Who is currently taking kaplan course

[Ghady]

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Hey who else is taking Kaplan course here? I do have some questions. pls reply.

 

[1908PharmD]

I took it last year ..

 

[WannaBRxDr]

i took it a few months ago....

 

[nerv12345]

moved to the PCAT forum

i took the course and got my refund..

 

[subzerox2]

I'm about to finish mine. Not to hijack but for anyone who's taken it, do the scaled scores from the Kaplan exams coincide well with the actual PCAT? I'm trying to figure out how much more I need to study after taking some of their practice exams.

 

[avik224]

Do these courses actually help?? As far as I know, prep courses for standardized tests usually don't help at all......ur far better off studying on ur own...

I have a couple of friends who took courses for SAT from Kaplan, and they greatly regret their decision.....same goes for ppl who took classes from princeton review...or classes in general...

 

[nerv12345]

As far as I know, prep courses for standardized tests usually don't help at all......ur far better off studying on ur own...

i completely agree.
i didn't pay 1300 dollars for some guy to spend 3 hours regurgetating something out of a book that i can easily read on my own. for free.

 

[Bella0098]

I took the Kaplan course and my score was about 15% lower than the first time...but I did get my money back. I definately would have been better off studying on my own.

 

[apatel88]

I took the course before taking the Jan 08 pcat, so we will see if I improved or not. However, I really don't think the course is worth the $1300. The questions for the reinforcement tests are soo much easier than the actual pcat.

Oh and the voices that "lecture" to you for the online course are just horrible. I felt like destroying my computer after hearing a few of their voices.

 

[cybercerebral]

I did not like Kaplan at all. I payed for the 1000 online course, and i did ok on the PCAT 73. But after that i outlined my Bio book, studied my chem notes, and practiced some Calc problems from the book, and i though that was waay more helpful. I recommend to not waste time on courses. Just study your books.
Overall the Kaplan course:
Math:is way to hard, they focus on geometry and i have not had 1 geometry problem on the PCAT. And they ignore Calc, and my last PCAT was mostly Calc.
Bio:they just outline the bio book. But they go way to deep into some areas, and the PCAT is mostly broad understanding. So your better off re-reading your bio book.
Vocab: you can get the same vocab they use for free online. type in 1000 most common SAT words.
Chem: They helped me a lot on refreshing my inorganic, b.c they have a lot of practice problems. But once again the chem section on the PCAt only has a couple of actual problems, the rest is concepts.

 

[cybercerebral]

I did not like Kaplan at all. I payed for the 1000 online course, and i did ok on the PCAT 73. But after that i outlined my Bio book, studied my chem notes, and practiced some Calc problems from the book, and i though that was waay more helpful. I recommend to not waste time on courses. Just study your books.
Overall the Kaplan course:
Math:is way to hard, they focus on geometry and i have not had 1 geometry problem on the PCAT. And they ignore Calc, and my last PCAT was mostly Calc.
Bio:they just outline the bio book. But they go way to deep into some areas, and the PCAT is mostly broad understanding. So your better off re-reading your bio book.
Vocab: you can get the same vocab they use for free online. type in 1000 most common SAT words.
Chem: They helped me a lot on refreshing my inorganic, b.c they have a lot of practice problems. But once again the chem section on the PCAt only has a couple of actual problems, the rest is concepts.

 

[ufdlim]

I took the Kaplan course, got a discount that made it $1000 flat for the live course. The course lecture itself didn't really help me. However, it reminded me of things I should have known, which I eventually studied on my own.

The course material is very useful, in my opinion. The biology and chemistry review is pretty thorough, although very dry. The calc sections unfortunately did not help much. I'm in the process of looking for a better calc study guide.

The most important thing about Kaplan is their test bank. If you save all the online work and go to the test center to grab some practice test, you're in good shape.

Worth $1000? Not really. I'd say half that. If you can get someone's old Kaplan course material for cheap, that would be just as helpful.

 

[Alby]

How much you get out of the course is up to you.

I took the classroom course, but I supplemented with a calculus review book, because I knew they were lacking in that area. I also read the kaplan review book a few times over- it is dry, but you need to know the material. I thought the practice tests were very helpful, especially for timing.

I thought the Kaplan questions were harder than the actual PCAT- so I was overprepared for the PCAT- which is a good thing.

The Kaplan scores were fairly comparable, maybe a litle low compared to the actual test.

I scored a 99%- so it worked for me!

 

[smashuga13]

I actually just finished the kaplan course for the January pcat. If anyone is interested in buying all my material that they sent me minus the online course (of course) please let me know. I will sell my stuff to the highest bidder. If anyone has any questions about what the material is, email me. Email me the bids - [email protected]😀

 

[Alby]

FYI you signed a statement saying that you would not sell your material... you could be sued for doing so.

