Hi all,
I am a non-trad MCAT instructor who has been teaching for Kaplan for five years. If anyone has questions, feel free to PM me or post them here. 
Hey Q, nice to see ya on OPM! For those who aren’t on studentdoctor.net, Q is the bomb and you should definitely listen to her. 
Mary
Thanks Q! This is very kind of you to offer. I am taking the Kaplan classroom course now and expect that many questions will start boiling up in my brain soon. We are indeed fortunate to have your expert offer of assistance.
Regards,
RMG, Dr. 2B
Q,
Thank you for volunteering!
So far so good. But it’s nice to know that if I need to I’ll have someone to ask…
…especially that I’m not too pleased with my instructor. He was quite good until we got to the Orgo part. It was tonight. And he was totally confused and…either unprepared or didn’t have the knowledge at all. He gives cool tips as far as test taking strategy goes but I was disappointed with his knowledge.
If Kaplan charges us so much for the course they should at least have competent instructors…
I agree with you. If you are not satisfied, I would definitely let him know (nicely of course). He may have just been having an off day, or maybe he is weak in organic as you suggested. But at least talk to him about it so that he has an opportunity to improve. Student feedback (good and bad) is very helpful for instructors.
P.S. Organic chem is my best subject; I’m about to get my PhD three months from now. So if you have organic questions, feel free to ask away.
Thanks for taking our questions. I am enrolled in the classroom setting. How much do people usually improve over their baseline diagnostics? I need to improve by 8 points to qualify for my link program. Is this reasonable? Thanks.
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Thanks for taking our questions. I am enrolled in the classroom setting. How much do people usually improve over their baseline diagnostics? I need to improve by 8 points to qualify for my link program. Is this reasonable? Thanks.
Unsurprisingly, the amount that you can raise your score depends on you. In general, the students who improve the most are the ones who spend the most time working with the training library. The average Kaplan student completes about half of the practice tests. A few students complete all or nearly all of them, and naturally they are the ones who tend to see the most improvement. If you’re wondering whether I’ve ever seen anyone’s score go up eight points, the answer is yes, some students do raise their scores that much or more. I myself went up nine points from the first time I took the test ten years ago (self-study) to the second time two years ago (using Kaplan).
One other caveat is that how easy it will be for you to raise your score also depends on your starting point. It is much easier to raise your score from a 20 to a 30, for example, than it is to raise it from a 30 to a 40. This is due to the curved nature of the test.
You are a gem for your OPM’er devotion!
I am doing self-study with PR, EK and maybe some Kaplan thrown in.
1. Do you think Qbank is good value? It isn’t very costly; I just wonder if you think it is the right sort of practice to be doing.
Secondly, I am looking at buying an AMCAS test series. I took 3R and have since heard rumors that test is “too easy” to provide a good score to judge myself by. Do you have any info on the other available tests? (I think it’s 7 and 8 P, and then another series as well. Each series is about $80. I want to buy one of them, not both.
Thanks,
Barb
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You are a gem for your OPM’er devotion!
I am doing self-study with PR, EK and maybe some Kaplan thrown in.
1. Do you think Qbank is good value? It isn’t very costly; I just wonder if you think it is the right sort of practice to be doing.
Secondly, I am looking at buying an AMCAS test series. I took 3R and have since heard rumors that test is “too easy” to provide a good score to judge myself by. Do you have any info on the other available tests? (I think it’s 7 and 8 P, and then another series as well. Each series is about $80. I want to buy one of them, not both.
Thanks,
Barb
1) I haven’t ever used the MCAT Qbank myself, so I can’t tell you much about it from personal experience. I don’t think it was even around yet when I was studying for the test two years ago. I do know that the Kaplan USMLE Qbanks are very popular, and it seems like just about every med student uses them to study for the board exams. Are you a course repeater? If you have already completed all or most of the library tests, it would probably make sense for you to purchase some extra practice questions, either from Kaplan or from other sources. I also think it would make sense to use the Qbank if you are going to be taking the computerized version of the MCAT either this year optionally, or if you will be taking the MCAT any time after this year. Hopefully you all know that starting in 2007, the MCAT is moving to a completely computerized format; August 2006 is the last time that the pen and paper exam will be available. Anyone who is going to be taking the computer version of the test should definitely do as much practice as possible on the computer to prepare for the new format of the test. It doesn’t have to be the Kaplan Qbank necessarily, but you should get in some significant computer MCAT test-taking practice. This is because the strategies for taking a computerized test will differ somewhat from the strategies for taking a pen-and-paper exam.
