*Disclaimer: these are my own opinions, but hopefully they are useful if you're making these decisions. I took Princeton Review for 10 weeks during the summer before my senior year, and am happy with my decision.
To take a prep class or not...
This depends on three things: money, time, and self-motivation.
1) Money: A prep class costs anywhere from $1000-$2000. Honestly, this is not that much money compared to the total cost of med school applications/interviews. But if you really have trouble affording this, then it's not worth it. Anything you learn from class you can learn from books that you can borrow from friends for free, or buy online.
2) Time: Lectures are not time efficient. You'll end up reviewing any material you learned in class anyway, unless you are the type of person who only needs to see something once to know it forever. I devoted most of my summer to MCAT-ing, so many hours a day to spare. However, if you are are studying during the school year, I would recommend NOT taking a prep class. I believe your limited time is better spent self-studying.
3) Self-motivation: I ultimately decided to take a prep class because I knew I needed the extra motivation to keep me going all summer long. If you are very self-motivated and can stick to a schedule, then you'll be fine without a class (again, just buy/borrow books). Looking back, this is the sole reason that I am happy with my decision to take a prep class. I stuck with the class homework/study schedule and it helped pace me for the whole 10 weeks.
Which company to use...
There are 4 main competitors: Kaplan, The Berkeley Review, Examkrackers, and The Princeton Review.
Kaplan: I think the consensus is that Kaplan does not offer enough depth of material. I wouldn't waste my money on them. (Different story for DAT/OAT)
The Berkeley Review: I used TBR books for G-Chem and O-Chem. They actually offer too much information. They like to over-prepare their students by going super in-depth and giving lots of examples from past tests. But I'm not sure if that works for MCAT, since the test is not just about memorizing material. But if you are good at reading through lots of info and figuring out what's most important for you to learn, then this is a good choice. Although it took a lot of extra time, I'm happy that I used it for the chemistry subjects, because Princeton's chem was so brief. It filled in the random gaps in my knowledge. But I probably would have felt overwhelmed if I had take the whole TBR class. Also, something unique is that they don't let you take any practice tests until your halfway though the course. I don't remember why, but I kinda agree with this approach. Taking tests early on doesn't really help and it just makes people worry too much.
Examkrackers: Basically the opposite approach of TBR. Less content, but focuses more on how to think for the MCAT, since a lot of the test does require critical thinking and reasoning. I do know people who only used Examkrackers and did awesome, but I was worried it wouldn't prepare me enough.
The Princeton Review: In between Berkeley Review and Examkrackers - not too much, not too little. Except for the g-chem and o-chem material, which was not in-depth enough in my opinion (but still useful as a starting point). I think they are the BEST for practice passages for the Verbal section. The class lectures weren't very helpful for me, since I learn better from reading, practicing, and discussing with friends. But they did teach me some useful tips along the way.
Bottom line: Despite what I've discussed, there are people who use Kaplan and do awesome, and there are people who use TBR and do poorly. You can make any class work for you. I don't believe any one class is perfect. Just tweak some things here and there to find the best fit for you!
Here is what I used:
- Took Princeton Review course (2.5 hrs/day, 4 days/wk, 10 weeks)
- Read ALL Princeton Review books and did ALL practice problems and passages
- Read all of Berkeley Review O-chem and G-chem, and did most of their practice passages
- Studied Examkrackers Bio lots of times
- Did most of Examkrackers "101 Passages in MCAT Verbal" even though my TPR verbal teacher recommended against it
- Did some of Examkrackers "1001 Questions in MCAT Physics"
- Internet for anything I was confused about (I basically learned all of my optics from khanacademy.org)
<3 kathleen
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