please pitch in .........

[loverboy]

well guys, i'm finally preparing for my ultimate goal.... Anyways my gpa is decent and are preparing for mcat. I'm little tight on moneys..so my friend is helping me out with kaplan preparation tests and all. My question here is ..do u guys think i still take Kaplan prep course...which costs about a $1000 or so.

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[lilninja]

You can apply for financial aid in the form of a scholarship - I think you need tax forms for you and maybe even your parents, if you are dependent. I believe the price is cut substantially (to about $500 I think). I did not take a course (thought it was expensive, and I could not really fit the intensive class into my schedule). I did, however, have all the books for both Kaplan and Hyperlearning, and studied additional textbooks on my own. It all depends on how you study. A lot of people on this site have mentioned how helpful a prep course was.
(you should try searching for MCAT prep - the search function is up top).
hope this helps.

 

[simpleton]

No don't waste your money on the course. If you have some study books you are set. I have some untaken princeton review test with solutions. Private msg me if you are interested.

 

[half_full]

I agree with simpleton. I took the MCAT with just my textbooks, no practice exams, just a bit o' studying and did just fine.

 

[altaskier]

I agree too. There is so much to study that sitting in a class is a waste of time. Get the books, buck down and study. The key is to take practice exams until you are blue in the face.

 

[CoffeeCat]

Check out "going it alone, MCAT" in the everyone section...it's what I plan to do...I think it will place more responsibility on me to learn the material rather than being spoon-fed. Good luck!

 

[rajneel1]

well for me studying on my own was not an option because i would totally slack off. i think you should take a prep course. unless your are super motivated or brilliant on your own, it will be hard to study for the MCAT by yourself.

 

[mpp]

People think that AMCAS is a scam but those test prep courses are even worse. More than a $1,000 for what? A few books and some people that have taken the MCAT before to tell you to get a good nights rest before the test. If they charge a quarter of what they do, they might be worth it.

Study on your own. If you don't know how to study on your own, now is the time to learn. There is no prep course for each exam in medical school.

 

[loverboy]

well.. you guys are owesome, I'm finding some good ppl here. Although I haven't been here for that long, you guys made me feel like home...thanx a bunch for good info...
ohh..new comers,please pith in...thanx

 

[none]

The ONLY way to know if you need a class is to go buy an AAMC test (III, IV or V) and take it completely in one sitting, following all time restrictions.

 

[ccryder]

If you are going to use a AAMC Practice test as the determining factor, I would take test V. I-IV are quite old and not very representative of the current test although, they are still really good practice. I sat the MCAT twice. The first time I studied on my own and got a 30. The second time I took a Kaplan course and my score improved drastically. I credit this improvement to the fact that Kaplan gives its students tons of mini practice tests and fully proctored exams. I would definitely recommend the course. The MCAT is not like any other standardized test and I believe you really need to prepare for the MCAT specific test format.

 

[SMW]

I took the Kaplan course twice (they only charge you a nominal fee the second time around if it's within a certain time period) because I hadn't devoted enough time to studying and practice tests the first time around. The second time I took it in the summer and devoted myself full-time to studying for 2 months before the August MCAT. I liked their study materials, and especially the videos (much better than the actual classes, which I didn't bother with second time, as they put the very best teachers on the videos), and the opportunity to take lots of practice tests. Going over every question I missed on a practice test until I absolutely understood it was the best preparation of all. I could not have done it on my own.

 

[alice]

TAKE KAPLAN!!!
More than the material, which includes some useful study hints, the valuable things are the endless piles of practice tests they have. For me, the best part about Kaplan was that they screened out all the material you needed to know and provided a schedule to follow. I know, Doctors need to have initative and must be able to self-educate. But I figured I'd worry about those little things once I was into med school. It did the trick! I don't know if I'll get in to a million schools, but I've gotten interviews at 75% of the schools I applied to.

 

[USeF]

...they screened out all the material you needed to know and provided a schedule to follow..

completely off-subject, but I remember Pitt telling us at the interview day that this is what they did early in the 90's when they wanted to restructure their entire curriculum. I thought it was brilliant and a testament to the time they must have invested to go through all the material in all the basic science courses to filter out the useless science info.

then there are schools like Pritzker that believe in learning the fundamental underlying principles very well for everything, leading to a physician that can apply these pathways to future encounters with foreign diseases.

what was my point again?