smartpig Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Hi all, I have taken the MCAT past summer and studied on my own with Kaplan/Princeton books and found the MCAT a little challenging and was hoping to take a class with princeton or kaplan this summer as the new MCAT seems to be more difficult. I'm working full-time but think I have enough time to prep if I want to take the exam in July but I do need additional help to prepare this time around. For those of you who have taken classes to prepare for the MCAT, which company do you recommend and why?does anyone support buying the online version from either princeton or kaplan instead of paying more for their classroom sessions? Any help is appreciated as I'm super confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davisfenos Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 I can definitely vouch for TPR, I was very pleased with the program. I haven't dealt with Kaplan, but from what I hear the TPR practice tests are designed to be much harder than the actual MCAT while Kaplan's practice tests are supposed to be easier. Just my two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartpig Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 I can definitely vouch for TPR, I was very pleased with the program. I haven't dealt with Kaplan, but from what I hear the TPR practice tests are designed to be much harder than the actual MCAT while Kaplan's practice tests are supposed to be easier. Just my two cents. Did you take the online TPR or the classroom lessons? Please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presh Posted March 6, 2015 Report Share Posted March 6, 2015 *BUMP* I have the same question. Princeton offers more classroom sessions than Kaplan, but I attended a Princeton information session and was less than impressed by the quality of the information presented and their professionalism, generally. As such, I am considering Kaplan. Thoughts, please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presh Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 *BUMP AGAIN* Hoping for some feedback, as I'd like to enroll in a course this week. Does anyone know why Kaplan offers only 36 hours of in-class instruction, whereas Princeton offers 105 hours for the same price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Perhaps Kaplan offers more practice resources? Or maybe the 105 hours of TPR class time includes hours taking practice tests? I could see how hours could be inflated to include doing practice exams "in-class" etc. Just some random thoughts - as I have zero idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggieyyz Posted March 12, 2015 Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Presh, what did you decide to do? Kaplan or TPR? I am currently in the same boat. Took a TPR course for the old MCAT a few years ago and it was very good. Materials were great too. Only thing is Kaplan offers a better schedule for me... I think in person classes are the way to go. The more interactive the better - although this all depends on your personality. Personally, I would find it hard to self-motivate to do everything online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellennn Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 I would like to know which one did you guys choose too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggieyyz Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 Decided to go with TPR because of their strong reputation and the positive experience I had in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggieyyz Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 And, just to add - I also have bought the EK 2015 books. Last time I studied for the MCAT I used TPR + EK and it was a really good call. Nice to have the variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presh Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Presh, what did you decide to do? Kaplan or TPR? I am currently in the same boat. Took a TPR course for the old MCAT a few years ago and it was very good. Materials were great too. Only thing is Kaplan offers a better schedule for me... I have yet to make a definitive decision, however am leaning towards Kaplan. [superficial] reasons being: (1) as far as I can tell, Kaplan offers more practice tests; (2) I know several people who were pleased with their score after using Kaplan; (3) TPR is slightly pricier; (4) as previously mentioned, I wasn't overly impressed with TPR's presentation; (5) I might need to take an online as opposed to in-class course this summer, in which case Kaplan has offered free online classroom sessions that I've been able to test out; (6) lastly, TPR's schedule is a bit more intense -- I'd still like to have the odd evening off this summer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mm14 Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 this may be a dumb question but for kaplan when they say live in person instruction, they don't mean just go to a room and the person will be live on a computer or will there be an instructor physically teaching in the classroom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presh Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 For those who are interested: I e-mailed Kaplan and asked why they offer fewer in-class hours than TPR for a higher price point. This was the reply I received. Something to consider if you're debating between the two programs. Based on this e-mail, I may choose to go with TPR. I learn well in a classroom setting and probably need equal preparation for all subjects. Also, I have sat in on a couple of Kaplan online classes and found myself easily distracted, so supplementing in-class time for online classes probably wouldn't benefit me. ---------- My name is --- and I'm an Education Management Consultant with Kaplan Test Prep. To answer your question - we actually offer significantly more instructional hours than Princeton Review. For our new course, for the new MCAT, we chose to design an entirely new course from the ground up. We know that the average MCAT student has 300 hours to prepare... and that hasn't changed because the test is now twice as long and covers more subjects. So the key, in our mind, for our new course, was personalization. How can we prep for more subjects and a much longer test without increasing study hours? And from that question, our new course was developed. In addition to the classes you see scheduled in our syllabus (these are the classes we believe every student needs, largely based on test strategy and skills and high level critical thinking using sciences) we also have hundreds of hours of live instruction that you will have access to as well. We assign additional lessons that dig much deeper into the sciences and critical reasoning and analytic skills based on your performance. We don't believe that every student needs the same amount of physics lessons / verbal lessons / gen chem, etc. So our course will be developed for you as you test and as you progress. Princeton Review chose another path. They added more in class hours (covering the new topics) to their old course. Thus they have a one-size-fits-all curriculum with more hours in a hard schedule. We have less hard-scheduled and way more elective so that we can personalize for you. Best, --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkPearl Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 And, just to add - I also have bought the EK 2015 books. Last time I studied for the MCAT I used TPR + EK and it was a really good call. Nice to have the variety. I'm doing the same TPR course + EK books been hearing bad things about TPR 2015 books so I'm going to get EK just in case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presh Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 I'm doing the same TPR course + EK books been hearing bad things about TPR 2015 books so I'm going to get EK just in case PinkPearl, why did you decide to go with TPR if you're hearing that their books aren't great? I'm curious because I haven't made a definitive decision as yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkPearl Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 PinkPearl, why did you decide to go with TPR if you're hearing that their books aren't great? I'm curious because I haven't made a definitive decision as yet.Honestly I tried to take it like a pinch of salt. It's somebody's opinion and there's not enough people who took MCAT 2015 to fully judge whether the books are terrible. Yolo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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