To take a course or not??

[nabilesmail]

Hey guys,
I was wondering if I should enroll in a kaplan course or not. If money is not an issue should I go for it. Kaplan has a course that will end 1 month 2 weeks before I take my MCAT on May 31st. In addition I will be taking 3 classes (Physics 2, Ochem 1, Humanities) so I will be learning my prereqs while taking the class. It seems that on the 30+ MCAT study habits thread, many people that scored 37++ took a Kaplan course even though they almost always posted that the Kaplan course was useless lol, but nonetheless it is something many people have in common. Any advice?

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[Erythropoietin]

Hey guys,
I was wondering if I should enroll in a kaplan course or not. If money is not an issue should I go for it. Kaplan has a course that will end 1 month 2 weeks before I take my MCAT on May 31st. In addition I will be taking 3 classes (Physics 2, Ochem 1, Humanities) so I will be learning my prereqs while taking the class. It seems that on the 30+ MCAT study habits thread, many people that scored 37++ took a Kaplan course even though they almost always posted that the Kaplan course was useless lol, but nonetheless it is something many people have in common. Any advice?

There's no point of investing $2000 in a class (especially Kaplan, instead I recommend you donate that much to a charity or something). Get some TBR books and work through them and supplement it with youtube videos. If you really want to go with a class, I recommend TPR because their materials are golden.
Kaplan's verbal is way too easy and their actual classroom is a waste of 6 hours/week unless you've got C's in your prereqs.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

most people say don't but I say why not. If you're taking classes + MCAT a class forces you more to study than without one. I made the mistake of not taking a course the first time, and in turn did awful. This time I'm taking a course my studying is 100x better. Just my 2 cents. It is a lot of money but if you do well on the MCAT, its worth it IMO.

 

[NoMatterWhat]

I agree with Erythropoietin. Going to review classes wouldn't help and sometimes when you're sitting in those classes, you feel like you'd better spend your time self-studying.
Just buy the books and study!

 

[Mountaineer12]

I was weary about a course, but a family member paid for it so I said 'why not?' my Kaplan course is just about over and I've gotten a lot from it. The materials aren't amazing, but if you get a good instructor, they can give you a lot of invaluable tips. I'm someone who can't learn from reading, I need to hear it so Kaplan has helped me a lot more than when I originally did TBR.

 

[squirrel33]

Hey,
I took the Kaplan course and found it was not worth the money. However, if money is not the issue, then it wouldn't hurt. It does have a lot of online resources and many practice tests which are helpful, especially as the MCAT is computer based. Kaplan teachers can be a hit or miss though. I orginally enrolled in a class on campus last year during my spring semester (but soon dropped it due to a somewhat heavy course load: orgo2, physics2, a psych class, and research) and found that my instructor was useless. I then enrolled in a summer online course (they have a money back guarantee which is nice because I could take the course for free again) and my teacher was much better. However, the class still wasn't very helpful for me. So unfortunately, I found myself to be unprepared for the August MCAT in which I ended up voiding, and will now take it in January. I will continue to use my Kaplan online resources, however, most of my studying will be from examcrackers and princeton review this time around.

So overall, my advice would be if you have the time and the money, to go ahead and enroll in a Kaplan class. But if you do, make sure you also supplement your Kaplan materials with books from other test prep companies such as the ones I have mentioned above, or any others that you hear of.

Good luck!!

 

[411309]

Kaplan courses aren't near worth the two grand in my opinion. If you get a bad teacher, then it sucks. if you get a good teacher it stiill kinda sucks because they all read from the same script. They throw a lot of generalized facts at you during lecture without much application. The only benefit is the materials. The books they send you are terrible compared to EK and TBR, but the q bank, all the aamcs and kaplan tests are nice to have. The diagnostic they give you beforehand is ridiculous, im pretty sure no one scores over a 25 on it, lol. Maybe a few people. I took the diagnostic without studying and made a 14. I took the real thing, still without studying, and made a 21. So not studying gave me a seven point increase? Lol.

After using tbr and Ek i feel like i could handle so much now on the mcat. They prepare you well.

Buy tbr+eK and you will not regret. Put time and effort into those books and youll come out ok.

 

[Erythropoietin]

Kaplan courses aren't near worth the two grand in my opinion. If you get a bad teacher, then it sucks. if you get a good teacher it stiill kinda sucks because they all read from the same script. They throw a lot of generalized facts at you during lecture without much application. The only benefit is the materials. The books they send you are terrible compared to EK and TBR, but the q bank, all the aamcs and kaplan tests are nice to have. The diagnostic they give you beforehand is ridiculous, im pretty sure no one scores over a 25 on it, lol. Maybe a few people. I took the diagnostic without studying and made a 14. I took the real thing, still without studying, and made a 21. So not studying gave me a seven point increase? Lol.

After using tbr and Ek i feel like i could handle so much now on the mcat. They prepare you well.

Buy tbr+eK and you will not regret. Put time and effort into those books and youll come out ok.

This.

 

[Swagster]

Kaplan courses aren't near worth the two grand in my opinion. If you get a bad teacher, then it sucks. if you get a good teacher it stiill kinda sucks because they all read from the same script. They throw a lot of generalized facts at you during lecture without much application. The only benefit is the materials. The books they send you are terrible compared to EK and TBR, but the q bank, all the aamcs and kaplan tests are nice to have. The diagnostic they give you beforehand is ridiculous, im pretty sure no one scores over a 25 on it, lol. Maybe a few people. I took the diagnostic without studying and made a 14. I took the real thing, still without studying, and made a 21. So not studying gave me a seven point increase? Lol.

After using tbr and Ek i feel like i could handle so much now on the mcat. They prepare you well.

Buy tbr+eK and you will not regret. Put time and effort into those books and youll come out ok.

I second, I mean third this!

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Hey guys,
I was wondering if I should enroll in a kaplan course or not. If money is not an issue should I go for it. Kaplan has a course that will end 1 month 2 weeks before I take my MCAT on May 31st. In addition I will be taking 3 classes (Physics 2, Ochem 1, Humanities) so I will be learning my prereqs while taking the class. It seems that on the 30+ MCAT study habits thread, many people that scored 37++ took a Kaplan course even though they almost always posted that the Kaplan course was useless lol, but nonetheless it is something many people have in common. Any advice?

You must decide for yourself whether taking a course is helpful for you or not. I would suggest taking a practice test and seeing where you stand. This will help you decide if you need "guidance" or if you can do it on your own.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

Yeah I agree, I hate how the consensus is "definitely don't take a class", everyone is different and some people need to a course.

 

[kehlsh]

I think the courses are really useful for their resources. But do not expect teachers to be useful, as you will probably skip all the classes.

 

[leaveit2rani]

Course are not for everyone. Idk what you do in school, but for someone like me who doesn't attend any lectures and just studies powerpoints before the tests, taking an MCAT course would go against everything I believe in....

If you learn by going to class, do it... but if you learn by reading the material... save your $$$