Which is the best: Kaplan, Princeton or Oxford?

[hp18]

I am researching to register. I do not know if it is useful or waste of hard earned money. Please advise.....

[hp18]

Any advise!!!!

[White-Tiger]

My experience with Princeton brought me from scoring an initial 22 on the first mock test to a 36 on the real MCAT. Highly recommend it.

[Madz25]

I took princeton review and I really liked it. I found their VR to be a bit tougher than that of Kaplan (which is good prep for MCAT). I liked the way they organized the writing sample section as well. The reason I signed up for princeton initially was because it was a few hundred dollars cheaper than kaplan lol. In the end, I did enjoy it a lot and it definitely helped!!!

[a41]

Most people have only taken one of the courses, so it's kind of a hard question to answer. That being said, I wasn't very impressed with Kaplan's course.

[The Law]

Here's another thread that asks the same question:

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18183

[flying kumquat]

Maybe I'm being completely unhelpful by not answering your question directly, but I would recommend including ExamKrackers in your MCAT materials research. I used their set of workbooks plus audio CDs and felt I was well prepared for the MCAT (and did well). If money is a concern, this would definitely be a good route - it seems you can get these materials for under $300 on Amazon now.

 

I suppose the caveat to going this route would be to ensure you can make yourself do the work without the structure of a classroom setting. Examkrackers does have some self-study help on their website though, and it really only took 2 hours a night for 4 nights a week for 10 weeks to get through their stuff. For me, not having to spend ~$1000 more was motivation enough!

[neutral]

I took the Princeton Review course and have since been crying myself to sleep everynight in regret.

However, others in my class didn't share my sentiments. I think a major factor is your learning style. I prefer independent review and maybe that's why I didn't enjoy it so much.

Though I think everyone will agree that both courses are heavily overpriced - farewell Mr. $, farewell.

[futuredoc1]

I took the Princeton Review course and have since been crying myself to sleep everynight in regret.

However, others in my class didn't share my sentiments. I think a major factor is your learning style. I prefer independent review and maybe that's why I didn't enjoy it so much.

Though I think everyone will agree that both courses are heavily overpriced - farewell Mr. $, farewell.

 

I completely understand what you mean man.

 

I think we are better off preparing on our own and trying to take all courses that covers the topics and do tons of practice. This should help you save a lot of money and also be in control of your Prep.

 

There are good sites like http://www.testEasyMCAT.com where you can find some practice tests very cheap when compared to the money you spend for all the fancy prep courses. Its my opinion, Good Luck

[Kuantum]

I took Kaplan and wasn't impressed by it either. I did most of my improvement in the last couple weeks on my own and most of the stuff I prepared for (verbal) I got smoked in. However, I must credit them for their writing sample strategy. I was getting Qs, but ended up getting an S on the real thing.

[Dingalongdong]

I took Kaplan (27->38) and have seen EK books. EK books while more detailed, were somewhat overkill. Whether you ought to take a class is entirely dependent on what teachers you get and less on what company you take. All companies train their employees but how well their employees teach is region specific. For example, I was taught by one of the top 5 Kaplan instructors in N. America. He was actually offered a position to teach in Boston (he's from Alberta). At the same time, I came in contact w/ many instructors who lacked the necessary skills. Get Kaplan books + the emcat.com membership and practice, practice, practice.

 

D

[muchdutch]

38 - wow! Good for you.

I did Kaplan and had some PR's in the next classroom over - they spend MUCH more time in class than we did. They said they went over every concept. While we did that in Kaplan, it was very much independent study because they expected that you would be following along and had done the advance readings and were keeping up. I preferred the independent study because I didn't have the time (working, school, etc.) to spend in class a lot. So it really depends on your preference of learning style, what you can fit into your schedule, etc.

[Kuantum]

That's why I chose Kaplan. Princeton spends waay too much time in class for me. With Kaplan, I do pretty much what I want, generally when I want. However, I didn't the course actually helped. I think if I had just done the practice AAMC exams and done independant studying, I probably would have come out with the same score. However, my MCAT teacher typically offered these little pieces of advice about MCAT writing skills that were pretty valuable...not worth the $$$ though.

[WabbaJ]

while course choice is very important, especially since it counts for beacoup bucks, just remember--no matter what course you take, start off with the mindset that its not about the course..... its about YOU.

 

you have to put in the work. you have to practice till your hand cant feel anything. you have to treat it like the biggest mofo test ever. its all about you.

 

it doesnt matter if you study on your own, take PR or Kaplan. what matters is your dedication, and how badly you want that admission. proof of this is that you'll hear succes stories from both sides-- the self study-ers and the course taker-ers.

 

just remember, nothing worth anything is easy to get. you have the power, now exploit it, abuse it, and kick a**!!!

[The Law]

while course choice is very important, especially since it counts for beacoup bucks, just remember--no matter what course you take, start off with the mindset that its not about the course..... its about YOU.

 

you have to put in the work. you have to practice till your hand cant feel anything. you have to treat it like the biggest mofo test ever. its all about you.

 

it doesnt matter if you study on your own, take PR or Kaplan. what matters is your dedication, and how badly you want that admission. proof of this is that you'll hear succes stories from both sides-- the self study-ers and the course taker-ers.

 

just remember, nothing worth anything is easy to get. you have the power, now exploit it, abuse it, and kick a**!!!

 

WHOO!!! Power to the people!

[WabbaJ]

WHOO!!! Power to the people!

 

 

thats exactly what i was thinking Law

[haiku_guy]

I took a Kaplan course this summer. I went from a 29Q (in 2001) to a 36Q this time around.

 

There were good and bad things about Kaplan. Good, a comprehensive review (which is nice for those of us that took physics 10 years ago), structure for studying, and the availability of materials to study with (lots and lots of practice exams).

 

However, I thought that the VR sections were weak and easier than those on the tests, so I would recommend that if you go this way, buy a few practice exams from AAMC and use those when you are practicing full-length tests.

 

I agree with the above two posters that it is commitment that makes a difference. If you are not able/don't want to spend every weekend studying for this thing, your mark will show it. It will also show if your commitment is there and you spend the time.

 

The last bit of advice is: practice exams, full-length, timed. until you go insane.

 

Cheers!