I’m starting a Kaplan class in a few weeks; and have looked over their materials. I have also accumulated some EK books, and odds and ends over the last year or two.
I’m starting to feel that I don’t have enough passage practice though, as it relates to science-related material. It seems like there’s tons of discrete question practice available, but passages seem a little harder to come by.
How much material should I get my hands on? What should give me enough practice? I was thinking about getting the BR review books (I saw the other thread), I’ve heard/read they have great passage practice.
What would the veteran MCAT takers say? Thanks, and Happy New Year!
Honestly the Kaplan class should provide you plenty of practice questions. Have you gotten your online access for kaplan yet? I thought the online stuff was more than enough practice, the only thing I didn’t care for with Kaplan was the classroom.
I have been to their site; mainly looking through the review notes, and quizzes. I haven’t been through all the of the practice materials yet though, no. I had heard that Kaplan’s passages may give you a false sense of security. I guess I was looking for some diversity as well.
What was your experience with it? It sounds like you relied exclusively on Kaplan’s stuff.
I also had exam krackers. I thought that most of the Kaplan stuff made me feel stupider. I thought for sure going up to the test I was cruising for a 22. I personally didn’t like going to the class because I feel like it wasted 3 hours twice a week that I could have spent doing practice problems. The class does help with accountability (ie I made sure I read all of the review books), but I didn’t feel like the classes covered enough to be helpful. Ofcourse you have to attend the classes in order to get your “refund”. In the class you go through that book and work about 15 practice questions in a three hour peroid. I also thought the passage “diagraming” stuff wasted too much time.
I used Kaplan’s stuff almost exclusively for the passages and ended up doing a really good job on them.
I agree with others though. Sometimes I felt like I was wasting 3 hours twice a week when I went to class, but ultimately I ended up doing better than I thought I would.