roycer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 I am taking the advice of samsara and keith_015 and am planning on writing the mcat again this summer (if I can secure a test date). I'm even planning on taking Kaplan again. My MCAT is in the mid 9's so I am not very competitive in that regard. My only hope is that my high GPA and EC's will help me out, and possibly my interview went better than I think. One thing that sucks though, is that I have to register for the MCAT and Kaplan before I even know if I got accepted or not. If I don't get in, I take the MCAT again through studies with Kaplan. If I do get in, I waste $1400 on Kaplan plus $105 from the MCAT since I won't need to complete/take either. Grr.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 I am taking the advice of samsara and keith_015 and am planning on writing the mcat again this summer (if I can secure a test date). I'm even planning on taking Kaplan again. My MCAT is in the mid 9's so I am not very competitive in that regard. My only hope is that my high GPA and EC's will help me out, and possibly my interview went better than I think. One thing that sucks though, is that I have to register for the MCAT and Kaplan before I even know if I got accepted or not. If I don't get in, I take the MCAT again through studies with Kaplan. If I do get in, I waste $1400 on Kaplan plus $105 from the MCAT since I won't need to complete/take either. Grr.... DON'T TAKE KAPLAN AGAIN!!!! Especially if you want to dish out another $1400. Pick up Exam Krackers and every single AAMC test, VR test, PS test, BS test, and just cranck them out. Do one every other day until you can no longer stand MCAT. For the love of all that is holy...do not pay for Kaplan again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moose Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 i think retaking the course doesn't cost the full amount. it's only like $300 or something right? if that's the case, then maybe it's not a bad idea. moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_015 Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 I'm with Kuantum. If you took Kaplan once, they should be paying you to retake their course because you didn't meet the 'standard' that the course brags about. Personally I think that if you are quite comfortable with a lot of the sciences, you shouldn't need the course, but do continue using their book as a study guide. The course takes away a lot of your time from studying on the stuff that you need to focus on more. If anything find a friend to help you with stuff that you may not be so good at. For VR too I definitely recommend Exam Krackers. Like Kuantum also said, do the authentic AAMC online tests. When I wrote, I bought all the online exams and did a few periodically, and then did 1 fresh one everyday in entirety the week of the MCAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 agreed. Kaplan was a waste of my time! As others have said, read the books (EK and Kaplan) and do as many AAMC tests as possible. You've written it before so you know the areas you have to work on. Study hard and you'll do better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roycer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 I guess the main reason why I am considering on taking Kaplan again is all the practice material they will provide in the format of computer-based testing. When I took Kaplan before, I made the mistake of not writing all of the practice material within time limits, which made me often struggle with time on the actual MCAT. My only real weakness is VR, and I have already purchased ExamKrackers to help me with it. For all the VR pros, shed some of your tricks please. PS: I know there is a separate forum for MCAT preparation, but I want to hear all your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 hmmm, I also did something similar and didn't care about timing. The real one came and I ended up guessing on about 1.5 passages in PS, but i quickly put my act together and did better on VR and BS. well if its only $300 and that gets you all that extra material it doesn't sound bad. If you think its worth it, i would suggest skipping most of the lecturs excapt for the VR (they might offer some strategies for how to improve) and use the Library resources that they offer (when i took it they allowed you access to a bunch of practice questions that i didn't take advantage of). The CBT practice versions might be good too. It actually doesn't sound bad if fully take advantage of it while not going to lectures that are useless (more time for real studying). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_015 Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 If you haven't written any yet, the AAMC's online practice tests at http://www.e-mcat.com/ are the way to go. You can choose to do one section of the test at a time, as well, you have the option of using the timer which will cut you off if you go over. Don't trust Kaplan, especially with VR. If you compare on the AAMC practice tests to Kaplan, AAMC better represents the questions you will find whereas Kaplan makes questions up to cater to the style that they teach ie. questions which make you 'go back' through the passage for details which ExamKrackers preaches against. A practice method may be to read random newspaper articles and/or editorials within a goal for time. Once you finish, write down what the main thesis of the article was. Generally all questions can be answered from this with the exception of a few details. Often hints to the thesis will be given in the first two paragraphs, or a contradictory to the thesis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samsara Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Roycer, To be honest with you, I think Kaplan sucks a bit - especially for the rather crappy review it dishes out for most of the subjects. The practice material is great...but you probably still have that right? Just a word of advice though...I've read somewhere before that it takes longer to read off of a computer screen than it does off paper, so try to account for that (Sorry I don't have a reference for this, you'll just have to take my word for it). I don't claim to be an MCAT pro here...there are many peeps with significantly better scores than me, but I'll tell you some things that I did. I think there are several profs who can be quite accomodating about the fact that you're writing the mcat and will allow you to sit in/audit their classes. If you can get into any major ones - human phys 1 and 2 and physics 1 and 2...run at beautiful times - 8:30 - 12:30 between july and august...you have half of your science review right there...every day. And it's very comprehensive. If you've taken these courses before, all the better, the profs will probably have less qualms allowing you to sit in considering you have paid for the education once already. I think that having a good review like this just before the exam was very helpful. I studied from the textbooks because I felt that Kaplan glazed over things that ought to've been understood better - but I'm really by myself on that one - everyone else followed the Kaplan books quite religiously. Second thing I did was read incessantly. I tried to get my hands on magazines (Kaplan recommends the Wall Street Journal and the Economist I think) - and I found that the Economist was great in this regard. Short, dense articles with great vocab, and furthermore, knowing what's going on around the world really helped with the Writing Sample too. I know some people who are going to be taking critical thinking philosophy courses to supplement their verbal reasoning skills but I'm not sure if that's the best idea if you haven't been exposed to that kind of class before/ don't have much time. It's up to you really. Just be careful with your GPA. And one last thing - try to relax. Prepare yourself well, but don't burn yourself out. I had friends who were doing much much better than me going into the exam but really fizzled out because they hadn't slept much the night before or were just too tense because they felt as if life would stop if they didn't perform up to their expectations. I spent most of my time during the last two weeks before the MCAT enjoying my summer vacation - playing basketball, running, spending time with friends (though I wouldn't necessarily recommend this). The point is that you should keep it in perspective with the bigger picture. A year of doing the things you enjoy before your ineluctable admission into medical school can't be the end of life right? In case you don't already, try to have something of a stress reliever in place throughout the preparation too - whether it be running or meditation or hanging out with friends (and not the competitive MCAT types - the kind who you can unwind with). Alright...this has turned into a beastly proportioned post. I'm sure there are people who disagree with me, but just my two cents. Hope you do well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roycer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 I've made my decision. I am not going to take Kaplan again. I remember from my previous experience with the program that the lectures were useless, and a lot of the practice material, though plentiful, did not necessarily reflect what would be on the actual MCAT. So here is what I am going to do: I am going to use my old Kaplan books and purchase Kaplan's new study book from Amazon.ca, since Kaplan was very comprehensive in their study material. I am going to purchase ExamKrackers VR, Physics, Chemistry, Biology & Organic Chemistry for a lot of practice. I am also going to purchase practice CBT exams from e-mcat.com for full-length practice. In the end, not only is this route a lot cheaper than Kaplan, it allows me to study at my own pace, not Kaplan's. I did very well in undergraduate studies because I was studying at my own pace. All this purchasing I am going to do AFTER I get my letter though. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daemos Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Although I'm taking kaplan again...for various purposes (one big one being I was pretty busy last summer so I couldn't take full advantage of everything, which is unfortunate as the guy teaching my course last year was a brilliant guy who was very helpful.) I would say PR is better in that respect as you can retake the course if you feel you didn't do well enough on the mcat. Unlike Kaplan which just guarntees you a higher score compared to their evaluation test. VR was my strongest part of my mcat, I never really prepared for it, did my own thing, Sciences were so-so, and WS I got very lucky on, so I'm doing kaplans just so I can meet people who might want to evaluate my WS honestly (as alot of my friends are too nice when evaluating my essays ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 posting because i'm bored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liszt Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 made me look! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vip_138 Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 made me look! lol thanks for the renter's guide btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 I have quite a few friends in the 10 range (Vip and I share some of the same social circles) and I believe that I know of a few in the 9 and lower bracket. I know someone who got a perfect 45, but he applied last year at U of A and got in (and decided NOT go to into medicine)! o.o some people don't like sharing. Or they'll just tell you their number score and not their letter grade, so it's hard to figure out what their average is. I'm not sure why people don't exactly like sharing, but I guess you might judge me because I'm (just) a 10-er now I'd love to get an 11... you have smart friends ^^ Are you sure about that?? From my understanding, under the scoring system that was changed a couple years back...the highest score has been a 43. I could be wrong...but I'm relatively sure. SDN people are anal when it comes to this sort of thing...they even contact AAMC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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