MCAT Prep

[uniqueseraph]

Hey guys! Post your MCAT scores here and if they are 30 or above, please give me some advice. What books did you use, etc.? Did you take TPR or Kaplan's class? And, what are your GPAs like?

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[gobears]

Hey, I'm an MCAT teacher for Kaplan, so of course I'm going to plug Kaplan. My honest opinion is that it really doesn't matter what course you take. The class itself isn't going to get you that 30+; you have to earn it yourself. I would highly recommend Kaplan or Princeton Review though.

If you're deciding between Kaplan and PR, you should find out how those are in your area, because they definitely differ depending on where you're from. If you're not sure, it would be safer to take Kaplan because they're such a larger company with much more resources. I even heard there's a lawsuit going on with Kaplan suing PR for stealing Kaplan's study materials. I don't know if that's true or not, but it doesn't reflect too highly on PR.

Anyway, don't think of the test as this ridiculous 8 hour test you have to survive to get into medical school. Think of it as an opportunity. This is your opportunity to distinguish yourself from the other thousands of applicants.

Good luck!

 

[JoshD]

Hi. I graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Biology in December of 1996. My GPA was a 3.23. I took the Kaplan course last year, took the April MCAT and scored a 31. 12B, 9P, 10V

If you put the effort into any course, whether it be Kaplan or PR, I would say you should increase your score. Prep courses are only what you make of them.

Josh
KCOM Class of 2006

 

[brandonite]

If you want my opinion, forget about the courses. A better plan is to buy both the TPR and Kaplan books, read both of them, and do the practice problems. The best thing you can do is to work on the AAMC tests. Neither the Kaplan nor the TPR tests are very authentic, compared to the actual MCATs.

A course is only useful if you can't study independently, and need some focus. If you can study independently, then it's just a waste of a lot of money. If you do it on your own, you can focus on the areas you really need help in. You can't do that with a course.

But, that's just my opinion. Good luck!

 

[Logan]

Go with the examkrackers - got me a 30+, but it depends on how much self disc you have. I actually took the Kaplan class, but stopped going to study on my own (what a waste of money - the books and tests are useful though). If you can do this on your own, dont take the class, if you need someone telling you what to do - take the class.

 

[penelope]

The thing that helped me the most were full-length practice exams. Get your hands on as many as possible. I did about 12, I think. A good piece of advice I got was that if you're planning to run a 10K, sprinting a couple of hundred yards each day isn't going to prepare you - you have to actually run 10K's. (Cheezy, I know, sorry.) I have a hard time concentrating at a desk for 9 hours straight (and they don't let you take snacks into the exam room ) so I needed to "train" for that. Good luck.