The Online Kaplan Course.. Feedback?

[CardioPlus]

Hi everyone, I'm looking to take the online Kaplan course and was wondering if anyone has used it and what were your experiences with it. I also have the EK books and will be using them to prepare. Any feedback would be great. I'm not taking the classroom course because I wanna be able to do the classes at my own convenience/schedule.

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[SN2ed]

The Kaplan online course is great for practice material, but it's content review is merely decent overall. Kaplan is horrible in verbal. Instead of using their verbal practice material, get EK's Verbal 101. However, when you take Kaplan's full length practice tests, take the verbal section to get used to taking a full MCAT. Another note, the later Kaplan tests repeat some of the questions in their other practice material sections.

 

[CardioPlus]

oh ok thanks, i'll def be getting the EK verbal 101 now! lol

 

[grotto]

The Kaplan online course is great for practice material, but it's content review is merely decent overall. Kaplan is horrible in verbal. Instead of using their verbal practice material, get EK's Verbal 101. However, when you take Kaplan's full length practice tests, take the verbal section to get used to taking a full MCAT. Another note, the later Kaplan tests repeat some of the questions in their other practice material sections.

I started the Kaplan MCAT course in mid January, with a target test date of May 22nd, 2009. I am a non-trad, so my physics needs some help. I would agree that the content review is not that great, but I supplement with textbooks and am thinking about purchasing another physical sciences review. I think the sheer volume of material is great, and I have already improved my score quite a bit from diagnostic - 20 to 29 on the first full length practice exam. I'm pretty happy with that as I got a 6 on the phys science section on the diagnostic and have improved rapidly.

The thing I've noticed is that the practice tests are generated from a q-bank, so the material covered in the content review does not always match up with the section tests. I noticed this quite a bit in the organic and bio sections, less so in others.

I have also purchased ek verbal 101 to supplement kaplan verbal - but I would recommend the Kaplan course for structure. I have scheduled what sections I am working on in a calendar to ensure that I have time to cover all content review and take at least 10 practice tests before test day. It is definately a good idea to go to different sources, as it is impossible for one company to have a total lock on question type and content in the MCAT - no matter how much they charge.

 

[MDman87]

I highly recommend the online Kaplan course. There is an incredible amount of useful practice material, and I find their answer explanations to be much better than any other program. I didn't have time to finish all the practice tests in the 5-month subscription, so I recently renewed my account. The Higher Score Guarantee is great for this purpose. The content review is going to be similar regardless of which program (Kaplan, PR, BR, EK, whatever) you choose. What matters more is how much time you dedicate to reviewing the content.

In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Kaplan Online.

BTW, my score has improved from a 19 on my diagnostic to a 29 on my most recent practice test, and I don't plan to take the real thing 'til May

 

[CardioPlus]

Thanks grotto and mdman! that helps to know other people are using it nd such. Nice to know it is a solid source for practice tests/questions and offering structure to to process of studying. Good luck with ur studying!