... Well, like most of you out there, I was stuck trying to decide whether to take Kaplan, Princeton Review (PR), or just buy a Barron's study text. I chose Kaplan, and can say that without this course, I would not have gotten into Medical School.

One of Kaplan's strengths is their condensed books. The basic problem is that the MCAT courses cover the basic sciences and verbal sections that college students have taken years to learn. Most people will have forgotten alot of the biology and chemistry and physics that they will need for this test. To make matters worse, college texts have extraordinary detail and it's impossible to go through all of them again. These books provide you with all the pertinent information. It's the least amount of stuff you'll need to know. They are organized and well written and include helpful hints to help you learn the material.

The greatest advantage to taking Kaplan is their test center. This was the reason that I picked Kaplan as opposed to PR. The center is incredible. They have everything from taped classes to chapter tests (from the books) and integrated tests. After taking a test, you can have it graded and analysed. Done by a computer, it will tell you exactly what you need to improve upon. In addition to chapter and section tests, they have pratice exams, which you can take. All in all, after I learned the basic material, I used these tools to gauge my performance and see where I needed to do more work. This is what PR is lacking, and why I would not recommend PR over Kaplan.

The classes are a different issue. I did not feel that the classes were useful. To begin with, most of the concepts are review, and I didn't want someone re-teaching things that I could read and figure out. The bigger problem was that the class moves along as slow as the slowest person. That means that if you understand a topic and 1 or 2 of your classmates don't, then you will have to wait until they get it. On the other hand, if you are that person that needs help, this may be an asset to you.

Kaplan does offer 3 real-life MCAT's where you sit in a class and go through the test like like you will on the real day. These were good to get a feel of how the pressure is on that day, and see where your stamina is. I think that PR might offer the same.

While Kaplan is definitely the way to go, I must admit that PR does have better practice exams. They resemble the real MCAT's more than the Kaplan practice exams. However, the sheer volume of additional tests and self-study analysis at Kaplan make it the better choice. Another complaint I had was that the test center was often crowded, but you can always find a place to study, it just might not as quite as you would like. However, a crowded center is better than no center at all. Lastly, Kaplan has a cooler T-shirt.

One last note... the test is about hard work. Taking either one of these half-heartedly is a huge waste of money. I went through all of Kaplan's materials and got the PR tests, and then got all the practice tests (i.e. Barron's & other stuff you can find at a bookstore) I could find. It took me all summer. Good luck.



Recommended: Yes