Question for Vitum: Should I take a MCAT course?

Despite the narrow topic of this post, hopefully it will be entertaining for those of my readers not even considering medicine, due to my random attempts at humourous comments throughout. Those who have taken the MCAT, well, post a comment with your experience.

Every so often I get a question from pre-med students, and here's another one. I've gotten it a few times, so in a combination of laziness (I don't want to have to repeat myself 100 times) and desperation for attention (by directing the asker here instead of e-mailing him back, this will get my blog 1 more hit) I figured I'd post my standard answer here, with aforementioned random attempts at humourous comments throughout.

Q: Should I take an MCAT review course?
- Scotty, my very capable pre-med buddy. I'm rooting for ya.

Ohhhhh the dreaded M-word. I hated the MCAT and am exceedingly glad that it is behind me. In the spirit of the cliché that putting together a medical school application is like a several-year process of 'jumping through the hoops' (GPA, reference letters, application, interview, extracurriculars, volunteering, additional items to make the application well-rounded)... the MCAT is one of the higher, slightly more intensely flaming hoops. I would much rather take a five-second polar bear swim in dilute hydrochloric acid and succumb to a quantity of international scorn and jeers such as Bush goes through in a day, then repeat that ordeal of studying, preparing, writing, waiting and waiting for results, and going through dehydration from my three-week-long cry session when my marks did arrive. (I didn't do that bad, actually, so I only had to take it once. Praise Allah.)

A bit of background, first. For those who aren't aware, companies such as Princeton Review and Kaplan have a business plan stemming from the incredibly brilliant idea that someone had one day: "I bet people pursuing their life dreams and ambitions would pay money for help." In that spirit of taking advantage of the vulnerable, they charge exorbiant amounts of money to help people who will do virtually anything to 'get in.'
(For those who really aren't aware, the MCAT stands for the 'Medical College Admissions Test' and is an 8-hour ordeal, usually preceeded by months of studying, testing your knowledge in general biology, chemistry, physics, organic chemistry, essay writing skills, and reading comprehension.)

Actually, test prep companies are not as bad as I just made them sound. Their courses are based on years of experience, they can indeed prepare you well, and in fact, on their websites they also have a lot of really good, free resources for admisison to many professions, which might give you an idea of what the application process is like or if it's right for you. For example, thanks to them, just now I was able to learn in 30 seconds that unlike the MCAT for med schools, for many law schools, an applicant's LSAT score accounts for over 50% of the admissions decision. There you go: something I didn't know before, but will be useful should I come to a career crisis in 2 or 20 years (unlikely. I'm happy where I am). The more you know.

So, my answer? Well, here's the short answer: In general, I'd recommend it and I'm glad I took one. But, it is expensive, so it depends.

That ambiguous response is unfortunately the best I can offer. Everything here on in will be basically serve to reiterate that. Sorry, but unlike scientific questions, there is no absolute, universal answer... okay, that was a little joke for people who are quite aware of the fact that there seem to be rarely any absolutes in scientific research (a hasty example: MedPage tells us that Aspirin is great for your heart by reducing heart attacks; a year later, the same source tells us it's bad for your heart by upping hypertension).

Back to MCAT courses: While I took the course and am glad that I did, whether or not you should take one depends on your personality type. Some people will benefit more than others. Let me explain: here are the reasons you might choose to take one.

Study motivation. Personally, I did take a Kaplan course before studying for the MCAT and felt it benefited me greatly. The general concensus of people in my class - which I agree with - is that a class is very helpful if you have trouble motivating yourself to study regularly. I do best with pressure to meet my study goals, so this aspect really helped for me. As well, if you can choose a course that starts several months before the actual MCAT, and then you'll be getting quality studying done well in advance.

