Do you think you need to be taught everything, or do you think that you need more practice time on your own. Not that it is as simple as that, but that's probably the best way to think about it. I'm taking Kaplan, so I don't know much about the TPR stuff. Now that I have seen what the course is like, I am glad I am in Kaplan because I would not want to be sitting in class for another 50 hours more than I did with Kaplan. Even if TPR has better teaching, I just don't benefit much from classroom instruction. I seriously feel like at least 95% of the time I spent in the classroom was wasted and I could have been learning more on my own. Depending on how much you already know and how well you can learn on your own, you may feel like the classroom time is important for you. I've also heard that the teaching varies widely from place to place. What I will say is that I could teach the class better than my teacher. I think Kaplan doesn't make it tough enough on the teachers because they basically just give them a sheet with the day's lesson on it and then the teachers just go through the lesson exactly as it is planned out on their sheet. This basically means that they don't have to really know the material, they only need to know what is on the sheet. So if you have a question that is not included in the lesson for the day, forget about it. And the problem is, no matter how high these people scored on the MCAT, a lot of them are 1 or 2 years removed from studying at a minimum. How much do they really remember when all they are required to learn is what is on the lesson sheet? I'm not sure if TPR is tougher on the teachers, but again, this probably varies widely from place to place. But I have definitely enjoyed all of the materials, and if you decide for yourself that you are going to make the most of what they provide for you, I think Kaplan is a very useful tool. You will have access to about 15-17 practice tests, 45 topical tests (MCAT style tests for each topic in the review notes), around 30 section tests (total for PS, VR, and BS) and then some other stuff that I didn't find as useful. But at any rate, that is a ton of material. I'm not sure what TPR gives, but I have heard that it is also quite abundant, although slightly less than what Kaplan provides. Not sure how it is organized, either. And I think the flashcards are good (not overly important, but nice to have when you are on the go) and there is a formula sheet which basically tells you exactly what you should remember and what will be provided for you (you can probably find that somewhere else). I like the stuff they taught us about the writing sample too, but that is definitely not worth taking a class for, just thought I would throw that in since I'm trying to think of everything I can. In all, I'm happy with Kaplan. It has been everything I expected and it's nice to have so many practice tests at my disposal. I think if I had it to do over again I would still choose Kaplan, but that is mostly because I don't like class time very much. I think I can learn more on my own in 50 hours than I could possibly be taught in an extra 50 hours of class time. But if I had come into this class expecting to be taught a lot in class, I would probably be quite disappointed in what I have learned from Kaplan because the classroom lessons have not been very impressive to me. If you think you want to learn more from the teaching in the course, TPR is probably the best choice for you. I'm tired from all this rambling and I can't think of much else to add. So if you think of any other questions let me know. PM me or just ask on here.