2) The AAMC exams are numbered sequentially as they are issued, and you are correct that the earlier exams are easier than the later ones (and easier than current MCAT exams!) The most recently released MCAT is test 8, which came out last year (2005). I suggest that if you want to purchase some AAMC tests, you should purchase the most recent ones, since these will be the ones that are closest in difficulty level and format to the current test. Anyone who is enrolled in a Kaplan course should NOT purchase the AAMC exams; you already have access to them as part of your Kaplan course. Unfortunately, Kaplan cannot make the AAMC exams available to you on line because of copyright issues, but you can take any or all of them at your Kaplan center at no extra charge to you.
Hope this helps.
I am an online student and I was told that I am not alllowed to use the AAMC tests even if I go to the center because it is not part of the package? Another question, since I am an online student, are there study rooms in the Kaplan centers I can use?
I am also an online student, and at my local center they do have study rooms available. I can study at home without disturances so I just go there for the full length practice tests. I dont know what other AAMC materials they have besides the practice tests that are available from aamc online, but for 80$ I got those too, just for extra practice.
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I am an online student and I was told that I am not alllowed to use the AAMC tests even if I go to the center because it is not part of the package? Another question, since I am an online student, are there study rooms in the Kaplan centers I can use?
1) I asked my manager about this, and she confirmed what you were told that online students do NOT get access to the AAMC practice tests or practice items. You have access to everything that is online (all of the Kaplan library, the online workshops, the video lessons, etc.), but you do not have access to the things that are only available in the Kaplan center (the live classes and the AAMC items).
2) My guess is that technically you are probably not supposed to study at the Kaplan center. That being said, if all you want to do is go use a study carrel, and you don’t try to check anything out of the library or crash a live class, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be allowed to do it. You should ask your center manager for permission; if your center is anything like mine, s/he probably won’t mind as long as there is room in the study carrels for you. If the manager will not permit you to study at the center, I suggest going to your local university library and using a study carrel there.
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I am also an online student, and at my local center they do have study rooms available. I can study at home without disturances so I just go there for the full length practice tests. I dont know what other AAMC materials they have besides the practice tests that are available from aamc online, but for 80$ I got those too, just for extra practice.
Like I posted elsewhere, you basically have access to almost everything that the classroom students have, with the exception of the AAMC tests, the AAMC practice items, and the live classes. You’ve already bought the AAMC tests on your own, and the AAMC practice items are way too easy compared to the current MCAT anyway. I’m not saying that they aren’t good for practice, but you’re better off taking the most recent AAMC tests if you want to simulate what the actual test is going to be like in 2006. I would not recommend purchasing the AAMC practice items from the AAMC instead of the AAMC practice tests, but for anyone who is taking the live Kaplan course and feels like doing them on top of the other practice tests, it certainly wouldn’t hurt you.
On a rather different note, what sort of hours per week does Kaplan look for from their tutors, and how flexible is the scheduling? 
I’ve been doing some grade school tutoring/after school programs for a while now, but would like to move on to a (hopefully) more receptive, older student range. One distinct possibility would be to look into ACT/SAT test prep tutoring with Kaplan or TPR. The other would be to take a job tutoring gen chem, gen bio, anatomy, and a range of math at a community college where I took some classes. Having a rather hard time deciding which would be better for me, so any info as far as the basics of working for Kaplan would be appreciated.
It varies. Generally at my center they have more work than I can handle. But if there are a lot of teachers and tutors, you may not get as much as you want. I have some friends in other cities with that problem.
I suggest calling the manager of your local center and talking to him/her. You may not have to complete the teacher training; most instructors (myself included) do both teaching and tutoring, so I’m not sure what they’d do if you came in only wanting to do tutoring.