Where are all the Kaplanites?

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DrPak

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I live in Pakistan and for a year or so now, we've had the entire Kaplan lectures set available on the market (copyright isn't that big a deal here just yet) along with the complimentary Kaplan Lecture Notes. They're quite widely used over here in Pakistan and people score well on them.

I've been reading this forum for the last 3 hours straight now and I realise there arn't many people talking about Kaplan. Then I realised that most of you are in the States and may not have access to the lectures and their notes (because the real thing is very expensive - over here, its like $30)

Would it be fair to say that this forum has a low % of kaplanites? Everyone talkes about BRS and High Yield and these books were used here in Pakistan too, up to a couple of years ago, after which the Kaplan material was arrived. Since then everyone has switched over to Kaplan and now everyone's getting 99s.

I was just wondering if this would be a good forum to get feedback on, as most of you don't have this Kaplan material (except for the online Q bank). Do you not mention Kaplan a lot because few of it use it (because of the expense) or do you not mention kaplan a lot because you guys don't think its as good as the HY and BRS series.

regards,
DrPak

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DrPak said:
I live in Pakistan and for a year or so now, we've had the entire Kaplan lectures set available on the market (copyright isn't that big a deal here just yet) along with the complimentary Kaplan Lecture Notes. They're quite widely used over here in Pakistan and people score well on them.

I've been reading this forum for the last 3 hours straight now and I realise there arn't many people talking about Kaplan. Then I realised that most of you are in the States and may not have access to the lectures and their notes (because the real thing is very expensive - over here, its like $30)

Would it be fair to say that this forum has a low % of kaplanites? Everyone talkes about BRS and High Yield and these books were used here in Pakistan too, up to a couple of years ago, after which the Kaplan material was arrived. Since then everyone has switched over to Kaplan and now everyone's getting 99s.

I was just wondering if this would be a good forum to get feedback on, as most of you don't have this Kaplan material (except for the online Q bank). Do you not mention Kaplan a lot because few of it use it (because of the expense) or do you not mention kaplan a lot because you guys don't think its as good as the HY and BRS series.

regards,
DrPak

The BRS & Kaplan are essentially the same, since they are done by the same person.

It seems to me that Kaplan has been mentioned alot on here, actually.
 
OSUdoc08 said:
The BRS & Kaplan are essentially the same, since they are done by the same person.

It seems to me that Kaplan has been mentioned alot on here, actually.

Yes it has, but HY and BRS are mentioned a great deal more. I was wondering if that was because Kaplan compared better with the BRS/HY series or because not that many people want to fork out the $$$$$ to attend the Kaplan centers to get access to the lectures.
 
DrPak said:
I live in Pakistan and for a year or so now, we've had the entire Kaplan lectures set available on the market (copyright isn't that big a deal here just yet) along with the complimentary Kaplan Lecture Notes. They're quite widely used over here in Pakistan and people score well on them.

I've been reading this forum for the last 3 hours straight now and I realise there arn't many people talking about Kaplan. Then I realised that most of you are in the States and may not have access to the lectures and their notes (because the real thing is very expensive - over here, its like $30)

Would it be fair to say that this forum has a low % of kaplanites? Everyone talkes about BRS and High Yield and these books were used here in Pakistan too, up to a couple of years ago, after which the Kaplan material was arrived. Since then everyone has switched over to Kaplan and now everyone's getting 99s.

I was just wondering if this would be a good forum to get feedback on, as most of you don't have this Kaplan material (except for the online Q bank). Do you not mention Kaplan a lot because few of it use it (because of the expense) or do you not mention kaplan a lot because you guys don't think its as good as the HY and BRS series.

regards,
DrPak

It probably has something to do with cost and the fact that most of us just went through 2 years of basic sciences and don't think taking Kaplan is all that necessary. Thats why you see US students studying anywhere from 2-8 wks, on average, for the boards. Most FMG's study months in advance, some even over a year in advance. At least that's what I've noticed when looking at websites like prep4usmle.com, where FMG's tend to be prevalent.
 
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DOCTORSAIB said:
It probably has something to do with cost and the fact that most of us just went through 2 years of basic sciences and don't think taking Kaplan is all that necessary. Thats why you see US students studying anywhere from 2-8 wks, on average, for the boards. Most FMG's study months in advance, some even over a year in advance. At least that's what I've noticed when looking at websites like prep4usmle.com, where FMG's tend to be prevalent.

Don't you guys in the US have the Kaplan notes on the market? Over here, we've had the notes for years before the actual DVD lectures showed up. If you can't have the Kaplan notes w/o taking the $$$$ course, then its understandable why few people go the Kaplan route.
 
DrPak said:
Don't you guys in the US have the Kaplan notes on the market? Over here, we've had the notes for years before the actual DVD lectures showed up. If you can't have the Kaplan notes w/o taking the $$$$ course, then its understandable why few people go the Kaplan route.


We can buy the notes alone, but its ~$400. You can get used copies of all the HY and BRS books for a fraction of that cost. The Kaplan notes are good, but they're much more than you need for the boards, assuming you stayed on top of your studies for the first two years. The HY and BRS books are better for board prep, in my opinion, as it gives you just the bullet-points. You shouldn't need a complete Kaplan review if you learned it the first time.

The Kaplan course on the other hand is massive overkill in my opinion. They offered it at my school and most of my class ended up taking it, I assume becuase they were motivated out of fear. I can't understand why anyone would pay $1,000 to sit through another month of lecture, only to review what you already know?

To echo what someone else said, I've spoken with FMG's who studied Kaplan for >9 months for board preparation. :eek: That's probably why "everyone [in Pakistan] is getting 99's" as you say.

But hey, if it works, don't fix it.

HamOn
 
HamOnWholeWheat said:
The Kaplan course on the other hand is massive overkill in my opinion. They offered it at my school and most of my class ended up taking it, I assume becuase they were motivated out of fear. I can't understand why anyone would pay $1,000 to sit through another month of lecture, only to review what you already know?

HamOn

Thanks Ham, that makes a lot of sense. We FMGs do the Steps AFTER we graduate and are about 3 years removed (Med school lasts for 5 years here) from the basic sciences, so I supposed that's why Kaplan has made such an impact here. It definately clears up why I hear so much more about HY and BRS on the predominately AMG forums compared to the more IMG dominant forums where Kaplan seems to rule the roost.

Thanks again.
 
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