How did you get a 30+ score?

[crockett]

From reading this thread, and from talking to other people, I know I vastly underprepared for the MCAT (studied probably about 40 hours in total, started just under 2 weeks before i wrote) I scored a 12/11/10 (PS/BS/VR) Q, which overall is where i expected to be from a couple practice tests, but the biggest thing i found (and if i were to do it over) would be practicing tests with an emphasis on finishing several minutes before the allotted time. I noticed that on VR, which i had scored 12-13 on in the handful of practice tests i did, seemed to fly by on the actual exam, to the point where i had to guess on several answers. i also got hit hard by this on the essay, and it ended up in me leaving one of my essays unfinished, which is never good. as far as focusing your study efforts, i personally found that simply being comfortable with numbers and logical was more than enough to do well on the PS, whereas going over the list of topics on BS and focusing on the ones i was unsure of was how i studied for it. but again, personally, id take more practice tests and strictly time myself to improve VR and the writing sample if i were to do it again.

[MoSquared]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

 

With a job, in the evenings for usually 2 hours everyday for 2 months

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

 

12-11-12-S (35S)

 

3. How did you study for each section?

 

I used Kaplan to keep me on track and for the details, but the most important part of my studying I would say was doing a zillion practice tests!

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

 

Just right

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

 

13-11-13-R

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

 

I was scoring 37+ on all my practices leading up to the MCAT, and I hate to use this as an excuse but I do think it was what caused my score to drop on the test....When Kaplan tells you to take the day before off, and just take it easy...thats a good idea, but it does not mean go play a game of soccer at 10pm the night before the MCAT and get you ankle broken!! Turns out the wait at ER was going to be 4+ hrs....so I just popped some pain killers and went to bed (well tried)...then I wrote the MCAT on Tylenol-3 while falling asleep during the VR section! Luckily I still got a good score

 

BUT as for advice, practice tests, practice tests, practice tests, sections tests for the sections you are bad at, practice tests, practice tests.......

[rmorelan]

BUT as for advice, practice tests, practice tests, practice tests, sections tests for the sections you are bad at, practice tests, practice tests.......

 

and then more practise tests....

 

Seriously I did what must have been 20 full length ones.

[Rach]

and then more practise tests....

 

Seriously I did what must have been 20 full length ones.

 

Where are you getting all of these tests? I think I only saw about 9-10 on the AAMC website....

[Atreides]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

I studied for approximately 4 months while doing a NSERC research USRA full time and working 20 hours a week part time at Shoppers.

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

11/13/12, S

3. How did you study for each section?

I took the Princeton Review course, did all of the sections assigned in the practice books, went to all the practice courses, and all the teaching classes

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

I feel I studied just right

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

I was expecting a 10/10/13, R

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

I would suggest making a schedule to ensure you cover everything and if you are lazy/unmotivated like me take a course, it was worth and it teaches you how to write the test not just the material. If not then definitely purchase the material and do it yourself, take Organic Chem, Physics, General Chem, and basic biology OR study these materials on your own. Also practice MCAT are extremely useful, especially in a similar setting to the real one. Of course I wrote the last paper based one so I'm unsure how the computer based one worked.

[rmorelan]

Where are you getting all of these tests? I think I only saw about 9-10 on the AAMC website....

 

To be clear it wasn't just from AAMC - although as everyone knows those are the best! I did all of those ones.

 

There were also 3 from Kaplan (with the online one), I think 3 from P.R. And then there were other review books as well. Each had their own strenghs/weaknesses.

 

probably the only benefit of working full time is you can afford to buy all of this stuff. Having time to do them is a totally different matter of course Oh well, it gets you one way or another!

[ManU]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

I studied for approximately 3 months while doing a NSERC research USRA full time.

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

14/13/10, R

3. How did you study for each section?

I took the Princeton Review course, did all of the sections assigned in the practice books, went to all the practice courses, and all the teaching classes

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

Studied just right.

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

I was expecting a 12/12/10, R

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

Take a course. Do not work. Study about 3 hours a day EVERYDAY. Do practice tests. Those are the most important.

[Ninjaface]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

 

3 weeks after getting back from a year of travelling, 6 years after having taken the reccomended courses. About 5 hours a day average.

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

 

12-9-12 O

 

3. How did you study for each section?

 

Read the EK books and the Kaplan big book. Flooded my house with flash cards. Made them more than I studied them.

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

 

I'll tell you May 15... I'm actually proud of myself for not overstudying. I think I got in right around the point of diminishing gains. PS I I was quitea bit below my practice average due to bad luck - they tested mostly the topics I sucked at. Writing I don't know WTF happened. I was pretty bloody tired though - 2 hours sleep the night before. That hurt the PS too. twice as much studying I am sure would have gotten me in the upper 30s, but I think I will get in this year, so I'm glad I didn't do that...

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

 

12-11-12-R (based on practice test averages)

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

 

Get off the forums and get to work. Take AAMC practices to judge where you are at. Try and get a good sleep the night before. COnstruction crews tore up my street at 5 am on test day. Not sure how you can avoid situations like that really...

[Carabiner]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

I studied during the summer for 4 months, while working full-time.

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

BS-11; PS-11; VR-12; WS-T

 

3. How did you study for each section?

Honestly, I don't remember. In retrospect, I should've studied less for the sections themselves, and done far more practice tests.

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

As said above, I should've done more practice exams, because I think I over-studied the material.

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

A 33 or something around that, based on how my previous practice tests went.

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

Honestly honestly honestly, you don't need to take those super-expensive MCAT prep courses!!!

 

My method? I bought a few practice exam books (from Kaplan and Princeton Review), and bought the AAMC practice exams. From what I heard from friends who actually took prep courses, they're only good if you need someone pressuring you to actually study. But to me, the time spent in a classroom rehashing study material (that really doesn't need to be rehashed that in-depth) could be so much better spent doing practice exams.

[dizzle]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

Full-time, Summer, April 21 --> Aug 9

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

11/12/11, T

 

3. How did you study for each section?

Biology - I'm a biology major, so was pretty straightforward to me... If I made a mistake on the mock or homework, I would see if it was due to misreading, misunderstanding, a random fact, or a hole in my stuying

 

Physical Sciences - Not much to say here, same way you succeed in undergraduate studies, you should practice questions, memorize equations and use them enough to be comfortable with it.

 

Verbal - My favourite. Figure out a method that works. Do all sorts of things, answer as you read, answer after you read, highlight, whatever. Once you have a method that works, execute it in the timeframe they give you.

 

Written Sample - Practice. Use the TPR or Kaplan (or whatever else) method. Read the news or just know your history well. The example should be relevant enough for you to present a strong case. You should never be too emotional or advocative for the case. You have to understand that some things don't have a straight up answer.

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

Just enough... I followed the TPR homework schedule and mocked my butt off to feel confident. This gave me a good sense of timing and feel for the real test.

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

My mocks were hitting 14s in BS and PS. They fluctuated around 9-10 for VR. I had to work hard to make sure to try and make my VR consistent enough to do well on the real MCAT. Despite doing worse than on my mocks... in all, 11/12/11 T was more than I could have asked for. You have to factor in test-day stress conditions and all that stuff too.

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

Get a solid foundation of the MCAT concepts. Mock your butt off. Check your correct answers and tell yourself why they're right. Check your wrong answers and ask why they're wrong. If it's because you straight up don't know, you need to learn it. The lazy way out is to say that the question or passage was too random to be on the real MCAT. The real test could pop a random question and there's no second chances there.

[Premed_guy]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

 

- I studied over the summer- from July 3rd till around August 13th. Started at 2 hours a day-- but that quickly became 4... and then 8. I had an NSERC research grant- which was handy--- a lot of time available between lab sampling for studying!

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

 

- 12/12/11/T

 

3. How did you study for each section?

 

- I read through P.R. texts, while doing practice questions from each section. I did a Mondays were Bio, Tues Phys, Weds chem and Thurs Orgo, Friday was also Orgo- as I sucked at orgo at the time. Sat and Sun were whatever I needed most-- usually everything but Bio. I didn't really worry about VR or WS. My science background was slim to none at the time- that was my priority.

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

 

- I think it was bang on. Given my background knowledge- I felt prepared. Any more and I think the pencil tip may have gotten so sharp it'd break.

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

 

- I was hoping for a 10/10/10/S-- but practice tests indicated I would get around what I did. Still- I was cautiously pessimistic.

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

 

- Don't get too crazy. Remember that you have a life outside of it. Just pace yourself. I'd have been smarter starting WAY earlier-- and just doing an hour or two a night- rather than 4 hours a day, and eventually 6-8 per day. Takes a lot out of your summer. If you worry too much, you're psych yourself out. Be confident in yourself and your ability.

[Guest rpuff]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

 

2 months, beginning of May to July 6th. Worked part time maybe 15 hours a week, took full Kaplan classroom course. Studied 3-5 hours 6 days a week.

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

 

- 12/12/11/T

 

3. How did you study for each section?

 

I just finished full year physics and honors physiology so those two sections were pretty easy content wise. Probably studied a lot more for the chemistries. I did a lot of practice section tests, felt like I needed to learn how to attack passages rather than memorize details. I did a zillion VR passages and never got good at them, eventually it got to the point where I would zoom through them as fast as possible, choosing the answer based on gut instinct. (Not the safest, but it worked for me) A month before my exam I started doing 2 full lengths per week, and only studying off the quick sheets.

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

 

Right on. It's a critical thinking exam, not memorization. You just need the foundation, most of the information will be in the passage

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

 

13/11/9/Q - I just needed to beat my Dad's MCAT score of 31.

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

 

RELAX. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You can't cram and studying like crazy won't make you do better. Enjoy yourself, go out with friends, exercise lots! Do as many practice exams as you. Start with kaplan or princeton full lengths, then switch to AAMC's two weeks before your actual exam. DO NOT WORK FULL TIME

[barnessv]

1. The first time I spent 3 months studying by reading over 2 different MCAT books (Kaplan and The Gold Standard) and doing their practice tests. However, I was in Barbados during this time volunteering at a hospital and let's just say that the beach called to me. So in reality I spent maybe half the time I had originally planned on studying.

 

The second time I took Kaplan's online course and studied for 2.5 months. I had a part-time job working at a restaurant, but spent about 5 hours a day studying.

 

2. First time: 12 BS/11 PS/11 VR, P

Second time: 12 BS/10 PS/11 VR, R

 

3. The first time I just read the books cover-to-cover, stickied anything I felt I didn't understand, and then read up on that stuff using my textbooks and online resources

 

The second time I followed the Kaplan online course to go through everything and again looked up things that I felt I didn't understand

 

4. I feel like I put a good amount of time into studying both times, although maybe not enough practice with WS the first time, hence why I chose to re-write.

 

5. First time: about what I got.

Second time: I had expected a higher score in PS, but in retrospect it had been longer since I had taken a Physics course and I had honestly forgotten A LOT of stuff.

 

6. Try to work on something every day and do lots of practice tests! Also, for the WS what I did the second time around was take a giant list of past prompts and sit with someone discussing what potential answers could be. It took less time than doing full 30 minute essays, but was great practice for coming up with an answer quickly and I was able to cover a lot more topics, some of which were relevant to the prompts I actually got on test day.

[Amnesty]

why did you rewrite? just to improve your writing score

[supafield]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

4-5 days a week May 1st to July 15th, worked 1-2 days a week as well

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

Aug 06 - BS-9, PS-11, VR-11, WS-R

July 08 - BS-10,PS-12, VR-10, WS-S

 

3. How did you study for each section?

Biology - Focused quite a bit on bio/orgo during the rewrite because my 9 in bio sciences was the reason I rewrote. Used TPR materials

 

Physical Sciences - I haven't taken a physics or chemistry courses since OAC in highschool in 2002. Despite going the arts route for undergrad I felt the strongest in math-y sciences. So studied this a little less than bio and did lots of practice, Used TPR material

 

Verbal - The first time - lots of practice, the rewrite - I only did the verbal from the mock full length tests I did, and I did a few of the ExamKrackers 101 verbal sections as well. With this section, I find practice, practice, practice is the only way to go. Once you have a technique that works for you (basically I just tried to read the passage in 3-4 minutes and not refer back to the passage too much for the questions) then you need to do as many passages as possible to get timing and accuracy down. Materials: Full lengths and EK 101

 

Written Sample - TPR tells you exactly what to do, read some current events to keep examples and counterexamples in mind but not much

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

A funny question for me, the second time around I felt there were 10 more things I wanted to do... and if I had the time I would have but the reality is I took my first practice tests around June 15th... and scored a 32, so I probably had all that I needed in reality a month before I actually wrote.

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

for the most recent mcat

my mocks went 32,37,33,32,33 Average (P-11,V-11,B-11.5)

So I was expecting about a 33-34 going in.

Coming out I thought I bombed PS and VR due to a terrible test day circumstance, flight to catch after test, started 2 hours late! Worried about flight during morning sections....

 

So I came out feeling like 10,9,12 (I really thought I did well on bio)

Sure enough my physical in the morning was my strongest section lol and I received a 10 in bio despite thinking it was my strongest section.

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

Get the material down... go through all your prep subjects thoroughly, and then go through mocks. My biggest suggestions with mocks... review them thoroughly.... I found if I wasn't careful, I usually learned from my mistakes, but if I was 50/50 on a question and got it right.... I wouldn't take note of it , and then the next time I saw a similar question, again I would be 50/50. So go over all the questions on a mock and know why you got questions both right and wrong.

 

I also found audio osmosis from Ek to be good for a few concepts, like hormones and amino acids and I could listen to it when I was driving to different things over the summer.

Any time I referred to a mock, or full length.... I'm talking about the AAMC ones.... they should be the closest thing you'll see to the real test as they are made up from old questions.

hope that helps.

[barnessv]

why did you rewrite? just to improve your writing score

 

Yeah. My writing score meant automatic rejections from Western and Queen's last year. So I re-wrote, and this year made all the cut-offs

[NewfieMike]

I got MCAT books for Christmas so I guess it's time for me to buckle down and start studying. For those of you who got a 30+ on their MCAT, can you answer these?

 

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

 

3. How did you study for each section?

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Took the princeton summer course while working ~45+ hours on an NSERC. Went to every class (4 nights a week) after work, and generally felt that the only section I REALLY benefited from was verbal reasoning. I'm doing a biochem/neuroscience degree, and had just finished two courses of intro physics and 2 courses of organic. I found that the only way I could really 'learn' anything was to just read it and understand it myself (then again, that's how I feel about school in general).

 

I wrote a practice test every other saturday. In total before my test I wrote 12 practice tests. I was averaging 11-12 on PS, 12-13 on BS, and a consistent 7 on verbal... every single time. But with my good sections, the difference between a whole number point always came down to like 1 extra mult. choice question (that in reality could have been correct just by guessing it right). My verbal score sucked but I was always terrible at it and accepted that on my actual test I would get a 7.

 

For my essays, at the beginning of the summer I had all these plans to read about current events, bought 'world history for dummies' and all that to prepare myself for an essay question. But in reality, you only need a handful of relevant examples that you can kind of squeeze into any type of question. For ex: I had one example comparing the differences between Obama and McCain (this was right when the campaign was going on so I figured it would be relevant -- especially since people from the US would be reading my writing). Sure enough, one of my prompts on the actual test was political related, so I used it.

 

The last 11 days before my test (in august), my father went out of town and left me the keys to his place. I spent 11 days in solitude cramming every last bit of information in that I could (and watching Women's Olympic beach volleyball to maintain my sanity).

 

My overall score (PS,VR,BS,W) - 11,8,11, S

 

It sounds way better when I say I got a 30 S, but I guess in retrospect I have to be pleased with an 8 in verbal (broke my 7 streak!)

 

I studied a decent amount and felt generally prepared. Any tips?

 

-write it in your second year. (if you're doing a science degree, the material is fresh. Even if you're not, the glorious feeling when the summer between 3rd and 4th year comes around and all your friends are grumbling about the MCAT, you can lay back and have a sigh of relief)

-don't have the "I'm going to write it early in the summer so I don't waste my summer away" attitude unless you really feel you can prepare in 2-3 weeks.

-learn to appreciate studying in the sun.

-While studying, don't develop any habits. I can no longer enjoy ginger snaps or orange pekoe tea, as they remind me of studying for the MCAT.

-lastly, do something ridiculous the night before the test. I watched Harold and Kumar 2 and played grand theft auto.

 

good luck

[ihatechem]

if u want to only rite it once, relax and:

 

DONT BOTHER STUDYING - there's a reason its called a summer BREAK, just kick back and enjoy it. got a 36S (12/12/12) by pretty much looking at 3 old exams the week before my scheduled date (u can buy em from the mcat website or find them hanging around elsewhere).

 

if u've taken ur undergrad classes already, u probably have already learned all there is to learn. the more u study and stress out, the worse u'll do on the exam, and wind up having to rewrite.

 

if u took first year phys and went to half or ur high school chem courses, u'll do fine in phys sciences.

 

if u took first yr bio and ochem, then bio sciences is a breeze.

 

if u have been lucky enough to do any reading in the past year or so (e.g. school work, magazines, etc.), then u'll have no problem w/verbal.

 

and if u have somehow managed to learn some typing skills somewhere in life, u'll do fine on the essay.

 

only thing i would suggest doing is getting ur timing down, so that u won't be worried about it when u go into the exam - especially true for the writing and verbal sections.

[lee_chick]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

 

I studied for roughly 4-6 weeks before - really intense during the week before but usually just an hour or two a day. I was working full time, doing coursework and on the road for work a lot so my schedule was a bit scattered. I did take a couple of days off work right before my exam - I was so nervous I would have been totally useless at the office!

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

 

10/10/14/T

 

3. How did you study for each section?

 

I didn't study much for the VR/Writing sections (I'm a former law student so I'm familiar with those sections).