 

[Smilingangel]

I took the KAPLAN course during summer, but since I was taking another summer class during summer, i have admit i didnt get to concetrate much on the kaplan class. I remember kaplan have some refund and retake policies if you are not satisfied with our pcat score. Does anyone know what are the conditions to get a refund or to retake the class again without paying again??

 

[Jesheekah]

I took the online kaplan course. I don't think the material review is as helpful its more of the practice exams. Because when you study with your own materials, you only have 50-100 problems (ie from your chem or bio books) but with kapalan they give you so many practice exams so that you get much more practice.

Like the SAT, the PCAT is just all about practicing. If your an genious ( which I am certainly not!) you don't need to practice. But if your an avg person like me, doing something over and over again (like the practice questions) will make you more and more prepared for the actual exam.

practice makes (near) perfect!

I took the test twice. First w/o kaplan and scored 65. I studied on my own. The general bio/chem books are too broad. you need someone to narrow down the topics.

The second time I used kapan and I scored 91.

If you have the time and money then it is def a worthwhile investment for your future. 🙂

 

[azPharmD2B]

I scored a 99%- so it worked for me!

So what was your score before taking the Kaplan class? Because you make it seem like this class was the key to getting a 99, and yet for all you know you could have gotten the same score without the class.


If you have very poor test taking skills the Kaplan class can be helpful. It can help teach you about things to look out for, how to interpret questions, how to narrow down answers, etc. Of course you can find SAT prep books for less than $50 that will teach you the same things.

If you're very unmotivated or need to be spoonfed material then the class can be helpful. All of the material you need to know for the PCAT can be found in your textbooks from your pre-req classes. Kaplan simply forces you to sit down and read/listen to their simplified version of it and take quizzes.

 

[okfogle]

I used the online course because my PCAT was very...low...And that's what kept me out of Creighton the first time around. So I needed to do whatever it took to get a better score. Yes, for a lot less I could've red through every note I'd ever taken, read every text book I'd ever bought, and read read read everything. However, the kaplan course is so much more than the bookwork. What I found most helpful was the methods they provided for taking the PCAT itself. The first time I took the PCAT (pre-Kaplan) I was tooo slowww and had to rush w/in the last few minutes just to fill in bubbles. The timing methods and "shortcuts" they provided allowed me an exact schedule to get in and get out of the test with time to go back and check the section even. Flash cards, like 6 books, hours of online lecture, pages and pages of quizzes and practice tests with Full explanations to why one answer is correct and why each individual other answer is wrong and where it is right. Kaplan's course is a compilation of previous PCATs. The verbal ability section I actually used a lot of the same stuff on the test as in the class....very handy course, very worth it.

 

[Farcus]

I used the online course because my PCAT was very...low...And that's what kept me out of Creighton the first time around. So I needed to do whatever it took to get a better score. Yes, for a lot less I could've red through every note I'd ever taken, read every text book I'd ever bought, and read read read everything. However, the kaplan course is so much more than the bookwork. What I found most helpful was the methods they provided for taking the PCAT itself. The first time I took the PCAT (pre-Kaplan) I was tooo slowww and had to rush w/in the last few minutes just to fill in bubbles. The timing methods and "shortcuts" they provided allowed me an exact schedule to get in and get out of the test with time to go back and check the section even. Flash cards, like 6 books, hours of online lecture, pages and pages of quizzes and practice tests with Full explanations to why one answer is correct and why each individual other answer is wrong and where it is right. Kaplan's course is a compilation of previous PCATs. The verbal ability section I actually used a lot of the same stuff on the test as in the class....very handy course, very worth it.

i'm thinking about the course, did it help you improve your composite PCAT score though?

 

[agedpharmtech]

I attempted the pcat in 2006 and got a 49 composite . Then I talked to a few friends and they recommended the Kaplan course. I paid $1200 and the class was once a week for 2 months or something. Then I took the pcat in OCt 2007 and my pcat score increased to 75 composite. Nothing too stellar, but it was good enough to get me into Ohio State U. The live lectures were OK, but it depends if your instructor can teach or not, I got lucky. The most helpful for me were the online tests and quizzes. I thought there biology section was the most thorough and they could have done better in chemistry. But you will have to spend a lot of time outoside of class to cover material not covered in class. Is it worth the $1200?? It is kind of steep, but if you are motivated you can definitely learn the material on your own. But I do not regret paying the money since it will [hopefully] come back in the not too distant future 😉.