Kaplan OAT - is it worth it?

[psuun]

I was thinking about buying the thin Kaplan OAT book from the bookstore for the 2007 edition, but the reviews on Amazon all said it wasn't really worth it and I should really invest in an MCAT review book. Do you guys agree?

Also, how much different is the 1000 page Kaplan OAT book (from the official course) from an MCAT comprehensive review book? I don't really have a ton of money to invest on such a rare item for the kaplan OAT.

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[Oogilily]

I've heard the big kaplan book is the way to go. Skip the course though. Find a used book that somebody has from taking the course and use that.

 

[daysend85]

I was thinking about buying the thin Kaplan OAT book from the bookstore for the 2007 edition, but the reviews on Amazon all said it wasn't really worth it and I should really invest in an MCAT review book. Do you guys agree?

Also, how much different is the 1000 page Kaplan OAT book (from the official course) from an MCAT comprehensive review book? I don't really have a ton of money to invest on such a rare item for the kaplan OAT.

I disagree. I thoroughly used the thin Kaplan OAT book, and I think it helped a lot. It's not that expensive, and it provides full length OAT practice exams. I think you'll be at a little disadvantage if you don't purchase it. As far as the big Kaplan OAT book, I didn't use it that much, only for the math and RC sections. The rest I used SAT or AP books that provided MUCH better explanations of the concepts.

 

[OnionKnight]

I think the thin Kaplan book is very useful. Actually, that book is the only 'OAT specific' book I used in my studying (also used previous class notes). It has practice exams, which I highly recommend you take beforehand so you get an idea of how long it is.

 

[JeffChou]

I think the big Review Notes book from Kaplan's course is a helpful resource. It covers the relevant topics (for the OAT). Although not all the explanations are very in depth, they cover the scope of the OAT. Studying MCAT prep material will probably help, but the big Kaplan book is tailored to the OAT.

I based my studying off the big Kaplan book and referenced my class textbooks for certain concepts I struggled with (physio). The OAT didn't really have any questions outside the topics covered with the OAT books and the Bio questions weren't any more specific than the material covered in the OAT books.