Krystle M. Leung ’15, a chemistry concentrator and premedical student, said she tries to choose classes “that are fascinating and foundational more for the material than for the MCAT itself.”
PREPPING FOR THE TEST
Students who find classes to be insufficient review often look for options outside the classroom to help them learn the material tested by the MCAT.
Gandelman described the studying he did on his own as “the most helpful” method of preparation.
Other students say courses offered by test prep companies are useful tools. Gammoh said the course he took with Kaplan was “definitely helpful in [the] sense that it provided me with a lot of resources” in the form of practice exams and other materials.
Farcy said Kaplan structures its program to provide specific details and strategies for the exam that students cannot replicate just by reviewing the material.
“We really build around the ideas of developing critical thinking skills and helping students understand the exam.... Our course is strategy-focused course, as opposed to just a review,” he said.
In 2015, the MCAT will implement changes to its format for the first time since 1991. A new section entitled “Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior” will focus on introductory psychology and sociology concepts and a new “Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills” section will involve analyzing information from humanities and social science disciplines, including ethics and cultural studies. In total, the test will also be approximately 90 minutes longer than the current MCAT exam.
Farcy said he thinks student demand for prep classes will increase with these changes.
“As the domain of the test continues to expand, expectation is that students will need more help to get ready for the exam,” Farcy said, adding that he believes changes to the test will make test prep courses more important.
But the high cost of test prep can make it inaccessible to students with limited financial resources. In Cambridge, Kaplan’s MCAT Advantage course costs $1,999 and Princeton Review’s Ultimate MCAT program comes with a $2,299 price tag.
“I think that the courses are great if you’re somebody who wants structure, but they are also...really expensive,” said Cloutier.
There are several programs currently in place to provide students with the resources to attend prep classes. The Harvard Premedical Society collaborates with test companies to auction off discounted courses and Kaplan offers several initiatives to help students with financial constraints, including a tuition assistance program that offers financial aid for the company’s graduate school prep courses.
But undergraduates say financial aid is not enough to allow everyone to take a test prep course. Gammoh supported the idea that Harvard should create a course in the style of what is offered by official companies to help its students prepare for the MCAT.
“I think it would be really helpful if Harvard did offer a class for the MCAT for students who don’t have the money to pay for a class,” Gammoh said. “The MCAT is a very specific exam and there are a lot of techniques you need to know to take it.”
—Staff writer Lauren E. Claus can be reached at laurenclaus@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenEClaus.