Advice on MCAT Prep programs

MCAT Discussion
1

I’m planning to take the MCAT July 18th and want to take a prep course b/w now and then. I’ve heard Examkrackers is better than Kaplan or PR…has anyone had any experience with them or general advice on which program to do?


I would appreciate any advice!


Thanks,


Maliha

2

Hi Maliha,


There have been many folks on here that have used various prep courses. I plan to use the examkrackers and I believe Denise Babin (samenewme) used it as well. Do a search for the various programs and you will find lots of posts. I, personally, can’t attest to one being better than the other.


Geoff

3

I used Examkrackers and was very happy with it. I used the study schedule posted on their Web site and also listened to Audio Osmosis while biking to school on a bike path. Since I didn’t use anything else, I can’t give you a comparison. I think if you are a concise, principles-oriented thinker, it’s the way to go. If you are more a detail person I think you might be better with Kaplan. But again, never tried it.

4

I dabbled a bit with all three. I’m still planning on posting more in the future, but the short answer is that I got the following sense from each one:


EK - I found this to be the most useful, primarily for Audio Osmosis. I imagine that the core books would be good as well. The “1001 questions” books kinda sucked, though. IMO it does a good job of explaining the “whys” behind the sciende.


Kaplan - Useful core science books, although just for the material (ie the style isn’t similar to the MCAT). Seems to focus very much on specific techniques, rather than underlying understanding.


Princeton - Used this somewhat w/ their online tests, especially for Physics. It seems good if you want to “over prepare” for the nitty-gritty science aspects (e.g. physics calculations). It seems to go beyond the scope of what the MCAT needs (or perhaps what it focuses on), but it may still be good.


And of course, there are a thousand other companies competing for your study dollar. And this is all just my take on stuff, based on my limited experience with each. Good luck!