Alternate view - I took a Kaplan class for the old MCAT and I actually found the strategies from the Kaplan class enormously helpful, especially for the verbal section. I think I probably was a pretty good critical reader at baseline (800 on the SAT) but really struggled with staying focused through the MCAT passages - I think my practice test verbal score was like a 9 initially. Once I started using their strategies, I consistently scored a 13 from my second or third practice test through to the actual test. Strategies were probably less obviously helpful for me for physical sciences and bio, but I also only had two months to study and it helped me to have the structure of a class to help me be disciplined about studying every day and manage which topics to study each day - I guess it took the time out of study planning for me so I could just focus on learning/reviewing and not looking up strategies on SDN or something. Also I probably never would have gone back and reviewed my practice tests in as much detail as I did if not for Kaplan's advice. These are all things you could probably do on your own with enough discipline too, but it's just easier to have a class tell you about all of the strategy stuff so you can focus on learning content rather than researching strategy. I was also fortunate to have parents who could afford to pay for the class and enough college credits that I could be part time that quarter (and thus actually saved my parents money since this class is cheaper than even a single course at my school) and recognize that for some it might be much more of a financial hardship, in which case I'm not sure the class is THAT much more of a value add. For what it's worth though, I fully attribute my eventual score (37) to the class and think I probably would've scored in the 34ish range if I had self studied.
