The Berkeley Review

Really bad with responding to emails or any type of inquiry, really. A business should be able to cater to their customers and at the very least, communicate with them.

EXCELLENT TEST PREP! It’s absolutely amazing! As always though, there will be pros and cons, but I feel the pros WAY outweigh the cons and make it the best MCAT test prep company.
PROS:
1) Todd.
By far, the GREATEST physics/​chemistry tutor I have ever found. If you are worried about getting a better Physical Sciences course, HE IS YOUR MAN! It’s unfortunate he can’t teach the entire course. He has also written a lot of the Physics books and problems, so he KNOWS his stuff.
2) Small Business (relatively)
I feel like small businesses always care more for you. Todd and most of his tutors are SO easy to get in touch with! They also have office hours and are willing to meet up with you for office hours as well. Over the course, we were feeling uncomfortable for the Biological section, so Todd had the Bio teacher from the Berkeley location spend almost 6 hours with us at no additional charge (it was originally 2 hours, but Dale was so nice that he stayed until we didn’t have questions). And when we felt that one of hte tutors was sub-​par, Todd re-​did those classes for him so we would be prepared.
3) AMAZING MATERIAL
This is in all caps for a reason. You will not find better material for the sciences and there is SO MUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE! The bio can definitely be a bit too detailed, but the integration of topics and the unique, weird passages help prepare you for what will ultimately be the weird passages you get on the real MCAT.
CONS:
1) Verbal
Obviously, their weakest section. But from what I’ve heard from the various students who have taken two courses (i.e. Berkeley Review and Princeton, Berekeley Review and Swartwood, Berkeley Review and Kaplan), they all sort of suck. The usual advice for this is to get the EK 101 Passages or the Princeton Review workbook and just do passages in there. Their amazing sciences heavily outweight their sub-​par verbal.
2) Their website and business aspect
The business is run in a very old-​fashioned way. I talked with Todd once and he agreed that the website is horrible and that they do need to update that business aspect. The application was a bit confusing and I never got confirmation I was enrolled until I got in. Again, small price to pay for such excellent service.
That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but I heavily recommend despite the cons!

Ordered practice tests but terrible customer service over the phone. They wrote down my wrong email twice, got 20% less study time, then the manager wouldn’t call me back to talk about giving me a prorated refund. They are so specific with how long we can have their tests but fail to honor their policy both ways.

The Berkeley Review is an awesome MCAT prep course.
A few friends back during undergrad took TBR in Berkeley (yeah, they drove the 1.5 hour commute from Davis all the way to Berkeley) and were completely happy with the class. At that time (back in 2009), I was taking a prep course from another company and was pretty dissatisfied with the quality of the instructor and the whole format of the course. But I stuck it out anyway because I figured it was just as good, and it was more convenient for me to not commute that far. Well, I should have just dropped the other course and signed up with TBR, but that’s another story…
Anyway, when I moved down to LA for grad school, I decided to take another prep course to help me study for the MCAT. I researched and found out that TBR had a site in Westwood. I immediately signed up for it, knowing I’d have to fight through the horrendous LA traffic to get to my class. But after hearing all the success stories from past TBR students, I figured it’d be worth it.
IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT! Todd is an awesome instructor. He’s very animated, intelligent, and humorous. I always appreciate instructors and professors like that because they help keep me engaged during the class. Also, TBR offers snacks and beverages to the students free of charge. That’s a huge plus and a great pick me up after sitting through hours of my other classes earlier during the day. The environment is friendlier and not as cut throat as my other course. The students enrolled are actually nice and helpful. That’s totally the opposite of what you’d expect from pre-​meds and I love it! Also, Todd has other instructors involved and they’re all great. They’re a mix of current undergrads who have taken the course and the MCAT; people who are currently applying (and have gotten accepted) to medical schools; people who are current medical school students; and a working physician. That’s a pretty good mix and they all have their own unique input and advice for all of us.
Now on to the material. There are subject books given out (1 writing, 1 verbal, 2 general chemistry, 2 physics, 2 organic chemistry, and 2 biology). They’re all written relatively well, but I will admit that the biology books could use some work. Organic chemistry and physics are pretty awesome, and the other books fall around average in terms of how the material is presented.
I know I shouldn’t divulge more information. I don’t want to get in trouble for leaking out all the TBR secrets and course lay out. But I will say this, I am totally happy with how my course is going. I feel like I’m absorbing the material better and that I am performing better on practice passages and MCATs when compared to my other review course. If you have the time and money to shell out for a prep course, I definitely would recommend TBR.