MCAT Course

[adriano710]

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I will be taking an MCAT prep course my spring semester to prepare to take May 2015 MCAT next year. I'll be taking the course along with clinical immune (3 credits), a required science writing class (2 credits), and an easy research internship (3 credits).

So with this light schedule, I will be taking an MCAT course. Which course shall I take, Kaplan or Princeton? Also figuring out if it's worth taking 1 on 1 course which is a hefty $3500 ($1500 more than class course).

Any insight would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[987234]

Not sure how things will be with the new MCAT but I really liked the Princeton Review hyperlearning online course which I believe was around $1300+. The online lessons/lectures all get recorded so you can study at your own pace and focus on your weak areas. If you attend class "live" you can also ask questions in a type-box or using a microphone. Unlike Kaplan, TPR has different teachers for each subject so you get a variety of teaching styles and can avoid getting stuck with a single teacher whose style doesn't work for you.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I would absolutely suggest to do SN2 over any prep course. You need to learn how to sit down and study this crap. Its not like you are going to get prep courses for all of your exams in med school you know? You will have seen everything that could possibly be on the test (through undergrad). All you need to do to supplement it is by getting a hold of the examkrackers math and verbal strategy book which teaches you how to do MCAT math in your head. I took the princeton hyperlearning prep course and I never felt like I wasted more money in my entire life. The thing is that I know I personally went in expecting that they were going to teach some "magic" MCAT strategy that would help carry me through and really give me that leg up on those poor suckers who couldnt afford or werent serious enough to take a prep course. I could not have been farther from the truth. I realized that the best way to do well is to just do mountains of practice problems. Thats how the folkes in med school do it for the USMLE and COMLEX, thats how pre-meds should study for the MCAT. I wish I had known instead of burning 1500$. You have to just sit down for 8 weeks and do hours and hours of practice passages under timed conditions. Go through all of your answers in detail to figure out any holes in your knowledge. Do tons of full passages to get your speed down. Thats it.... It just takes hundreds of hours of dedicated time where you are beating it into your head. The passages will get easier, you will get more stamina and speed, and then you are ready. Fun, crazy strategies that Princeton and Kaplan come up with market really well, but in the end they take away from what you are doing - taking a test. Just practice a lot, then take the test.

Now my rant aside, the books that Princeton uses are really solid - they are not as deep as like Berkeley, but in ways that is good. And they are not babied down like Kaplan or Examkrackers. So get yourself the Princeton hyperlearning books. Get the 101 verbal book from EK, and get the math and verbal strategy book from EK. Do every problem in every book and do all of the AAMC practice tests. That is all that you need.

However, if you do choose to not heed my advice (as I would not have a couple years ago because I thought I knew best and was brain washed by friends who were taking prep courses), I would agree that the TPR prep course is better than Kaplan is so many ways.

I am 100% confident that if I had gone in with the attitude that I have now and with the knowledge about the test (ie needing practice problems, not some fancy course). I would have scored 4+ points higher. But as it stands I got a good enough score to get into school and plan on taking this knowledge with me as I battle the COMLEX and USMLE a couple years from now.

 

[Lost Vagus]

I was actually a huge fan of the Kaplan course. The actual course itself was fine, I did an on campus in person 2 month course that went over a workbook. The best thing about Kaplan is that every course gives access to an online "virtual classroom" that offers something like 16 full length exams, and 15 individual Verbal, PS and BS sections. There's also a Q bank with a few thousand questions that I would sometimes graze through. Kaplan was the most convenient prep option for me because the class was taught during the summer at my university. Berkeley and Princeton didn't offer an in person course in my city, so I went with Kaplan.

It's going to be a personal preference. Most of the big name prep companies are going to do a fine job reviewing material. My biggest thing was simulating test day, and I ended up taking all 16 full length exams. I'm pretty excited because KCUMB is actually offering free Kaplan COMLEX courses to all students this year so I'm glad I am already familiar with their format and teaching style.

Do what is affordable and convenient for you. I liked having a structured class with lectures 3 days a week. That isn't something everyone would like. Up to you.