 

For the science section I bought the Exam Krackers books and pored over them. I also did tons of practice exams in the 2 weeks before the exam (ebay the word MCAT and look for the seller "gold standard" - I got a ten pack of exams for ~$70).

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

 

Overall I was happy with my studying. The only thing I wish I'd done differently was taken my prereq courses earlier so I had finished the chem/org chem/phys before I tried to learn it for the exam!

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

 

When I was feeling confident - 30 - 32 T. When I was thinking "what the heck is someone with no science background doing writing this monster?" - 26 - 28T.

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

 

Give yourself plenty of time to prepare and spread it out a bit. Comparing my experience with that of friends I was much better off spreading my studies over six lighter weeks that let me have a life too instead of shutting myself away from the world to study intensely for a couple of weeks. Also - Exam Krackers books are awesome, particularly if you're a cheapskate like I was!

[sv3]

before you wrote the MCAT?

 

I'm in a similar position so I'm curious.....you could be my inspiration here

 

thanks

 

sv

[lee_chick]

I had a few bio courses but that was it - the last time I had taken chem or physics was high school and that was ten years ago! It definitely made studying a bit of a challenge but that's where the EK books really saved me!

[sv3]

looks like I'll give this thing a go then

I plan on going hard for 8 weeks and then writing it......one and done i hope

 

Your score on verbal was great.....any specific strategy you used?

[xi88]

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

I had registered for end of Jan date, so I spent all of x-mas break and jan studying..so during school and with part-time job.

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

12/12/8, M

 

3. How did you study for each section?

Examkrackers. Found it to be the best book to study from. Read the entire book, did all its practice questions, then bought several practice exams from aamc.

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

I definately didnt study enough for the verbal and the written parts..but as for the science sections, I think I did ok.

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

I was expecting something around 29P from the amount of studying I did compared to some of my friends..so think I did somewhat better than I expected.

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

Do lots and lots of practice questions. You dont need to memorize too many things. I found that most of the information needed are given to you in the passages. Just do lots of practice tests.

[elemenoepe]

if u want to only rite it once, relax and:

 

DONT BOTHER STUDYING - there's a reason its called a summer BREAK, just kick back and enjoy it. got a 36S (12/12/12) by pretty much looking at 3 old exams the week before my scheduled date (u can buy em from the mcat website or find them hanging around elsewhere).

 

if u've taken ur undergrad classes already, u probably have already learned all there is to learn. the more u study and stress out, the worse u'll do on the exam, and wind up having to rewrite.

 

if u took first year phys and went to half or ur high school chem courses, u'll do fine in phys sciences.

 

if u took first yr bio and ochem, then bio sciences is a breeze.

 

if u have been lucky enough to do any reading in the past year or so (e.g. school work, magazines, etc.), then u'll have no problem w/verbal.

 

and if u have somehow managed to learn some typing skills somewhere in life, u'll do fine on the essay.

 

only thing i would suggest doing is getting ur timing down, so that u won't be worried about it when u go into the exam - especially true for the writing and verbal sections.

 

I hope no one studying for the MCAT takes this advice seriously. This post is full of BS.

[Sanserie]

Yay a bragging thread ...

 

1. How long did you study for? During school, with a job or completely full time?

 

Hmm... I think 1-2h per weekday for about 3 months. I took the Princeton Review (PR) course too, and that was like 8h per week.

Each week I was volunteering for 15h, taking a summer course for 6h, and working about 5h.

The rest of the time I slept or bummed around...

 

2. What was your score breakdown? (BS/PS/VR, WS)

13/15/13, Q

 

3. How did you study for each section?

BS- studied the PR books the way I would do for any school course.

PS- luckily I mastered most of the material thanks to my BDSM high school physics teacher (lol jk). But I worked on areas I was weak in (like stress/shear, fluid dynamics)

VR- did lots of practice tests (I got them from PR)

WS- did lots of practice essays, then the PR instructor corrected and gave feedback on them.

 

For WS I also read up on current events, important ideas/issues of the day, ethics, etc. so I would have material to write about.

 

4. Do you feel you over or under studied?

Nope.

I do feel like I was stressed out more than I should've been. I have a bad habit of worrying about exams, but instead of studying more I study LESS... (avoidance behaviour?)

 

5. What were you honestly expecting your score to be?

I hoped for above 33, expected maybe 35.

I thought I would get below P for writing lol

 

6. Any tips for those of us studying for the test right now?

Know your own strengths and weaknesses and organize your schedule accordingly. In hindsight I think I shouldn't have paid for the whole PR course. All I really needed were the books, the practice tests (online), and a tutor for verbal/writing.

 

And pack enough food for the day of the test!! Don't be like me, starving half way through...