice was to avoid over-studying and burnout. I fear of beginning the process and not retaining any of the material I spent hours and days reviewing, which is likely what has been my issue with my past experiences of taking the MCAT. I am writing to you hoping you have some advice as how to incorporate you schedule into my schedule. I could really use a guiding hand. Thank you for all of your time and help.
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how can you get kaplan FLs without the course?
I can't talk for SN2ed.
However, if I understand your question correctly and if it is me, I would just move events one at a time to the time slot you see fit. The total amount of events per day in this 3 months plan is static. Unless someone on this campus have a creative idea, I assume the only way to lay the default SN2ed plan to fit yours is to do it manually. By using SN2ed schedule as a template, you start "add" and "trim". It is time comsuming and is pain in the neck.....but
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As a guy who used to work for Kaplan for *many* years I'll also chime in here:
Classroom course (any):
Advantages:
• More materials than you'll need (of varying quality, which SN2ed addressed)
• Single (kind of large) cost which is "one stop shopping"
• Puts you in a setting with lots of other MCAT students, so easier to form study groups
Disadvantages:
• There's literally a century of education literature showing that lectures are a TERRIBLE way to learn things. So the time you spend sitting in class is almost nearly a waste.
• No single company will have the methods or materials that are best for you, but you tend to get locked-in, as a classroom teacher will only teach you their company's one method
• Cost-to-value ratio. You can get just the materials for cheaper, so what is the classroom course adding value-wise for your tuition? (keep in mind that your tuition dollars, esp. in the case of KTP/TPR are not paying the teacher - that guy is only making $20/hr - your tuition is paying the rent on their giant fancy Manhattan office. That gives you an idea of where the value is going for your tuition dollar).
So should you take a regular classroom course? My answer is typically: "maybe if you're near a place where TBR or Altius is doing a class" and "basically 'no' for KTP or TPR".
If the main thing you're looking for is ease-of-use and convenience and getting a ton more material than you could possibly want, all with a canned syllabus/checklist that you can easily follow, then you go to Kaplan and buy their online course. The front page of your syllabus is literally just a checklist for you to follow. Do all of it and you'll basically be okay. It's not the best, but sometimes you just want to hit the McDonald's drive-thru and order a #1 meal, medium, with a Coke. And that's fine.
Now if we were sitting at a wedding table together and casually chatting and you wanted my recommendation about what's actually the best thing to do? In that case, you should do the following:
1. Read through my study guide here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/breaking-down-the-mcat-100-days-to-mcat-success.1043255/
2. Read through SN2ed's study guide
3. Take AAMC #3 to see where you're starting from and how much prep you need.
4. Start with self-study using whatever prep company materials + AAMC's.
5. After a month or so, assess your progress and decide if you need a tutor/class/study group/whatever.
Good luck! 🙂
Classroom course (any):
Advantages:
• More materials than you'll need (of varying quality, which SN2ed addressed)
• Single (kind of large) cost which is "one stop shopping"
• Puts you in a setting with lots of other MCAT students, so easier to form study groups
Disadvantages:
• There's literally a century of education literature showing that lectures are a TERRIBLE way to learn things. So the time you spend sitting in class is almost nearly a waste.
• No single company will have the methods or materials that are best for you, but you tend to get locked-in, as a classroom teacher will only teach you their company's one method
• Cost-to-value ratio. You can get just the materials for cheaper, so what is the classroom course adding value-wise for your tuition? (keep in mind that your tuition dollars, esp. in the case of KTP/TPR are not paying the teacher - that guy is only making $20/hr - your tuition is paying the rent on their giant fancy Manhattan office. That gives you an idea of where the value is going for your tuition dollar).
So should you take a regular classroom course? My answer is typically: "maybe if you're near a place where TBR or Altius is doing a class" and "basically 'no' for KTP or TPR".
