Paying for Kaplan Prep??

[sistahnik]

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I have been trying to put a plan of action together toward prepping for the MCAT and I am on the brink of deciding to take a prep course. Well, I have to really make a decision on how I will pay for this class and find the right resources to get the money. I just wanted to get a consensus of how you all paid for the prep course and what kind of ideas you came up with to get the ball rolling. I appreciate any and all comments given, thanks. 🙂
By the way, I have come up with a couple of ideas that can be utilized to raise money, so I am on it. But like I said, I just wanted to get a feel for what options are available that I hadn't considered yet. 👍

 

[Depakote]

I have been trying to put a plan of action together toward prepping for the MCAT and I am on the brink of deciding to take a prep course. Well, I have to really make a decision on how I will pay for this class and find the right resources to get the money. I just wanted to get a consensus of how you all paid for the prep course and what kind of ideas you came up with to get the ball rolling. I appreciate any and all comments given, thanks. 🙂
By the way, I have come up with a couple of ideas that can be utilized to raise money, so I am on it. But like I said, I just wanted to get a feel for what options are available that I hadn't considered yet. 👍

Most people will tell you it's a waste of money, but I thought it was worth it. If I were going to be taking a computer based test, I'd especially want to use a prep course to help strategize for that.

Just my opinion.

EDIT: Plus, the test bank was incredibly helpful. Even if you decide not to take the class, consider paying to use the materials they have at their disposal. You're going to need a lot of exposure to the mateial and a lot of practice before taking the MCAT.

 

[RDood]

Whenever people ask me whether or not to take an MCAT prep class, I tell them if the money is a hardship, don't but otherwise it's a good idea. They're great for keeping you on track, or good if there's material on the MCAT you hadn't gotten in classes yet (for me it was anatomy). But, if you need to go through great lengths to fund-raise, I would say that you're probably a really on-track kind of person and may find that there are plenty of good books and resources you could get for a lot cheaper, and would be a better use of your time.
Just make sure you do plenty of "test-runs" on a Saturday, with old tests.

 

[WantsThisBad]

Most people will tell you it's a waste of money, but I thought it was worth it. If I were going to be taking a computer based test, I'd especially want to use a prep course to help strategize for that.

Just my opinion.

EDIT: Plus, the test bank was incredibly helpful. Even if you decide not to take the class, consider paying to use the materials they have at their disposal. You're going to need a lot of exposure to the mateial and a lot of practice before taking the MCAT.

In the prep class do you take tests that predict your score on the actual MCAT?

 

[RDood]

In the prep class do you take tests that predict your score on the actual MCAT?

They have old exams, as well as some fictional ones that were assembled for correct lenght/difficulty. They help predict your score somewhat, but maybe down to a range within +/- 4 points (that's an 8 point spread). For example, on the real MCAT, I scored 3 points better than my highest practice score ever, and 6 points higher than my running average.

 

[sistahnik]

Thanks Depakote and RDood. I do believe that it may be worth it because I do need the structure and at least with the class I will have a study plan to follow for each day of the week. I mean, yea I could study on my own but I just don't want to miss anything if my plan is incomplete. I don't know maybe I'm thinking to hard about it, but I just know me and my work schedule will be a hand full. I wouldn't say hardship, but I don't have 1645 laying around as of right now, but I was just thinking of using whatever resources I could to fund it.

 

[AMcD3]

I went with the old fashioned way and put in on my credit card, i don't just keep $1600 around for the heck of it. The class was good for me b/c I was working full time, and hadn't had general chem and physics in 4 years and ochem in about 3. It helped refresh the concepts and helped me to focus my studying, which was key with a limited schedule. Of course, you only get out what you put in.

As for the practice test being predictive WANTSTHISBAD, it was fairly close for me. I scored 1 point higher on test day than I had on my best practice test.

I had a positive Kaplan experience, great teacher, did well on the test, etc. But studying is a very individualized process, so don't feel that you have to take a prep class to do well.

 

[rachmoninov3]

I took Kaplan and will say that it was worth it (went from a 26 to a 31), but I had to take a semester off to pay for the damn thing (it was either kaplan or university tuition.)

