Prep course or self study?

[n00b]

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How many friends do you have that took the MCAT?
/
How many of them took a prep course?

 

[n00b]

How many friends do you have that took the MCAT?
/
How many of them took a prep course?

To answer my own question, I went through the 30+ MCAT study habits??? thread and about 20% of people took a course. Seems like a course is something you do if you have trouble finding the discipline to take the time to study on your own and you have a spare $1500 lying around - but not really worth it otherwise.

 

[Mkitties]

I read somewhere that around 75% of test takers take some kind of formal MCAT prep course. I, myself have taken two, TPR then Berkeley Review. Honestly, I thought the TPR review books were great, but the classes were totally BS. I thought the complete opposite for Berkeley. Their books and exams are way too intense, but the teachers are great. I learned a lot of factual knowledge as well as good test taking skills. I also have to admit that they teach you way more than necessary but overall I thought it was more worth while than TPR. Side note, I also tried out Kaplan for about two weeks, but the teachers in my local area suck. A few of the teachers were actually my classmates. Overall, I think it really depends on which area you're gonna take the classes. You're better off asking ppl who had the same teachers you're gonna have b/c that makes a big difference.

 

[n00b]

75%?! Really?! Wow. Can anyone else verify that?

My take is that courses are not going to cover anything that you can't find in books (from the same companies!), so they're only good for ensuring that you study in a disciplined and consistent manner. However, when I'm getting ready for the test I doubt I'll have any problems motivating myself to study hard considering this will be the most important academic test of my life.

However, my fear is that the instructor will give me some tidbits I will not learn on my own and in effect raise my score by a few points. If "everyone" else takes a course I will stand at a disadvantage to those people.

I'm still leaning towards self-study when the time comes, but if it turns out the 75% figure is correct I may have to throw on my lemming costume and join.

P.S. Regarding classmates teaching the course, I guess that makes sense since who else could teach them? Med-students? Hardly, they're way too busy. Doctors? Riiiiiight...

 

[Mkitties]

P.S. Regarding classmates teaching the course, I guess that makes sense since who else could teach them? Med-students? Hardly, they're way too busy. Doctors? Riiiiiight...

I agree that doctors and med-students probably don't have the time to teach MCAT prep classes, but I also don't think most recent graduates with just a bachelors are qualified to teach these classes. I would think they should at least have a masters or some kind of prior teaching experience.

 

[DrBowtie]

I have heard of pre MS1's teaching the summer prep courses. Also in the Allo forum they were discussing jobs and a few have said that they did teach a couple courses during school. The best thing would be find out who will be teaching it before you sign up (I dunno if it it possible, but I think it seems logical).

 

[n00b]

I went to an info session the other day and asked some seniors what they had done. This may have been a biased sample, but 5 out of the 8 people there had taken prep courses. I'm at a decent school (Cornell), so I don't know if it's different at the very top schools or the lower ranked schools.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

 

[j8131]

You want to be taught by someone who has recent experience with studying and taking the MCAT. I think a premed or M1 with teaching exp. is ideal--well, next to someone who's been doing it a while.

I didn't take a course and some people find that shocking. I can see the benefits--instructor for questions, mock tests, help with motivation. I can also see the drawbacks--high cost, unproductive class time taking away from studying, stress fueled by being around other stressed MCATers.

I guess it depends on the person. But whatever you do, supplement your course's materials with Examkrackers, cause their stuff is great.

 

[Scrub MD]

To answer my own question, I went through the 30+ MCAT study habits??? thread and about 20% of people took a course. Seems like a course is something you do if you have trouble finding the discipline to take the time to study on your own and you have a spare $1500 lying around - but not really worth it otherwise.

I noticed that also. I am against prep courses, lots of useful info and overkill on things you most likely know. I think it is better to study how you study best with the materials you learn best with.

 

[QofQuimica]

I have heard of pre MS1's teaching the summer prep courses. Also in the Allo forum they were discussing jobs and a few have said that they did teach a couple courses during school. The best thing would be find out who will be teaching it before you sign up (I dunno if it it possible, but I think it seems logical).

I agree with this advice. Teachers DO affect your course experience significantly. As to who is teaching, it runs the gamut from college students (usually college seniors) to medical students to other oddballs like me (I'm a grad student) and Shrike (he teaches prep courses full-time). Please try not to pre-judge your instructor based on his/her age; there are some college students who are phenomenal teachers, and some PhDs who aren't. (I know you've all had profs in college who are brilliant in their fields, but can't teach to save their lives!) But all else being equal, I'd definitely recommend going with the most experienced instructor that you can find.

 

[Lindyhopper]

. . .My take is that courses are not going to cover anything that you can't find in books (from the same companies!), so they're only good for ensuring that you study in a disciplined and consistent manner. . .

You can say that about pretty much every class you have ever taken. After banging my head against the books all day, I find real value in having things explained.

