Mcat Prep courses?

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

So I've been looking at the Princeton Review one and it's pretty pricey. It's also really early into the year. I'm hoping to take the mcat for the first time after finishing the 90 day method and a prep course my junior summer and then apply my senior summer.
So basically I'm wondering should I avoid doing a course? Should I have already studied hard or prepared for the mcat before taking an mcat prep course? Would it be wise to take the prep course in the spring, study using the 90 day method, and then take the mcat in August? What do you guys think?

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[Erythropoietin]

So I've been looking at the Princeton Review one and it's pretty pricey. It's also really early into the year. I'm hoping to take the mcat for the first time after finishing the 90 day method and a prep course my junior summer and then apply my senior summer.
So basically I'm wondering should I avoid doing a course? Should I have already studied hard or prepared for the mcat before taking an mcat prep course? Would it be wise to take the prep course in the spring, study using the 90 day method, and then take the mcat in August? What do you guys think?

IMO, spending thousands on a prep course is a waste of money unless you did bad in your prereq classes. Check around the forum and see which prep books are best for each subject. TBR is pretty good for the sciences both in terms of content and practice. The TPR workbook that comes with the class is also very useful. Instead of spending all that money on one course, I would spend it all on practice materials and full length exams.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

IMO, spending thousands on a prep course is a waste of money unless you did bad in your prereq classes. Check around the forum and see which prep books are best for each subject. TBR is pretty good for the sciences both in terms of content and practice. The TPR workbook that comes with the class is also very useful. Instead of spending all that money on one course, I would spend it all on practice materials and full length exams.

Yah, I would assume the same, but I feel like having an interactive study session may be enlightening and help you go deeper into some aspects of the material. Or at least help you think of a few topics in different ways.

But yes, I think the prices are completely insane... 3k for a 2 month course. However the other question is on whether or not it would be wise to take a prep course and then to self study for 2 months before taking the actual test?

 

[Erythropoietin]

Yah, I would assume the same, but I feel like having an interactive study session may be enlightening and help you go deeper into some aspects of the material. Or at least help you think of a few topics in different ways.

But yes, I think the prices are completely insane... 3k for a 2 month course. However the other question is on whether or not it would be wise to take a prep course and then to self study for 2 months before taking the actual test?

Yea that should be fine, in the last 2 months you will be able to go through topics quicker since you will be covering them in class..

 

[Scotthoff]

Well to me the class was just too expensive, 3k was just too much. But also the downside of having to go with the speed of the class which could have hurt me in some areas but helped me in others. Instead i just studied for 3 months using prepbooks. It was a lot cheaper, and the results were good enough. I dont know how successful students are after taking these tests, but for 3k they better be pretty damn good.

 

[Erythropoietin]

Well to me the class was just too expensive, 3k was just too much. But also the downside of having to go with the speed of the class which could have hurt me in some areas but helped me in others. Instead i just studied for 3 months using prepbooks. It was a lot cheaper, and the results were good enough. I dont know how successful students are after taking these tests, but for 3k they better be pretty damn good.

i can already tell that 3k was a waste for me.

 

[valkener]

You do not need an expensive course, you need good materials and study them on your own. The advantage of a course like you mentioned can be that you are forced to do some of the work, but in the end your MCAT success will depend on your discipline and the effort you put in.

The smartest way to study is to get the best materials because they don't lose in value. They have great resale value and can be sold for 80-90% after the MCAT. A course will not do much for you! I strongly recommend you check out some of the resources here. Have you read Sn2ed's schedule? It's sticky! Good luck!

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

You do not need an expensive course, you need good materials and study them on your own. The advantage of a course like you mentioned can be that you are forced to do some of the work, but in the end your MCAT success will depend on your discipline and the effort you put in.

The smartest way to study is to get the best materials because they don't lose in value. They have great resale value and can be sold for 80-90% after the MCAT. A course will not do much for you! I strongly recommend you check out some of the resources here. Have you read Sn2ed's schedule? It's sticky! Good luck!

Yah, the 90 day method is what I'll likely be doing over my summer.

 

[Swagster]

You don't need to take an overpriced prep class to do well. I did a modified version of SN2's schedule and it worked out rather nicely. If you know your stuff well, then you can easily study on your own. Taking a class might actually slow you down and waste your time.

 

[Erythropoietin]

You don't need to take an overpriced prep class to do well. I did a modified version of SN2's schedule and it worked out rather nicely. If you know your stuff well, then you can easily study on your own. Taking a class might actually slow you down and waste your time.

This is true. The schedule they give you in the prep classes might stress you out and start to panic since you have other stuff (classes, work, etc.) going on.