If you’ve got a comprehensive review book, TPR or Kaplan Etc, and you’re self motivated to study and take the AAMC and review book full length pretest, is there any real advantage in taking the lecture course?
Has anyone tried the Kaplan “On Demand” online course?
Thanks,
Dan
Most of the people I know who did really well on the MCAT did so by studying on their own and taking practice tests, until the real test felt like a practice test. Nervousness contributes to failure and inability to recall under pressure. Taking practice tests helps reduce or alleviate that nervousness and makes one comfortable when doing tests.
I myself did a self study, mainly because I didn’t have the cash to drop on a course. I think I would have liked to take a course as I’m someone who does well with the structure. One other bonus of kaplan is that they include subject tests and qbanks of subject questions which let you continually test yourself.
I ended up doing well, partially I think because I cut back to part time, moved in with my girlfriend and primarily focused on the MCAT for a few months.
If you end up doing a self study I have one piece of advice I garnered from SDN that I think helped me, which is to take a few practice tests at the library. That way you’re somewhere where it’s relatively quiet but theres still people rustling around like you’ll have on test day at the testing center.
I would say if you are going to pay for a course I wouldn’t do one of those on-demand types. I couldn’t imagine coming home from a day to sit in front of a computer monitor to watch a lecture for three hours. That being said the lectures I had at kaplan were helpful, but having the access to questions has been the most help.