 

[Ifellinapothole]

How many friends do you have that took the MCAT?
/
How many of them took a prep course?

PLEASE LISTEN TO ME:

DO NOT TAKE A PREP COURSE. SAVE YOURSELF $1500.

Everything associated with those prep courses is a total wast of time. The instruction is often sub-par, the commute to and from centers wasted time, your classmates stupid questions waste time.... I can't say this more emphatically DO NOT TAKE A PREP COURSE.

BUY THE EXAM KRACKER BOOKS (The set for $300) and study using those. MUCH MUCH BETTER. They have practice full lengths as well.

The ONLY thing you get from those prep courses is MANY full lenghts. However, you don't have time to do all of them anyway. And if you are super psycho and feel the need to do that many full lenghts get one of your friends who is taking one of those courses to burn the full lenghts onto a disk.

DO NOT TAKE A PREP CLASS.

PEACE OUT.

 

[Scrub MD]

PLEASE LISTEN TO ME:

DO NOT TAKE A PREP COURSE. SAVE YOURSELF $1500.

Everything associated with those prep courses is a total wast of time. The instruction is often sub-par, the commute to and from centers wasted time, your classmates stupid questions waste time.... I can't say this more emphatically DO NOT TAKE A PREP COURSE.

BUY THE EXAM KRACKER BOOKS (The set for $300) and study using those. MUCH MUCH BETTER. They have practice full lengths as well.

The ONLY thing you get from those prep courses is MANY full lenghts. However, you don't have time to do all of them anyway. And if you are super psycho and feel the need to do that many full lenghts get one of your friends who is taking one of those courses to burn the full lenghts onto a disk.

DO NOT TAKE A PREP CLASS.

PEACE OUT.

Nicely said

 

[Lindyhopper]

Everything associated with those prep courses is a total wast of time. The instruction is often sub-par, the commute to and from centers wasted time,

My PS & BS teachers were two truly outstanding teachers. I got a 32, maybe, not mind blowing but good enough to make my application competitive. If it was not for the EK review course, I probably would have gotten a borderline 28-29.
I listened to audio osmosis during my commute.

 

[DrBowtie]

My feelings are that the best bet is to do both. $1500 while it seems like a large sum is really insignificant in the scope of things (you'll be trying to give that much away to avoid taxes when you become a doctor). If that helps you get a good score on the MCAT and you become a doctor, money well spent. However, most of these classes are like three hour blocks 3 times a week. If you plan to self study, you probably would do more than that so take the extra time and off days to hammer on the hard stuff. Saturday practice exams are common among prep courses and self study.

IMHO, I want to do everything I can to beat the MCAT and get in and if that means $1500 and "wasted time" in a classroom, its better than not getting in and saying "what if". In this process leave nothing you can take an active role in to chance.

 

[gujuDoc]

First I would like to stress that different people learn differently. Some do better by studying on their own, others do better by going to a course that gives strategy but not too much detail since they know the material well, and yet others need the strategy and someone to re-review the material with them so that it becomes fresh in their mind. For this reason, there are several courses that stress the different categories of students, as well as non course methods of studying.

The five best resources for MCAT studying:

Princeton Review course material
Kaplan course material
Exam Kracker's Material
The Berkley Review material
AAMC material

What I would stress NOT TO DO, is to use Barrons or some of the over the counter books that are making the test easier than it actually is. Because that will give you a false impression of the test.

There are several different sources for practice tests:

AAMC 3r, 4r, 5r, 6r, 7 and 8

Exam Kracker's 1g, 2f, and 3g

Princeton Review's Free ONLINE MCAT exam

that should be enough for self study because that is about 10 exams there.

Plus, you can always get the Exam Kracker's 16 mini MCATs book as well, which has one hour exams. This is just meant to use as practice; not really a score predictor. Its more like a workbook.

These are the best ways to go about it if you don't want a course and are confident you know the material well.

If you think you need more structure and discipline then take a course. But remember that you need two things: good teachers and the ability to put more time outside of class going over everything again. The class should only serve for the purposes of review and going over strategies. The rest is up to you, with or without a course. in the end, it depends on how much you study. it is important to review why you got answers wrong on diags, and in topical tests or workbook problems. It is important for you to realize how good or bad you are at standardized tests and realize for yourself how much work you'll need to improve. Don't assume that just taking the course will guarantee a higher score. If you want the guarantee, you got to put a lot of work into it outside of class time.

For some people, a month will be sufficient to study, and for others there will be a need for 2-4 months to study. Just do what works best for you.

The one last thing I would like to say is, that once you pick a company's material to study from, don't try to mix it with other company's methods. Meaning, don't use Exam Kracker's method on one passage, and TPR's method on another passage, or you'll totally confuse yourself. Once you pick a method, stick to that method if you wish to see a score improvement.