 

[sistahnik]

See I can't afford to take a semester off of school so I am trying to plan ahead so that I will have enough money. I have had some ppl tell me that they will donate $50-100 to the cause so I think that I will successful in obtaining the money for the course. I was just trying to see if others had the same feeling as myself to come up with the money. I also work and I will probably need to review physics and bio myself so I am looking forward to some type of structured plan. Thanks guys!!

 

[Tribeca]

See I can't afford to take a semester off of school so I am trying to plan ahead so that I will have enough money. I have had some ppl tell me that they will donate $50-100 to the cause so I think that I will successful in obtaining the money for the course. I was just trying to see if others had the same feeling as myself to come up with the money. I also work and I will probably need to review physics and bio myself so I am looking forward to some type of structured plan. Thanks guys!!

At a recent pre-med conference at my state med school, the financial aid officer gave the idea of asking relatives and friends to buy your textbooks or pay for part of your tuition instead of birthday and Christmas gifts. I recently sent out a "Birthday Wish List" to my family to help me pay for this fall's expenses. I sent them the list of my textbooks and how much they were and gave them the option to pay 10-20% of my tuition. I had a good response. My folks gave me more than what I asked for. I guess it helped for them to see how much I spend for my classes. I gave them a link to my MDApps profile so they can see my progress in the future and see that all the money they're helping me with is for a good cause. You could do this for the Kaplan course. Just ask them to pay for a percentage of the cost. It all adds up eventually. Later on, you could give them an update on your practice test scores and your actual score.

 

[CTtarheel]

I did fine without the prep class, but if I had to do it over again I would have taken one. At the very least it defnitely helps keeping you motivated to study, which can be a little difficult to do on your own during the summer.

 

[defrunner]

When I took the Princeton Review, I couldn't afford to pay it all at once so they put me on an "extended pay plan" program, in which I would pay a few hundred dollars per month until I paid it off. It was still really expensive but if you're like me and you need that kind of structured environment to force you to learn in class a few hours at a time and have homework requirements so you do the work, it's worth the money. If you don't need it, then you are better off just buying the materials directly from the prep class (much cheaper than the in-class stuff) and/or stuff you can get elsewhere. It all depends on what your needs are. There really is no wrong way to go about studying for the MCAT -- the key is, of course, to study for the MCAT. It sounds like you're pretty on the ball about this, so just keep your focus, do what you can and you will be fine.

 

[BrownianMotion]

you could start workin for either kaplan or TPR...in my experiences, after teaching one SAT class, i was granted access to their mcat materials to study wit it and sit in the classes...

 

[Depakote]

In the prep class do you take tests that predict your score on the actual MCAT?

I scored 5 points higher than my highest practice... ^_^

 

[notdeadyet]

I do need the structure and at least with the class I will have a study plan to follow for each day of the week. I mean, yea I could study on my own but I just don't want to miss anything if my plan is incomplete.

Needing structure would be the only reason I'd recommend a prep class. If you can stay on top of it on your own and money's tight, I'd recommend going that route.

But DO NOT take a prep class if the only way to fund it will be to work so many hours that you can not devote adequate time to the class. There are lots of folks who take Kaplan and TPR classes thinking they'll pick something up by osmosis. You won't.

I actually dropped my TPR class because I figured I could do as well on my own and (more importantly) there were so many hours of meetings that I wouldn't have time to study independently.

 

[MrMet31]

Kaplan was great. The class itself was stupid and sucked but it kept me on top of all the studying I needed to do. I got a great score and thats all I cared about. So if you are someone who needs the constant motivation and prodding to studying, then its worth the money.

 

[Anastasis]

You were wondering about funding: The only idea I can think of is to see if you can get one of those no APR credit cards (for like 6 months) and put it on there. That way you don't need to deal with the eleventy-billion% interest on some credit cards

 

[sistahnik]

You guys have stated some pretty good cases and I was thinking exactly some of the same things. I do believe that I could do the study schedule on my own but I also believe that I would probably deviate from it at times because of lack of motivation or confidence. 🙄 The idea of asking family/friends to support the cause is the route I intended to go and I have already gotten that initial support from some of them by them giving me their word that they would give financial support. I'm not sure what time I would have to work for the prep course as I am still in school and I would just be fishing for time to do anything. I didn't know that they actually did payment plans and things like that so I will be checking into that, thanks. I will also check into getting a credit card, 🙄 Not sure how that will work out though!!
Thank you so much for your replys and yes I am on top of it early because I need to know what I will be doing in the next couple of months to prep for the test.

