MCAT prep

[Lisaannesteel]

Hello all,

I havent written the MCAT in 5 years and graduated microbiology in 2008. It has been a while since I've covered any of the topics. I'm writing at the end of January and was wondering whether I should do online/in class/self paced program and who with? I've heard Princeton Review is the best. Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Lisa

[medrad]

I took the Kaplan in class this year and it wasn't helpful for me. The in class is just review, you are expected to study everything on your own and then come to class for review. I thought they would teach you the material in class because I learn better this way, but that wasn't the case. I do find the online practice material from Kaplan helpful, so if you decide with Kaplan then get the online materials. I also have EK books purchased for content review and I found them helpful in topics that aren't covered with Kaplan. I am writing in September and will rewrite in January again if my score is low. Good luck!!!!! You have plenty of time but use it to practice verbal.

[Borborygmi]

I think it depends on your learning style. If you require a classroom setting to learn effectively, then a prep course might work well for you. If you're a good self-learner, then a classroom environment might not be the best option for you. I can only speak from my own experience.

 

I did the TPR prep course last summer. The positive was that three of the instructors were excellent and covered the materials in a way that supplemented the information provided by the books and also gave tricks to solve problems quickly. Another positive was that you have access to tons of online and offline material through TPR to supplement your learning.

 

One negative was that the instructors for the subjects I was weakest at (physical) were not great (in my opinion). In other words, there is a bit of a lottery factor with the quality of teaching you get with these courses and exercising your option for another instructor or an outside tutor is either highly inconvenient or will cost you more money. Which brings me to another negative--the prep courses are expensive. If you have budget constraints, then the costs are certainly a factor. The other big negative for me was pacing. The classroom setting is inherently the one-size-fits-all model and doesn't really cater to your strengths and weaknesses.

 

The way I've studied this summer has worked much better for me. I got the resources that I felt were the strongest for each section: TPR & EK for verbal, TBR & TPR for physical, and TPR for biological (I have no idea what the best resources are for the 2k15 MCAT though). I focused primarily on passages and problem solving in areas of weakness and put in study time where necessary. If you have a very weak area, then you can spend the money on hiring a tutor for that subject area as a supplemental. Some people will also sell their access to the online content for TPR as a four-month extension.

 

Hope that helps! Best of luck.