Princeton Review Ultimate in-class

[AlphaStudent]

Hi guys,

I am going to be taking the princeton review ultimate in-class course during the summer of 2018. I was wondering if anyone has taken this course already and can provide some opinions on what it was like? How much did it help? How detailed were their classes? etc. etc. etc.

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[soccerlover156]

I took the 120 hour one for about 2 grand.. i guess it depends on the person teaching the course but my CARS class/teacher was a complete waste of time, my bio/biochem teacher was REALLY good but he was exceptionally passionate and had just gotten into med school so the info was very fresh on his mind. Chemistry was alright, but in general they essentially go over the package of 6 books with you with a couple passages from the big science workbook while writing notes on the board. I don't know i didn't really find it helpful and it was very tiresome staying in class for 8 hours and going home expecting to get MORE work done. I just couldn't keep up with the schedule and didn't do much of the work TPR offered online. I probably would not do it again but it did help me get a feel for what the MCAT would be testing since i did not know where to start, but I soon realized they were testing fairly simple concepts. So after class self-studying took over & i grinded in the library 10am-1am for about 2.5 months starting from the books + notes from classes.

 

[soccerlover156]

If i had to do it again, I'd take the one that is spread out over time and I would really go along the schedule. For example, read before class do the online pre-class stuff, go to class take notes & ask questions, come home review do post-class stuff, reinforce, etc. Its all a time management game honestly, use the internet to learn what your weak on. And as time goes by you'll realize which areas your strong in and where you aren't and just focus on those & you'll be fine. CARS is just a different playing field you just need to develop your own strategy for catching the authors message/tone it was by far the most annoying.

 

[AlphaStudent]

If i had to do it again, I'd take the one that is spread out over time and I would really go along the schedule. For example, read before class do the online pre-class stuff, go to class take notes & ask questions, come home review do post-class stuff, reinforce, etc. Its all a time management game honestly, use the internet to learn what your weak on. And as time goes by you'll realize which areas your strong in and where you aren't and just focus on those & you'll be fine. CARS is just a different playing field you just need to develop your own strategy for catching the authors message/tone it was by far the most annoying.

Thanks for the thorough reply! i have a total of 4 months to study and the first month I'm planning on doing just self study (mainly content review). 2nd month I will be taking the Princeton review course class (6hrs per day) and prob self study a few hrs after class as well. 3rd month I'll be doing physics 2 summer session while studying MCAT a few hrs a day and 4th month I'll just do a crap ton of FL/practice exams. That's my plan. Hopefully it works out. I'm a little weak in gen Chem so Im hoping Princeton review would thoroughly go over it cuz I hear they go more in depth than Kaplan. I have friends who scored pretty high after doing Princeton review so that's why I decided to go with them

 

[soccerlover156]

Thanks for the thorough reply! i have a total of 4 months to study and the first month I'm planning on doing just self study (mainly content review). 2nd month I will be taking the Princeton review course class (6hrs per day) and prob self study a few hrs after class as well. 3rd month I'll be doing physics 2 summer session while studying MCAT a few hrs a day and 4th month I'll just do a crap ton of FL/practice exams. That's my plan. Hopefully it works out. I'm a little weak in gen Chem so Im hoping Princeton review would thoroughly go over it cuz I hear they go more in depth than Kaplan. I have friends who scored pretty high after doing Princeton review so that's why I decided to go with them

No problem bud, your plan sounds good just make sure your testing yourself even throughout content review by adding in passages, the learning part is pretty easy just applying it and looking at the bigger picture is harder. TPR does offer a lot of neat stuff on their online site to test yourself after every chapter so thats good. For your physics class make sure to search on here for high yield physics topics and master those while you take the course that will definitely help. Start CARS asap it takes time to get a good plan in when tackling passages and mastering timing and such, the more you practice it will help. If your still in school now and want to do easy review i'd suggest starting with psychology like the 100 page khan academy doc, you can easily do like 15-20 pages a day and add some passages along with it. That'll definitely get you a 130+ in that section. Just don't be afraid to start studying any of the MCAT material, most of the concepts are simple & like 70% of the answer is in the passage you just need some background info to get the right answer (atleast for bio/biochem & psych). Chem was my worst i guess you just need to do tons of practice problems so your quick with it when it comes to the actual thing but orgo is doable. Don't think you have to finish EVERYTHING before taking a practice test (that was my biggest mistake) even if your like 40% done with content in any section i'd still go and take a practice test, see what you got wrong and review it. Thats the best way to learn.

 

[rfm1313]

Hi guys,

I am going to be taking the princeton review ultimate in-class course during the summer of 2018. I was wondering if anyone has taken this course already and can provide some opinions on what it was like? How much did it help? How detailed were their classes? etc. etc. etc.

Which course date are you enrolling in? My course info: May 29th - Jul 26th @ Univ. of Houston.

 

[AlphaStudent]

Which course date are you enrolling in? My course info: May 29th - Jul 26th @ Univ. of Houston.

I decided to go with the live-online cause of the convenience of staying home or just watching the lectures from my local library. Mine starts June 2nd and ends on the last day of july.

 

[rfm1313]

I decided to go with the live-online cause of the convenience of staying home or just watching the lectures from my local library. Mine starts June 2nd and ends on the last day of july.

That was for sure the right call. So far, the instructors have been on time only once, and today class altogether cancelled b/c of a no-show. The class itself is inside a super-crammed hotel room, and we're learning on a broken dry-erase board. I guess 2500 bucks doesn't mean much these days...enjoy your bed as your classroom haha.

 

[AlphaStudent]

That was for sure the right call. So far, the instructors have been on time only once, and today class altogether cancelled b/c of a no-show. The class itself is inside a super-crammed hotel room, and we're learning on a broken dry-erase board. I guess 2500 bucks doesn't mean much these days...enjoy your bed as your classroom haha.

Wow that sounds horrible, sorry to hear! Maybe you can call them to see if they'll switch you over to online? So far my classes have been going pretty smoothly. The only downside to being at home is that I tend to be not as focused since there are so many distractions around me like family, TV, phone, etc. lol. I think the CARS sessions are a waste of time though since the 3 hours consist of mainly lecture (2+ hours of me just sitting there listening) with only 1 or 2 practice passages. Im probably going to skip the CARS sessions and just do tons of the practice CARS passages in the book/online-homework. But my other science subject sessions have been decent so far.

 

[rfm1313]

Wow that sounds horrible, sorry to hear! Maybe you can call them to see if they'll switch you over to online? So far my classes have been going pretty smoothly. The only downside to being at home is that I tend to be not as focused since there are so many distractions around me like family, TV, phone, etc. lol. I think the CARS sessions are a waste of time though since the 3 hours consist of mainly lecture (2+ hours of me just sitting there listening) with only 1 or 2 practice passages. Im probably going to skip the CARS sessions and just do tons of the practice CARS passages in the book/online-homework. But my other science subject sessions have been decent so far.

Yeah I called corporate today and they're making it right. I hear ya on the distractions! I have to go to a café or library and treat it like actual bill-paying work....otherwise Netflix and naps will prevail. 10/10 would recommend that approach. If you simply learn the 6 steps they give you, practice as many passages as possible, then go back and "digest" why you answered questions both correctly and incorrectly, it's a much more efficient use of your time. You'll forget the monotony in the CARS lectures for sure.