03-17-2011, 09:59 PM
Hello ...My forum friends ...I came to chicago last sunday to attend Kaplan Step 2 CS prep course for five days ...today is my fourth day ...and my experience so far....I want to write this review because before I decided to attend the course I didn't get any review around ...And I thought it might be useful.....
-First day ...In the morning lectures by Kaplan Staff(I dont write names )..It was a good introduction and informatory ...But big class size and the instructor couldnt answer many questions ...try to finish the lesson plan
...In the afternoon lecture again with minimum discussion ...and the instructor keeps talking on the phone in the middle of the lectures ...I was surprised how this happened ....the instructor appolgized repeatedly ....
...In the evening ...Practice with the teachers assistance...Due to the bigger size all of us only did one case which was brief ....it was good but again the bigger size makes it harder to practice ...I came to kaplan to practice not to watch when other people are taking history
-Second day-In the morning ...lecture again informative ...and the instructor tried to engage but for no avail...again due to the bigger size....and also the instructor keeps talking on the phone interrupting the lecture...
....In the afternoon ...again lecture ...the instructor stopped talking on the phone and the lectures became better.....
....In the evening ...met with the standardized patient (SP)...the SP is really good ...told us what common mistakes were done by the examinees...Very informative ....I liked the SP ...and we did physical examination on the S/P ...due to larger size we did only 2 mini cases ...Usually the SP told us it is a full case with more practice ..
Third day ...Morning ....they divided us in two groups ...and lecture for our group and sample SP test for the other group...this time the lecture became better and able to interact with the instructor .....
...afternoon ...two full cases with SP ....went well ...recieved a well organized feedback from the SP and case was discussed afterwards ....which helped me to focus on my week areas....
Fourth day....the worst day....they divided us into two groups ...AM group and PM group ...
And they told us we will take a practice test with the SP ...11 cases total ....like the real USMLE cases .....history taking ,P/E, counseling and patient note writing ...
Then they again divided the two groups into other two groups ...Then the first case started ...and in the middle I heard an announcement ..I was taking History and I thought the announcement was for me and I went out ...all the examinees did the same thing ...And we found out the announcement was for the other group ...and we found out when we are taking history the other group is writin patient note and viceversa....So when you are taking a history u hear an announcement for yourself,the group which is writing patient note ....and It is really confusing ....We weren't able to focus ...and in some cases they say 2 minutes remained for the patient note and they say Oh it was by mistake ,please keep writing ....It was really unprofessional from the KAPLAN stuff to do to their students ....Bigger number of students and smaller number of SP with small number of examining rooms ....It was a chaos ...
Fifth day...Today and I will write my experience
Overall assessment ....If you want to attend the Kaplan Course ask them how many number of students enrolled and how many SP they have ...It really affects your preparation after you pay all that money ....
Positive side from the course ...The standardized patients are very helpful and they point out your weakness ...had it not been for kaplan mistake (enrolling large number of students) the SP's Would have done an amazing job to shape us .....
take care
-First day ...In the morning lectures by Kaplan Staff(I dont write names )..It was a good introduction and informatory ...But big class size and the instructor couldnt answer many questions ...try to finish the lesson plan
...In the afternoon lecture again with minimum discussion ...and the instructor keeps talking on the phone in the middle of the lectures ...I was surprised how this happened ....the instructor appolgized repeatedly ....
...In the evening ...Practice with the teachers assistance...Due to the bigger size all of us only did one case which was brief ....it was good but again the bigger size makes it harder to practice ...I came to kaplan to practice not to watch when other people are taking history
-Second day-In the morning ...lecture again informative ...and the instructor tried to engage but for no avail...again due to the bigger size....and also the instructor keeps talking on the phone interrupting the lecture...
....In the afternoon ...again lecture ...the instructor stopped talking on the phone and the lectures became better.....
....In the evening ...met with the standardized patient (SP)...the SP is really good ...told us what common mistakes were done by the examinees...Very informative ....I liked the SP ...and we did physical examination on the S/P ...due to larger size we did only 2 mini cases ...Usually the SP told us it is a full case with more practice ..
Third day ...Morning ....they divided us in two groups ...and lecture for our group and sample SP test for the other group...this time the lecture became better and able to interact with the instructor .....
...afternoon ...two full cases with SP ....went well ...recieved a well organized feedback from the SP and case was discussed afterwards ....which helped me to focus on my week areas....
Fourth day....the worst day....they divided us into two groups ...AM group and PM group ...
And they told us we will take a practice test with the SP ...11 cases total ....like the real USMLE cases .....history taking ,P/E, counseling and patient note writing ...
Then they again divided the two groups into other two groups ...Then the first case started ...and in the middle I heard an announcement ..I was taking History and I thought the announcement was for me and I went out ...all the examinees did the same thing ...And we found out the announcement was for the other group ...and we found out when we are taking history the other group is writin patient note and viceversa....So when you are taking a history u hear an announcement for yourself,the group which is writing patient note ....and It is really confusing ....We weren't able to focus ...and in some cases they say 2 minutes remained for the patient note and they say Oh it was by mistake ,please keep writing ....It was really unprofessional from the KAPLAN stuff to do to their students ....Bigger number of students and smaller number of SP with small number of examining rooms ....It was a chaos ...
Fifth day...Today and I will write my experience
Overall assessment ....If you want to attend the Kaplan Course ask them how many number of students enrolled and how many SP they have ...It really affects your preparation after you pay all that money ....
Positive side from the course ...The standardized patients are very helpful and they point out your weakness ...had it not been for kaplan mistake (enrolling large number of students) the SP's Would have done an amazing job to shape us .....
take care