 

[peterpansy]

you could start workin for either kaplan or TPR...in my experiences, after teaching one SAT class, i was granted access to their mcat materials to study wit it and sit in the classes...

This is a great way for you to get free access to materials AND make some money. Have to warn you though, the teacher training for Kaplan takes a while, and you still would have to make your own study schedule, but at least you'll have a syllabus to follow, which would make studying a lot easier. And you can watch the lessons online. It's a pretty good idea.

 

[sistahnik]

Don't you have to be sort of an expert or at least know the material on these subjects well enough (w/o struggling) to teach them to someone else?
I found a couple of other options for the prep on the kaplan website. They have this program package that includes a syllabus to follow every week, practice tests that mimic the CBT exam, 2 CD-Roms with practice exams on them, and some other things as well. This package only costs 80.00 and you have access for months I believe. There's also an online science review course that costs $499 and I guess you have access to the same things as if you were in the live class. Now these are some pretty good options seeing that I could come up with my own schedule based on the books and materials that they provide you with. 😀 (nice idea) The online class costs just as much as the live class ($1499), so if I pay for that I might as well take the live one.

 

[sunset823]

I have been trying to put a plan of action together toward prepping for the MCAT and I am on the brink of deciding to take a prep course. Well, I have to really make a decision on how I will pay for this class and find the right resources to get the money. I just wanted to get a consensus of how you all paid for the prep course and what kind of ideas you came up with to get the ball rolling. I appreciate any and all comments given, thanks. 🙂
By the way, I have come up with a couple of ideas that can be utilized to raise money, so I am on it. But like I said, I just wanted to get a feel for what options are available that I hadn't considered yet. 👍

I took Kaplan, and I'm taking the MCAT on Saturday. I can tell you that I've been away from the material for a while, and the biggest help has been the access to the online/supplementary material. I went up 13 points from my diagnostic to my latest practice exam. I guess I can't tell you for sure until the real thing, but I think it's worth it. Also, I HATE spending money on prep classes, I'm really cheap in general, but if there's any exam where you need the boost, this is it.

 

[peterpansy]

Don't you have to be sort of an expert or at least know the material on these subjects well enough (w/o struggling) to teach them to someone else?
I found a couple of other options for the prep on the kaplan website. They have this program package that includes a syllabus to follow every week, practice tests that mimic the CBT exam, 2 CD-Roms with practice exams on them, and some other things as well. This package only costs 80.00 and you have access for months I believe. There's also an online science review course that costs $499 and I guess you have access to the same things as if you were in the live class. Now these are some pretty good options seeing that I could come up with my own schedule based on the books and materials that they provide you with. 😀 (nice idea) The online class costs just as much as the live class ($1499), so if I pay for that I might as well take the live one.

You could teach the SAT's and get access to the MCAT study materials. Look carefully at the packages to make sure you get access to enough practice materials. I don't think the science review includes practice tests, but I'm not sure. Good job looking at all your options by the way, keep at it!!

 

[jsnuka]

Send me a PM after Saturday. It could be Saturday night in fact, and we can talk about this and some other options for you.

 

[BrownianMotion]

Don't you have to be sort of an expert or at least know the material on these subjects well enough (w/o struggling) to teach them to someone else?
I found a couple of other options for the prep on the kaplan website. They have this program package that includes a syllabus to follow every week, practice tests that mimic the CBT exam, 2 CD-Roms with practice exams on them, and some other things as well. This package only costs 80.00 and you have access for months I believe. There's also an online science review course that costs $499 and I guess you have access to the same things as if you were in the live class. Now these are some pretty good options seeing that I could come up with my own schedule based on the books and materials that they provide you with. 😀 (nice idea) The online class costs just as much as the live class ($1499), so if I pay for that I might as well take the live one.

you jus hav to score like 90th percentile to teach(for SAT, i believe its like 1320ish) and be half-way a decent public speaker, its not hard at all, you can PM if you hav any specific questions...(if you do decide to teach, lemme kno before you begin, i may be able to get a referral bonus, hehe)
thanks

 

[sistahnik]

Thanks guys for renewing my confidence in making choices!! 😀 I really appreciate the fact that you all took time to give me your advice!
jnuska I will PM you next wee. 🙂 Thanks.

Thanks Bilal, I will be considering that. 😀