Mock test experience. Second to that, the most valuable part of the course for me was the experience of writing several mock full-length MCATs in a large-group environment, in a huge classroom with a hundred or two other people, just like the real thing was going to be. Because it was full-length it got me in the groove of getting good rest the night before, packing a lunch, getting up early, and getting the timing down complete with breaks and the like. However, this might not be as big an advantage for you because the test is now going to be all online, rather than pen-and-paper like when I took it, so here I'm already dating myself. You might make fun of me for being that old, but hey, at least all my questions matched my passages (an error I've heard actually occured on a computer-based MCAT).

Resources. The question banks that these companies include with their courses are an asset in themselves. You get access to a huge amount of mock questions of varying difficulty just like you'll find on the actual test, which they write themselves based on the AAMC mock questions. In fact, you can imagine how far my jaw dropped when I opened my actual MCAT booklet and saw that the first question was on a topic that I'd seen a few times in the practice tests, with IDENTICAL diagrams (the questions were slightly different, though one or two were identical as well). A moment likes that makes you feel like all that money handed to the test prep company was worth it.

Lectures. As well, if you're someone who learns a lot from lectures, then this will help you out a lot, because they have some decent (and some not-so-decent) lecturers on the major topics. I don't fall into this category, so instead, for me lectures were a good chance to review on my own and distract the serious learners while I chit-chatted with other pre-med applicants and looked up NHL playoff game scores on my cell phone. However, for being someone who doesn't do well in lectures, there were still some outstanding lecturers that I learned a lot from, and in fact, I still refer to the notes I took in those MCAT course lectures.

People. If you're a social butterfly, and aren't sick to death yet by being surrounded by other keener pre-med types, then that in itself might be another reason for you to take a course; you'll meet lots of people with similar goals and aspirations, always good for sharing stories / advice / seeking out a potential life partner. I still keep in touch with or randomly bump into people I met in my MCAT class; two of them are in the year ahead of me in my med school, and I saw another one who was applying for admission at my school this coming year. Then again, the people might be just the reason you choose not to take an MCAT course. See my friend's quotes below.

Aside from my lengthy answer, you might be thinking, what do other med students think? Look how helpful I am: just for you, I actually asked a few people in my class who happened to be on MSN right now. They all had different answers:

• "I didn't take the course but I didn't do well on the MCAT. It probably would have helped but I saved myself a thousand bucks or so."
  - My friend the wink.
  
  
• "I did take the course, and it helped because I am not adept at standardized tests."
  - My friend the little med student with a big heart (and mouth). (She chose that name herself).
  
  
• "I took one, and it definitely helped. They actually teach you what you need to know, have homework and a schedule that you strive to keep up with, and it just pushes you. The people in the class are intense pre-med keeners, though. They thought I was dumb and such a slacker, especially since i went travelling during the course too."
  - Kitty, my slacker friend.
  
  
• "I didn't take a course and I did fine. I didn't want to do the course thing because pre-med type people are too stressy for me. I studied from some Kaplan books I got from a friend. I just wish I studied harder for verbal reasoning."
  - Annie, my friend who was too unoriginal to choose a nickname. Actually, maybe I shouldn't mock people who are helping me. Sorry Annie.
  

So, if by now you think the course is right for you, then this inevitable question will be brewing somewhere in your cranium:

Which course should I take, Kaplan or Princeton Review?

Easy. All the people I know who took Kaplan say that Kaplan is the best (myself included), as opposed to the people who took Princeton Review. They say that Princeton Review is the best. I'll leave it at that.

For you? They both cost roughly the same. If they don't, find one which suits your budget the best. But obviously, most importantly, choose the one that fits your schedule best.

Final advice: Choose a course that starts well before your MCAT date. Despite the fact that you might want to get it over with quick like ripping off a bandaid, you'll probably find that more info sticks / you get to know how the test makers think better when you've been going over it for a few months as opposed to a few weeks.

Hope that helps. This was a hefty post, but I know that pre-meds usually don't complain about too much help. I also hope you didn't get lost in my answer full of random ADHD diversions. All the best as you tackle the MCAT giant for yourself, and remember, it's not that bad. Hopefully you come out alive.