Thoughts on taking Kaplan course?!?

[clarice17]

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I'm considering taking the Kaplan course, but would like to have some positive & negative feedback about the course. The big negative for me is the cost of the course. I'm not sure if it's worth it considering I have old text books & a couple of DAT review books to study from.

Thanks to those who respond!😀

 

[DesiDentist]

"Hello Clarice"

Welcome to SDN. I believe Kaplan is a big big waste of money. The number one excuse I get from people is that if they spend a $1,000 bucks they will be motivated. Granted, for some that is the only way they could study, by throwing 1,000's of dollars out the door and feel sorry about themselves.

I sent you a Email please read it carefully. I took the course and it was one of the biggest mistakes I made. I could have been very prepared if I studied on my own and that is what I did for 4 months "after" the course.

I took the Kaplan course too. I found it very hard to manage. They do give you a syllabus and tell you to read 5-10 chapters before the certain class begins. I don't think anyone could keep up. Then after class they say do the following subject tests that they have in the library. People who are motivated (most of us) would line up to get the subject tests. They would only have 3 copies of each subject test. You have to wait in line before someone would come down and return them (there were NO due times) You could only check out the subject tests for use inside the facility. Take the Kaplan course if you wish, but you will see what I mean.

DesiDentist

 

[RSXer]

Hey there,

Okay, I have a different take on Kaplan, which I have posted before. FYI: If you do a search in the pre-dental forum for "Kaplan" you'll find a bunch mre info.

Anyways, I also took the Kaplan course and I feel that it helped me tremendously. At the time I started the course, I was 2 years removed from any hard science course, so it was a bit harder for me, but the Kaplan materials were all I needed to use to prepare.

There are two basic components I think of about Kaplan:
1) the classes
2) The materials, supplies, etc.

 

[RSXer]

The classes:
This is the part that I and many other people were not happy with. Class instructors are people that did well on the MCAT or DAT. With minimal triaing by Kaplan, they are asked to go over all the information that is covered on the DAT in a very short amount of time. This is tough in itself, but the Kapalan course manual organizes it very well. The instructors basically follow this manual for every class.

The bad thing about the Classes is that there is so much variation between course instructors. You may get stuck with someone who is not very articulate, or someone who really know this material inside and out and can convey it well to others.

The good thing about it is that if you were still confused after a particular class or don't like the instructor, Kaplan offers a taped version of each class. The instructors on the tapes are their best instructors and I used these tapes a lot. The only problem is that they can only be used inthe Kaplan center.

 

[RSXer]

The materials:

I found all of the Kplan materials to be extremely helpful. These materials include the flashcards, Kaplan course book, Subject tests, Practice exams. I may have forgotten some.

Anyway, the course book is chockful of all the info you'll need to know for the exam. I beleive it covers the material with just enough detail for the exam. The flashcards are....okay. They're pretty much good like any other flashcard.

The real learning and improving upon your test score come from completing the Subject tests and the practice exams. There was a whole bunch of subject tests for each section and you should try to do them all. Every question in the subject test and practice exam is set up like typical DAT-type questions. The more you do, the more you learn and can recognize what they are asking you for.

As Desi said, these are all only available in the Kaplan Center. Kaplan centers, just like the course instructors, vary in quality as well. I went to 3 diffeent centers in my area and all three were different in terms of cleanliness, organization, and business. I was fortunate to have a Kaplan Center close to me that was open 7 days a week and had extended hourse each day. There were also plenty of copies of each exam to go around, so there was rarely an instance where I had to wait for someone to finish with a test in order for meto use it.

Okay, way too long of a post. Bottom line is this: Kaplan has agreat resource of materials to use...if you don't mind making Kaplan your second home for about 2 1/2 months.


Good luck
🙂

 

[Comet208]

here are my 2 cents on Kaplan course:

i took kaplan in Amherst, MA where there are very few DAT students each year, maybe 1 or 2. as a result, they did not offer a DAT course, so i had to sit through MCAT Classes, which was fine with me. what you need to know is that the classes are meant to review the material and answer your questions, the classes are NOT meant to teach you what you have not yet taken. they also have videos that you can watch in the center. since there were only 2 DAT people and we were friends, they let us to take the videos and subject tests home and bring them back in a few days... (i believe this is against kaplan rule though)...
i found the subject tests and videos on PAT to be very useful. they also do these midterms and practice exams to see your progress which i also found very useful...

if you are going for a prep course, Take kaplan, princeton sucks..

 

[tinker bell]

I had princeton and it was great. First of all, I get all of the materials plus the bag.
Second, princeton spends money on hiring teacher. At least they have a teacher for every single subject. And their teaching quality is good. They have 3 paper tests, plus they also use the Topscore CD. I first had Kaplan right after college and did OK. Recently, I had Princeton and shoot my score up to 98-99%
I don't like Kaplan library, they are small and crowded, and it's stink to have to go to their center every day (mostly an ugly place) instead of going to your favorite studying spot.
I would just by books and study myself if I'm taking the test now. But my princeton teachers they did make the difference.
I had it at Berkeley
T