akuma39 Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 I'm in 2nd year at UWO, swomen status and I'm planning to write my Mcat this summer. -My first year GPA was lower than the competitive 3.7 GPa. -My second year GPA is looking tight- I may or may not just make the 3.70 depends on how the rest of the midterms and finals go (due to 1 course!! ) This puts me in a dilemma. Im still passionate about med and planning to take an extra year to improve GPA and feel I can still pull off at least 2 great years. The trouble is I want to write my mcat but with this uncertainty, I really dont want spend $2000 on a prep course and end up seeing that I cannot get the appropriate GPA and see that that I waste $2000. Im not very rich and this money would be coming out of my pocket and my family's which is going to be tough, especially if its wasted! So what Im asking is, should I study for the mcat on my own or do you really recommend a prep course? For self study, can you give me some strategies to ensure taking steps in the right direction? Any tips and recommendation? I really want to take the right steps! Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboywho2 Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 From what I learned from these forums: Prep courses are a big waste of money. The ones that are advertised at my university (Oxford, Kaplan..ect) are, like you said, around 2000. If you already done your prerequisite Bio Chem Physics and possibly Organic Chem courses, I would suggest buying practice tests online from the AAMC, and study guides with practice tests from Chapters or Ebay. Because if you are already familiar with the concepts, all you need to do is practice on how to apply them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehockeykid Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 i think you can study for it by yourself, that is what i am planning to do. i heard of other ppl who studied by themselves and got high scores 35+ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathewsMD Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 A lot of people have done very well without the prep courses. Unless you really feel you're not prepared well enough, i would suggest keeping a couple thousand to yourself and buying the AAMC practice tests like another user already said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intrepid86 Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 I did a prep course. They're effective when used properly. If you feel like you need one, then don't let the cost hold you back. People have blown more money for less worthwhile things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markov79 Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 also, just a word about studying for it in general... make sure you use your resources effectively (as was mentioned above). but i mean, if you don't take a prep course, you should also have someone to trouble shoot things through. pm101 itself works okay, but sometimes getting a thousand different opinions from variously qualified people isn't the best. that's allegedly one good thing (among others) from prep courses: they're supposed to provide a solid mentor/knowledgeable person to go to when you're struggling. of course, you can find that outside of the prep courses as well. but that's my original point: make sure you plan well/use your resources effectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrenchToast Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Self study self study self study. Buy content books from any of the major companies and learn all of the science content. Do a bit of practice. By the EK 101 Verbal Reasoning book (and possibly the strategy guide too) and study your verbal. Buy the AAMCs and practice MCAT-style testing. If you struggle with something, try to ask a friend who is also studying, or go on here. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 I wasted $2,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souljaboy Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 i think you can study for it by yourself, that is what i am planning to do. i heard of other ppl who studied by themselves and got high scores 35+ Keep in mind most people that self-study believe that they know the material well and will likely score higher anyways. They're often the people with 4.0 GPAs and just are good at the stuff. Getting 35+ is the exception, not the rule. For people that don't think they have a good science background or need help in studying prep courses are still probably the best option. As for OP you should finish third year before taking the MCAT to see if your grades hold up. If you can't get past 3.7 this year and next year then that'll be the main problem, not the MCAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keleac Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Self study! My background is software engineering, so I figured taking a prep course was almost necessary. I followed the content schedule closely, and at the end of the summer wrote a disappointing MCAT. The next summer, I used the EK prepbooks (bio, physics, chem, orgo) to self study and purchased practice exams online. I made up my own schedule, and found I was studying much more efficiently and comfortably. The MCAT went much better the second time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keleac Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Which prep company did you go with? Since you wrote it after the prep course I don't think you can say self study > prep since you did prep course first. Perhaps it was just nerves the first time? I did it with Prep 101. You're definitely right in that there was nerves involved the first time around, but the second time studying I could tell I was learning a lot more. I think a major issue was that I was the only non-science student in my class of about 30 students, so a lot of the content taught in class was passed over VERY quickly since it was assumed everyone already knew the basics. I felt I was constantly struggling to keep up with the schedule, but when I studied on my own I could spend a lot of time learning the basics without feeling pressured. This was mostly for orgo (and some bio) as I had never learned anything about it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 the prep materials are free at the public library i was hired by kaplan and recruited by prep101... i wouldn't pay me 2000 dollars to take a course i taught... kaplan is a joke, the pay is abysmal... pre101 is actually respectable, i actually just didn't check my email, for real... lol. From what I learned from these forums: Prep courses are a big waste of money. The ones that are advertised at my university (Oxford, Kaplan..ect) are, like you said, around 2000. If you already done your prerequisite Bio Chem Physics and possibly Organic Chem courses, I would suggest buying practice tests online from the AAMC, and study guides with practice tests from Chapters or Ebay. Because if you are already familiar with the concepts, all you need to do is practice on how to apply them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 i didn't remember any physics and they were just like learn as you go along and wing it.. for real.. lol Teach me, Master Yoda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 prep101 was 50 an hr... kaplan worked out to like 15... i had to hospital jobs paying over 22 each... lol, insta-**** off... i can tutor writing and vr privately for non-taxable cash if i wanted to do it, and it would be a lot easier for me... apply for every bursary and scholarship you can, write sob stories, if you have a disability, and made a lower income (which doesnt count scholarships and bursaries so i'd make 5g taxable and 30 non taxable... they'd treat me like i made 5...) that's a 10 g grant a year... adhd, anxiety, whatever... i didn't know about that one in undergrad, but the repayment plans can be tinkered with to your advantage How much money did they offer you? I need some money for tuition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akuma39 Posted February 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 I am planning to study between 3-4 of my friends who are doing self study as well. Is that helpful? For everyone suggesting to do self study, how did you maximize your time effectively in studying? How did you make a schedule for yourself and did you use a combination between different companies to study from such as EK, TPR, Kaplan etc? or did you just use something else as a tool to help you study? :S Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medaholic Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 As a huge proponent of self studying for the MCAT (See my thorough Guide), I'll have to say taking prep courses isn't a bad idea and often times works very well for certain individuals. I studied for the MCAT on my own, but I also taught MCAT classes later on and see the advantages of both. My advice would be to give self study a try first, if it's not working out, try getting a group of people who are also writing the MCAT to study together. You can always try prep courses if it still doesn't work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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