<p>S2 is signed up for the mcat in march.. he has taken the practice test online and scored fairly well taking it cold... now he has to decide which prep course to take. He has enough insight to know that self study may not be the best way to go (proscratination) so he has classes available in his city from kaplan and from examkrackers. The march exam will come just before the prep classes are over (ie in that last week) but he is ok with that. there is also kaplan online/ think its called on demand?..(still a self study though) </p>
<p>any thoughts on which is the better prep course? ek or kaplan?.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about ek but as a former Kaplan student and teacher my opinion on Kaplan is that you get access to lots of great resources and a class that gives good structure but the class in particular is geared towards guaranteeing you score over 30. If your baseline is near or above that it will feel a little slow.</p>
<p>he has heard that the “teachers” of these courses really seem to be the make or break …good teacher, excellent reviews… the problem is you wont know who the teachers are.
his baseline is good, but as applying for md/phd he would like to see it up by about 5 points at least.</p>
<p>just to double check… i had read some great reviews on berkley prep course…but that is only available out west, no online option correct?</p>
<p>I dont like the timing of this. Taking the exam before the prep course is over means he probably wont have time to take all the aamc practice tests, which in my opinion, is the most important thing in studying for the mcat</p>
<p>i wondered about that too brd… but if he takes the kaplan it shows dates of 1/7 to 3/27 with the last actual class on 3/11…the remaining time is practice tests “on your own time” the actual mcat test is 3/23 or 24 i think so he should be ok?</p>
<p>if memory serves, those last few weeks of kaplan are indeed time for you to do full-lengths on your own, but there is one final “tying it all together” session. it was a nice way to calm some jitters and refresh all the test taking strategies we’d learned. i believe the content review ended with the last class though.</p>
<p>i needed the structure and wanted the resources, so kaplan worked well. my diagnostic test was 25, my best was 34, and my actual was 30. i didn’t do any of the pre- or post-class work or listen to any of the lectures or do any of the quizzes; all i did was show up to the classroom sessions, pay attention, and take the recommended section tests and full-length tests. worked out in the end!</p>
<p>S2 needs the structure too…if left to self study,those books wont get opened 
there is always other stuff that needs to get done. i think he plans to take another one off the aamc site and see if he scores the same ballpark as last time (or was that a fluke ) to see how different it can be test to test before he actually commits to which prep course he will take.</p>
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<p>I agree with this. I don’t think there is much to be gained by taking a class. I have decided to go it alone. The classes spend a lot of time teaching you to take the test faster. Time is not a problem for me. I just need more review and more practice tests.</p>
<p>hmm so if already scoring above that range, but know you are a procrastinator, what do you recommend… know the easy answer is dont procrastinate, just self study…but is there something more concrete than that. he has kaplan book, can take practice tests through aamc at 35 each… but knows that he will put it off</p>
<p>your son should not take another aamc practice test until he finishes studying. he would be wasting the best resource available. honestly, he should just buy kaplan/princeton review/berkeley review books and start studying right now till his test date. Theoretically, the classes do provide some structure, but from what i saw from the other students in my prep course, some didnt touch their books or some missed half the classes. if he is already scoring above 30 on the practice tests, he is in very good shape</p>
<p>totally agree he’s in good shape if he scores 35 w/o studying.</p>
<p>but, what’s the harm in taking the class? if it’s the structure he needs, he’ll get that with a class. who knows, it might not “feel slow” to him at all, because the focus would be on things he’s not so hot at focusing on (eg, not procrastinating). he could always talk with his instructors about it if he feels like the classroom instruction isn’t moving fast enough for him. plus, should he go with a class, he’d pick up all the other resources (quizzes, section tests, videos, full-length tests, etc) that might not be available if he just gets an MCAT book and reads through it. </p>
<p>i think it’s awesome that students have been successful self-studying, but i think it’s important to recognize when that strategy is unlikely to work for you and that you might need more structure than other students. i think kaplan worked fine, but in no way do i think it’s the only or the best prep class out there. (just so happens to be the one my friends wanted to take, and i got 50% off somehow, so it’s the one i went with.)</p>
<p>is he going to see the same absolute point increase that a student who starts out with a lower base score might see? i think that’s pretty impossible to tell. is he going to improve from 35 to one of those stratosphere scores >40? i think that’s also pretty impossible to tell. but at the same time…does he really need a score way higher than 35? </p>
<p>in my opinion, an overwhelmingly huge aspect of test taking is the mental side of it and feeling confident going in. not all testers are confident in their ability to self-study for an ominous test like the MCAT (i’m among these people!). for people like me, having the structure was great because it was reassuring (and probably confidence building) to know that i had a systematic way to approach this thing bit by bit. to me, going into the test knowing for sure that i had prepared as well as a reputable test prep group thought i should was probably worth what i paid to enroll.</p>
<p>I think he should take the EK course, no question. I have not heard a lot of high praises for Kaplan except they have tons and tons of practice exams. In fact, I heard their tests are much much harder than the real deal, which makes actual test day seem easier, but still. I heard EK provides a good balance between review, ways to strategize, and practice. If he did that, plus the AAMC tests, he’d be in good shape. If it’s any indication of which is better, you’d find very few students recommend Kaplan on SDN.</p>
<p>kristen he hasnt scored 35 yet, he scored above 30…35 is where he would like to be. lima i’ll check the ek one for dates it finishes… it is hard to find a consistent recommendation for any of the prep courses or self study ideas. everyone seems to like different ones.</p>
<p>lima i just checked and the ek course starts later so much more to do after the march date…he would only have completed about 2/3 of the course… when i went to ek site before i saw their study books but this time i also found their “audio osmosis” program too…that has possibilities. combination of books, tapes and practice exams.</p>
<p>To be clear, there can be a lot to be gained from the class even if it’s below your level if what you need is structure and guidance. That being said, if you’re trying to go from above 30 to over 40, a tutor is probably best if you can afford it.</p>
<p>wow just checked the cost of tutors from these programs! and i thought the cost of the classes was bad.</p>
<p>reading different reviews… seems if you need/want structure classes are beneficial…if you need help more with content then kaplan may have the edge, if you need critical thinking help then ek may have an edge.</p>
<p>( both offer various combinations for self-study as well) both cost about the same for classes. </p>
<p>many other programs out there…</p>
<p>Just a warning. My kid scored 30+ on AAMC without a whit of studying after freshman year , before taking orgo or physics. IMO, Worst thing that could have happened. She put hours in self studying but no tactics or strategy involved. Scoring big scores seems to have very little relationship to deep content knowledge. </p>
<p>She tried to overpower the test with smarts and content knowledge. Not a very good idea. </p>
<p>BTW, she had EK and access to the Kaplan online materials. But a class, however inconvenient, would have been better for her. She just never would accept that she “needed” it.</p>
<p>And yeah, she’s the kid that would not prep for ACT or SAT either. ;)</p>