KayDeeO Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 I'm in second year BMSc at UWO and I'm looking to take the MCAT along with an MCAT prep course this coming summer. I've got my choices narrowed down to Kaplan and Princeton Review, but I'm having a hard time deciding which one to pick over the other. How did your experience go for either course (or how was studying on your own?)? Some other questions I'm also looking to get answered: - How much time should I take after finishing the prep course before I write my actual test (or is this even necessary)? - Would you recommend taking the course in your hometown or away from home in your university city (I realize this is a very subjective question, I'm leaning more towards taking it close to school) Thanks in advance for all your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrenchToast Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 I'm in second year BMSc at UWO and I'm looking to take the MCAT along with an MCAT prep course this coming summer. I've got my choices narrowed down to Kaplan and Princeton Review, but I'm having a hard time deciding which one to pick over the other. How did your experience go for either course (or how was studying on your own?)? Some other questions I'm also looking to get answered: - How much time should I take after finishing the prep course before I write my actual test (or is this even necessary)? - Would you recommend taking the course in your hometown or away from home in your university city (I realize this is a very subjective question, I'm leaning more towards taking it close to school) Thanks in advance for all your help! (1) Self-study vs. prep course I self-studied (while doing research full-time) and it worked out really well for me. I bought a few books and practice material. I'm so glad I didn't spend money on a prep course. I think it really depends on: (a) what type of learner you are, ( whether or not you've learned the material before, and ( how motivated/disciplined you are. (a) Remember back in the day they made you take all those tests to see if you are a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner? If you're like me and you are not an auditory learner in the least, but are able to effectively learn by reading a textbook and taking notes, then why bother with a prep course? It's not like university where lecture is testable. The material is the material, and it is not "exclusively teachable" by Kaplan or Princeton. However, if you do indeed learn best by having the material taught to you verbally, a prep course may be a good idea. ( If you've already learned all the material, I think a prep course would be silly. You could just read a book to refresh your memory rather than spend upwards of two thousand dollars. I wrote the MCAT after 2nd year UWO BMSc as well, and I hadn't taken real physics or any physiology, but because I'm a visual and kinesthetic learner, I was fine. I would think that if you've taken those courses, even if you're an auditory learner, you'd probably be fine. © Self-discipline. This is where people often find prep courses help. Some people just don't think they'd be able to stay on track on their own. Also, some people who focus exclusively on the MCAT for a couple of months and do nothing else think prep courses are good because at least they get out of their house and see human beings. As far as your other questions go: (2) How much time after prep course? I've heard a lot about this from many of my friends who did prep courses. Do not underestimate the time you need. I know one *really smart* girl who wrote it within a week because she was planning on starting work at the beginning of July. She did poorly and has to rewrite this summer. I know someone who left ~2 weeks. She was really stressed for the entire length of the course because she was full-on studying in addition to the regular learning that you're supposed to do, and she was even more stressed for the 2 weeks after the course. She did pretty well, though. I know a couple other people who kept postponing their test after doing a prep course... both these people studied for like an extra month and a half and still did badly. So it's pretty variable. I'd leave 3-4 weeks to be safe. (3) Hometown vs. university I don't know. Some things to consider: Will your friends be around? (Good because of moral support and keeping you sane, but maybe bad if your friends tend to be distracting. Personally, about half of my friends left the city at the beginning of July and I was thankful because they just couldn't understand that they'd text me on a Sunday morning and ask if I could hang out that day and I was already planning on studying. But it was also nice that some of my friends were still around for when I needed a break.) If you're at home, will your parents be able to help you out with cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc., as well as moral support? (My parents were the best when I was so stressed and scared, and especially after I'd just written a practice full-length and I would literally collapse on the couch.) I think if the university town will be empty, you could end up feeling a bit isolated. This is a personal decision, though. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacrolimus Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 (1) Self-study vs. prep course I self-studied (while doing research full-time) and it worked out really well for me. I bought a few books and practice material. I'm so glad I didn't spend money on a prep course. I think it really depends on: (a) what type of learner you are, ( whether or not you've learned the material before, and ( how motivated/disciplined you are. (a) Remember back in the day they made you take all those tests to see if you are a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner? If you're like me and you are not an auditory learner in the least, but are able to effectively learn by reading a textbook and taking notes, then why bother with a prep course? It's not like university where lecture is testable. The material is the material, and it is not "exclusively teachable" by Kaplan or Princeton. However, if you do indeed learn best by having the material taught to you verbally, a prep course may be a good idea. ( If you've already learned all the material, I think a prep course would be silly. You could just read a book to refresh your memory rather than spend upwards of two thousand dollars. I wrote the MCAT after 2nd year UWO BMSc as well, and I hadn't taken real physics or any physiology, but because I'm a visual and kinesthetic learner, I was fine. I would think that if you've taken those courses, even if you're an auditory learner, you'd probably be fine. © Self-discipline. This is where people often find prep courses help. Some people just don't think they'd be able to stay on track on their own. Also, some people who focus exclusively on the MCAT for a couple of months and do nothing else think prep courses are good because at least they get out of their house and see human beings. As far as your other questions go: (2) How much time after prep course? I've heard a lot about this from many of my friends who did prep courses. Do not underestimate the time you need. I know one *really smart* girl who wrote it within a week because she was planning on starting work at the beginning of July. She did poorly and has to rewrite this summer. I know someone who left ~2 weeks. She was really stressed for the entire length of the course because she was full-on studying in addition to the regular learning that you're supposed to do, and she was even more stressed for the 2 weeks after the course. She did pretty well, though. I know a couple other people who kept postponing their test after doing a prep course... both these people studied for like an extra month and a half and still did badly. So it's pretty variable. I'd leave 3-4 weeks to be safe. (3) Hometown vs. university I don't know. Some things to consider: Will your friends be around? (Good because of moral support and keeping you sane, but maybe bad if your friends tend to be distracting. Personally, about half of my friends left the city at the beginning of July and I was thankful because they just couldn't understand that they'd text me on a Sunday morning and ask if I could hang out that day and I was already planning on studying. But it was also nice that some of my friends were still around for when I needed a break.) If you're at home, will your parents be able to help you out with cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc., as well as moral support? (My parents were the best when I was so stressed and scared, and especially after I'd just written a practice full-length and I would literally collapse on the couch.) I think if the university town will be empty, you could end up feeling a bit isolated. This is a personal decision, though. Best of luck! That's some really good advice. Thanks FT. OP: I am planning on writing the MCAT next summer as well, and I'm going to study by myself. Hopefully, having done all of General and Organic Chemistry, Biology, Physiology, Physics, Microbiology and Immunology will reduce the amount of time I need to study and enable me to practice more, which I've heard is really important. I just don't think the prep courses are worth $1500 or whatever they cost (from what I've heard). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trojjanhorse Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 i never did take the prep course. I know many who did and were A LOT more successful in university in terms of grades but I still performed on par with them. Mind you, i spent 6 months studying for it with 11/11/11Q. If you're someone who likes studying alone and gets things done, then do so. The only benefit I think prep courses offer is pushing you to study. Also, once you pay 1500, you feel obligated to attend and keep up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KayDeeO Posted December 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Thanks so much for your help FT and trojjanhorse! I never really figured out what kind of learner I was, I think visual and auditory both work equally for me. Part of me believes that I can study by myself and skip out on the prep course (and save a boatload of money), but I'm not sure if I'd be able to put myself through a rigorous enough pace for me to do well on the test. For self-study, is around 6 hours a day the norm for MCAT prep? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBookWorm Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Okay so I took the Princeton Review Hyperlearning course. I will say that I found it very helpful. You get in-class teaching on all of the subjects. Many of the teachers are actual med students so they also provide very useful advice. Princeton Review also provides you with LOADS of practice material and all of the AAMC tests. Also, they will emphasize which topics from each subject are important and more likely to occur on the MCAT. One personal benefit for me was that by going to class and discussing the different subjects, the MCAT, and med. school related information constantly kept me highly motivated to study. But that's just me. Many people are self-motivated enough that they can study very well independently. Now of course, some of their strategies might not work for you. For example, how they teach you to approach VR did not personally work for me. But I think that's because we are all different. Not everything will work for everyone. So, overall, I would recommend Princeton Review. However, I can't comment negatively or positively on Kaplan because I absolutely do not know anything about them or how they teach. As for how long to wait between completing the course and taking the test, well to put it vaguely, you want to wait at least a little while but not for too long. I waited about 3 weeks between the course and the actual test. Some of my friends waited for 1-2 weeks and some waited for a month. So I would recommend for about 2-4 weeks. But take my words with a grain of salt. Just telling you this based on my own experience and what my friends did. When you have completed the course, you want everything to come together and you want to spend time just practicing full-length tests, optimizing your timing, and really analyzing your strong and weak points. GOOD LUCK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrenchToast Posted January 1, 2013 Report Share Posted January 1, 2013 Thanks so much for your help FT and trojjanhorse!I never really figured out what kind of learner I was, I think visual and auditory both work equally for me. Part of me believes that I can study by myself and skip out on the prep course (and save a boatload of money), but I'm not sure if I'd be able to put myself through a rigorous enough pace for me to do well on the test. For self-study, is around 6 hours a day the norm for MCAT prep? 6 hours sounds about right, but it depends on the time frame. I gave myself 4 months and studied 1.5 hours/day during the week and probably about 7 hours/day on the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeypenguin04 Posted January 2, 2013 Report Share Posted January 2, 2013 One of the great things about Kaplan is you can take online courses specific to the topic you are having trouble with; if you don't think you will need help with VR/BS, and only the PS, it might be worth your while to get online tutoring from Kaplan specific to your needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 kaplan hired me, and prep101 went out of their way to recruit me, kaplan is ****ing rediculous, the pay was abominable, once i found out how low it was i was like no thanks... i could privately tutor for double the money, the student would seriously still save cash, and have a private, personalized experience... plus i didn't feel it was appropriate for me to teach say... ps, like, ive only taken a single physics course in my life and got a 10, their answer, just learn enough to teach the bare minimum... they basically couldn't find anyone to do the humanities sections more or less... even asked me to work half time with another instructor when i turned it down... prep101... lol, i actually missed their e mail in my mail box for like 2 months... but they pay very well, and would work for them over kaplan in a second personally though, i would never pay 2000 dollars to take an mcat class from me... ive tutored humanities sections privately before, but the science ones... pfff, they should hire a phd to teach you for what you pay... my advice, self study... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 like i said, i teach you vr, make double kaplans pay, and you save money... kaplans markup is so ridiculous you have no idea. One of the great things about Kaplan is you can take online courses specific to the topic you are having trouble with; if you don't think you will need help with VR/BS, and only the PS, it might be worth your while to get online tutoring from Kaplan specific to your needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KomodoDragon Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 Like some others who have commented, I also took the Princeton Review course. I took it in the summer in my university town and found it really helpful. The biggest plus for me is that the instructors knew which topics would most likely appear on the actual exam, so I could focus on those instead of studying for ALL of biology or physics. That being said, it was definitely expensive and that style of studying is not for everyone. At the end of the day it's a personal decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shockersdud Posted January 27, 2013 Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 I'm in second year BMSc at UWO and I'm looking to take the MCAT along with an MCAT prep course this coming summer. I've got my choices narrowed down to Kaplan and Princeton Review, but I'm having a hard time deciding which one to pick over the other. How did your experience go for either course (or how was studying on your own?)? Some other questions I'm also looking to get answered: - How much time should I take after finishing the product reviews prep course before I write my actual test (or is this even necessary)? - Would you recommend taking the course in your hometown or away from home in your university city (I realize this is a very subjective question, I'm leaning more towards taking it close to school) Thanks in advance for all your help! Hello I am just at the stage which you were earlier. Just about to clear BMSc, so what you have thought about future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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