MCAT prep

[Mistress S]

I am planning on taking the August MCAT, and I'm seriously considering taking a review course. I just had a few questions that I hope people who have experience with the MCAT can contribute their $.02 on.
1.) How much time do I need to prepare? Will it be enough to take a review class over the summer, considering that I am taking o-chem and physics now? I know this is different for everyone, but I guess I'm just wondering in general if people spend more than 2 months studying for the MCAT if they have taken all their pre-med reqs fairly recently.
2.) Princeton Review or Kaplan? Or does it matter?
3.) For those of you who took a review course, do you feel it was worth the ridiculous amount of money they charge?
Any other MCAT related tips/advice/input anyone wants to share would be appreciated.

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[specialk]

KAPLAN over the summer is plenty. Study a bunch and do the lessons. You'll do fine.

 

[A1phaZer0]

Just get the books on e-bay, the classes are just repeats of the books and a few tricks, not worth the money. But you can always use one of your friends who took the course and pay the small different to take it again in the same year.

 

[BUmiken12]

My humble opinion:

1. A summer will be plenty of time to prepare as long as your time is spent actually studying for it. No reseach, no classes, no nothin'. Most people (at least here, Baylor) are taking the MCAT this April along with Physics II and O-Chem II, so you should be fine on that aspect. A lot of it has to do with how well you learned the material the first time. If it's going to be review then you're golden, but if you didn't learn it the first time, you'll need more time to learn certain concepts.

2. TPR of Kaplan? Which ever one in your area has the better teachers. Kaplan is known for it's piss-poor teachers here (almost a fourth of the people that took the review course this semester decided to wait to take the MCAT), while TPR is known for its outstanding teachers. The materials are basically the same; both go into too much detail.

3. This, too, is dependent on he person. I think TPR (which is what I'm taking right now) is worth every penny because I see the improvement on my diags. TPR (or any review course) keeps me going; I don't know if I have the discipline to do it on my own. If you do, then Ebay's the way to go...but few people would actually do better by not taking the course. I know 5 or 6 very dedicated students who decided to go solo who haven't done so hot on their diags. On-the-other-hand, I know a couple that are getting 32+ on their diags without taking a review course.

Hope this helps...