Edit: I didn't see that you were thinking about doing a 1v1 course. I have no idea what that would be like, but $3,500 is a ton of money. My best advice is to take the classroom course and then see how you do on the MCAT. I'm not sure what the policy is for the other companies, but I know Kaplan allows you to retake the prep course again if you are unhappy with your score, or they will offer a refund. I'm sure the other companies have some kind of policy that is similar. You can always pay for 1v1 tutoring after you take the exam once.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

I would absolutely suggest to do SN2 over any prep course. You need to learn how to sit down and study this crap. Its not like you are going to get prep courses for all of your exams in med school you know? You will have seen everything that could possibly be on the test (through undergrad). All you need to do to supplement it is by getting a hold of the examkrackers math and verbal strategy book which teaches you how to do MCAT math in your head. I took the princeton hyperlearning prep course and I never felt like I wasted more money in my entire life. The thing is that I know I personally went in expecting that they were going to teach some "magic" MCAT strategy that would help carry me through and really give me that leg up on those poor suckers who couldnt afford or werent serious enough to take a prep course. I could not have been farther from the truth. I realized that the best way to do well is to just do mountains of practice problems. Thats how the folkes in med school do it for the USMLE and COMLEX, thats how pre-meds should study for the MCAT. I wish I had known instead of burning 1500$. You have to just sit down for 8 weeks and do hours and hours of practice passages under timed conditions. Go through all of your answers in detail to figure out any holes in your knowledge. Do tons of full passages to get your speed down. Thats it.... It just takes hundreds of hours of dedicated time where you are beating it into your head. The passages will get easier, you will get more stamina and speed, and then you are ready. Fun, crazy strategies that Princeton and Kaplan come up with market really well, but in the end they take away from what you are doing - taking a test. Just practice a lot, then take the test.

Now my rant aside, the books that Princeton uses are really solid - they are not as deep as like Berkeley, but in ways that is good. And they are not babied down like Kaplan or Examkrackers. So get yourself the Princeton hyperlearning books. Get the 101 verbal book from EK, and get the math and verbal strategy book from EK. Do every problem in every book and do all of the AAMC practice tests. That is all that you need.

However, if you do choose to not heed my advice (as I would not have a couple years ago because I thought I knew best and was brain washed by friends who were taking prep courses), I would agree that the TPR prep course is better than Kaplan is so many ways.

Couldn't agree more about self studying instead of a course. I burned 4 grand on an mcat course. At the end of the course my mcat went from a 15 to a 19. That cost me 4 grand. After self studying my score went up a ton.

As far as courses go I like the examkrackers stuff the most.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I was actually a huge fan of the Kaplan course. The actual course itself was fine, I did an on campus in person 2 month course that went over a workbook. The best thing about Kaplan is that every course gives access to an online "virtual classroom" that offers something like 16 full length exams, and 15 individual Verbal, PS and BS sections. There's also a Q bank with a few thousand questions that I would sometimes graze through. Kaplan was the most convenient prep option for me, because the class was taught during the summer at my university. Berkeley and Princeton didn't offer an in person course in my city, so I went with Kaplan.

It's going to be a personal preference. Most of the big name prep companies are going to do a fine job reviewing material. My biggest thing was simulating test day, and I ended up taking all 16 full length exams. I'm pretty excited because KCUMB is actually offering free Kaplan COMLEX courses to all students this year so I'm glad I am already familiar with their format and teaching style.

Do what is affordable and convenient for you. I liked having a structured class with lectures 3 days a week. That isn't something everyone would like. Up to you.

Ok here is the one thing I would agree with, with the prep courses. They do offer a lot of practice tests and the practice problems (though I felt that mine were wayyy too repetitive). So if for nothing else, if you go in with the mindset that you are paying for the course for its practice problems, you will do better than sitting by for 2 months waiting for some magical MCAT epiphany to occur that will solve all of your low scores heh.

It takes plain old hard work.

 

[Lost Vagus]

I agree it takes hard work. That's why I went to every lecture, did all the required readings, and took all 16 practice mcats. Some people can do just as well studying on their own, but I like structure and I had the money to pay for a course. I did it purely out of convenience. $2,000 helped raise my score big time and it got me into med school. I can't complain about that.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Couldn't agree more about self studying instead of a course. I burned 4 grand on an mcat course. At the end of the course my mcat went from a 15 to a 19. That cost me 4 grand. After self studying my score went up a ton.

As far as courses go I like the examkrackers stuff the most.