If the main thing you're looking for is ease-of-use and convenience and getting a ton more material than you could possibly want, all with a canned syllabus/checklist that you can easily follow, then you go to Kaplan and buy their online course. The front page of your syllabus is literally just a checklist for you to follow. Do all of it and you'll basically be okay. It's not the best, but sometimes you just want to hit the McDonald's drive-thru and order a #1 meal, medium, with a Coke. And that's fine.
Now if we were sitting at a wedding table together and casually chatting and you wanted my recommendation about what's actually the best thing to do? In that case, you should do the following:
1. Read through my study guide here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/breaking-down-the-mcat-100-days-to-mcat-success.1043255/
2. Read through SN2ed's study guide
3. Take AAMC #3 to see where you're starting from and how much prep you need.
4. Start with self-study using whatever prep company materials + AAMC's.
5. After a month or so, assess your progress and decide if you need a tutor/class/study group/whatever.
Good luck! 🙂
I was pretty excited to have a reply. Honestly, I have already begun using the SN2ed schedule as a template just as you suggested. I have been through quite a bit the past four years, so I know I needed to put a halt to my studies, put my child first, and wait until it was most appropriate to continue. I have many people who wish to see me successful, but it is more so with a "cut your losses and settle" type of an attitude. Statements like, "Why don't you just go to nursing school?" I have worked far too long in the medical field and research that that is not the example I want to set for my son, that is not MY calling. Don't get me wrong, I love nurses and have a family full of them... but I think we need more people setting an example that shows success in fighting for what we are truly passionate... what "calls us" in life as you only get one. I want to be a Doctor and take care of my community by providing the best services possible. That being said, every financial move I make has to be taken with deep condideration that it may not be most appropriate for me, spending money on a Kaplan course, another 10 books or so of review and practice questions, another year's worth of AAMC practice exams, for examples. Do I take the Kaplan course and hope there is money left for my child's birthday and paying for costs of school supplies, lunches, multple growth spurts resulting in pants that a parent can never keep them in... So, like numerous others, I scan SDN for ANY advice I can find. This schedule seemed to have the most positive feedback, and for someone to invest that much time to post it without financial gain... I can appreciate that level of selflessness. I have developed test-taking anxiety, but I have come to grips with the fact that that anxiety only exists because I was not prepared... or ready... or at least this is what I am trying to prove to myself, because to be honest, I panic at the thought of even sitting infront of that computer screen with the clock ticking in my face. Funny, I have handled working in critical care for 7 years and never panicked once.
I love this response. You sound just like a good friend of mine who just recently has been debating with me in this very same way over my taking a Kaplan course. Nearest courses are at least a 50 minute drive for me. Having the less-than-typical student life, 2 hours out of the day is 2 hours that could have been spent studying or being productive at home or at work or with my child... not-to-mention gas money, so the ultimate cost-to-value ratio, since there is more invested to the term "cost," weighs heavily on my mind. I will check out your study guide as well. I have already read through SN2ed's, and I decided to somehow develop one that will be suitable for my life. I do have concerns over taking a longer time to study than most, such as "what if I forget something?"
Where I thought the Kaplan class would have been most beneficial for me, is helping me with "diagnostically" where am I going wrong..? Am I THAT anxious that I end up second-guessing myself repeatedly? Am I THAT distractable that I notice everyone sniffling and breathing heavy in the room and loose my focus despite wearing the supposed noise reducing head gear they provide? Or, ultimately, maybe it all is a sign that I should not be taking the test in the first place... at least not yet. I work the 12hr night shift, for the most part... but my schedule ranges from 8p-8a, 1p-1a, or 8a-8p. It is hard to come up with productive times to study. In the past, I have brought notes and practice problems to work, but in the Emergency Room, there is not a predictable shift where that method is consistently efficient. Should there be more "break days" to recover from a night shift? Or maybe instead of any break days, only spending a hour simplying reviewing when I wake up, and then have a heavier study load on days offs... makes sense to me, but will it ultimately end up productive or will I have too much of a heavy load that I burnout and do not retain anything (which has also happened to me, and is actually more devastating than taking the test)?
I know I write a lot, so I will stop here. I am open to any suggestions!
