Need Advice: Kaplan vs. Examkrackers prep

[Seatown1]

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Hello everybody,

I'm a newbie here and this is my first post. I am currently a junior undergraduate at a large public university in the United States. At my university we are on the quarter system. Our "Winter" quarter begins in a couple days and ends in late March. I'm planning on giving the MCAT in early April but am open to taking it in May or early June if need be.

In early October I enrolled in a Kaplan MCAT course on campus. With the course came lectures, a "lesson" book for those lectures, 5 books for each subject on the MCAT, and a very useful online resource complete with practice problems and practice exams. On the Kaplan diagnostic I took back in October, I received a 20 without any studying. 🙁 This was disappointing to me because the score isn't great and because I did well in the pre-requisite classes so I expected to do better. But being the diagnostic, I just put it behind me and moved on.

Now the Kaplan course hasn't been very helpful. It's 3 hours, twice per week. It is very difficult to fit in studying the Kaplan material along with 6 hours of class per week with my junior year course load, so I didn't get much done. I've hunkered down for 3 weeks (winter break) and have found the Kaplan books to be extremely long to the point it can take me 2-3 days just to read maybe 5 chapters and do the problems for each (and each book is roughly 16 chapters). Let's just say I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I wanted to.

Over the summer I purchased the Examkrackers MCAT prep and passively studied from that before moving onto Kaplan. I am contemplating switching back over to Examkrackers because the books are much shorter and too the point. I am afraid I will miss some useful information given how much longer the Kaplan books are. I will definitely supplement the Examkrackers material with Kaplan's online resources (practice questions, exams, etc.)

Given that I'm planning on giving the MCAT in ~4 months (with a whole 10 weeks of science course load ahead of me), what advice would you guys give me? Stick with the Kaplan because the books are more dense, or switch over to Examkrackers where I can get through the lectures quickly and hunker down on practice problems sooner?

Any advice would be appreciated. I know there are other threads on several forums with "Kaplan vs. Examkrackers" questions but I felt that making a new thread would allow me to share my current situation. Thanks so much and happy new year!

 

[Seatown1]

I just realized how long my post is so if anybody doesn't want to read through it all, here is a summary:

I am planning on taking the MCAT in 4 months. Would you recommend using Kaplan books + Kaplan online resources or switching to Examkrackers books + Kaplan online resources?

The Kaplan online resources includes plenty of practice problems and practice exams, both from Kaplan and AAMC.

Thanks!

 

[TheShaker]

The general consensus that I've sensed around here is that Kaplan is terrible for MCAT studying. In addition, you need to form a strategy and stick with it. It's hard to stay focused when you're getting sidetracked or constantly changing your methods. I studied during the semester as well and I understand how it can be difficult when schoolwork starts to build up. I suggest that you schedule your MCAT at a date where you have about 1 month of summer break where you can study intensely without excessive obligations.

Go with EK, I did get that uncomfortable feeling of it leaving out a lot of details but it worked out for me. Don't let the thinner books put you off, it's just highly condensed and it will contain all of the information that you will need. The MCAT is more of a test of analysis and critical thinking, you don't need to know the material in every tiny detail to do well. I relied on EK and I felt that I did fine in terms of performance even though I didn't feel too comfortable when I was studying. You need to supplement EK with something that has practice problems and passages though. I don't know anything about Kaplan's practice materials, but I found the TPR science workbook very helpful.

TLDR: I suggest that you stick with EK but whatever you do, stick to a given strategy unless it is completely failing you.

 

[CuttingCorneas]

Neither. Pick BRS instead.

 

[EndersRebutal]

I had both the Kaplan books and the ExamKrackers books with Audio osmosis. Kaplan went into a great deal of detail some of which after taking the test I thought was unnecessary. I really liked Examkrackers because it was short to the point. It really gives you most of what you need to do well on the test. I will say there are some sections you may want to do some extra studying on but for the most part if you only have 4 months I would do Examkrackers. That way you can go through the material twice and still have enough time to study areas you feel weakest on. Also if you can get your hands on Audio Osmosis it can really be helpful.

 

[HopefulSlav]

I've spoken to an anonymous admissions committee member at the University of Mississippi Medical School. She said that Kaplan only has a good marketing campaign while EK is "like Cliff notes for the MCAT". She said that her students scored higher and preferred EK study guides.

I haven't used them but I plan on it.

 

[Marika11]

I've spoken to an anonymous admissions committee member at the University of Mississippi Medical School. She said that Kaplan only has a good marketing campaign while EK is "like Cliff notes for the MCAT". She said that her students scored higher and preferred EK study guides.

I haven't used them but I plan on it.

Could you expand on that a little? Did she say that Kaplan 'just has a good marketing campaign, and isn't actually a good study method?'

 

[gettheleadout]

Moving to MCAT Discussions.

 

[neuro nephrons]

I'm in a similar position. I am going through the kaplan books now (MCAT in june) and I am just reading all of the chapters for a general idea of the material, while taking lots of notes. Throughout the semester, I''ll solidify everything that is in the notes by repetition and then work on EK.

 

[HopefulSlav]

Could you expand on that a little? Did she say that Kaplan 'just has a good marketing campaign, and isn't actually a good study method?'

Yes! She said it explains things in an ineffective manner. She said EK explains things better with less words.

 

[TheNewGuy8]

I also have a question about this. I've been looking at the Student Doctor official 3 month review calender using BR and other resources. I've also just been able to get the full exam kracker 10 week review course complete with audio, video, books, etc.

I like the idea of the 10 week course as it gives me a bit of leeway room and is slightly more structured (not jumping from book to book, etc.).

Is this full 10 week EK review course considered solid? Is this the same one that is being discussed here?