Yea especially if you already have a strong background in stuff, EK is definitely very solid. It is minimalistic in nature which helps you focus on the test. If you are a little less knowledgeable on certain subjects and/or rusty then Princeton provides a little more meat to it. Berkeley is like way too detailed in my opinion. If you have the time, there are tons of challenging problems in there, but most people just simply dont have the time and money. Being the prepared little bugger than I am, I actually had the entire sets for Princeton, Berkeley, and EK, and half of Kaplan (some given, some bought). So I am not just shouting random propaganda on here. These are obviously just my opinions, but they are opinions gained from experience using all of these materials.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I agree it takes hard work. That's why I went to every lecture, did all the required readings, and took all 16 practice mcats. Some people can do just as well studying on their own, but I like structure and I had the money to pay for a course. I did it purely out of convenience. $2,000 helped raise my score big time and it got me into med school. I can't complain about that.

Sure, and I can absolutely agree on the structure. It definitely it set up a little more like a college course or something, which is surely helpful no doubt. So sure if you have the money laying around, why the heck not. But I am absolutely trying to push the idea that a course does not make your score, time dedicated to your craft makes your score. So I do think it would depend on the OP's situation for sure.

 

[adriano710]

I agree it takes hard work. That's why I went to every lecture, did all the required readings, and took all 16 practice mcats. Some people can do just as well studying on their own, but I like structure and I had the money to pay for a course. I did it purely out of convenience. $2,000 helped raise my score big time and it got me into med school. I can't complain about that.

I'm leaning towards Kaplan course - either 1 on 1 tutoring course for $3500 or class course for $2000. I also like structure and following a certain protocol to study.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Yea especially if you already have a strong background in stuff, EK is definitely very solid. It is minimalistic in nature which helps you focus on the test. If you are a little less knowledgeable on certain subjects and/or rusty then Princeton provides a little more meat to it. Berkeley is like way too detailed in my opinion. If you have the time, there are tons of challenging problems in there, but most people just simply dont have the time and money. Being the prepared little bugger than I am, I actually had the entire sets for Princeton, Berkeley, and EK, and half of Kaplan (some given, some bought). So I am not just shouting random propaganda on here. These are obviously just my opinions, but they are opinions gained from experience using all of these materials.

I like ek because it is so minimal. It's perfect if you have a good background. You can't remember everything in Berkley.

But to be honest I didn't study so much. I had a good background just did the questions on all the aamc tests and made flashcards and memorized the formulas. I guess I kinda winged the mcat. I did ok I guess. Not a good statergy though

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

I'm leaning towards Kaplan course - either 1 on 1 tutoring course for $3500 or class course for $2000. I also like structure and following a certain protocol to study.

Sn2 gives you structure. Kaplan also has a bad verbal start. They focus on details and not the main idea

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Sn2 gives you structure. Kaplan also has a bad verbal start. They focus on details and not the main idea

EXACTLY.... I mean you have the same type of control/choice when waking up to skip out on your tutor/class as you do to sit down and look at the SN2 calendar and do the required readings and problem sets. Its a mapped out, day by day setup.

 

[Mehd School]

I took a Kaplan course and I think I'd do it again. I got lucky and had an A+ instructor though. He made all the difference. You probably won't be as lucky.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

I took a Kaplan course and I think I'd do it again. I got lucky and had an A+ instructor though. He made all the difference. You probably won't be as lucky.

There is actually a lot of truth to that. Most likely if you do take a course the instructor makes a big difference. However you can't know which course is going to have the better instructor in your area

 

[Mehd School]

There is actually a lot of truth to that. Most likely if you do take a course the instructor makes a big difference. However you can't know which course is going to have the better instructor in your area

If it helps, my instructor actually authored the entire course. I took the advanced course where you have to score a 27 on a practice to qualify (psst...you don't have to score crap.) It just moved a little faster and assumed you had some basic scientific knowledge. I wouldn't take kaplan advanced if you haven't had the courses recently.

My instructor taught SPECIFICALLY for AAMC materials. It was gold.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I took a Kaplan course and I think I'd do it again. I got lucky and had an A+ instructor though. He made all the difference. You probably won't be as lucky.

Yea half of my princeton review instructors were amazing. The other half were horrible at teaching. One was so pompous and annoying I literally stopped listening to her. I followed along with the little screen thing online but I just put her on mute.