Verdict:
Kaplan provides a large amount of material in a very affordable package. This makes it a very compelling option for anyone with little time to prepare or a small budget. While some of its material is unneccessary, most of it is a valuable resource with enough to see at least a couple of months through.Pros:
ValueQuality
Amount of material
Detailed answers
Easy layout
Cons:
Lack of extra resourcesRequires self-motivation
Outdated videos
Ratings:
Key features:
Review price: €222
Course: Kaplan
10 practice exams included
3 courses to choose from
Begins from €99
Website: The website is nicely laid out and easy to use. Everything is neatly organized into different categories and sections which is very helpful. The site never crashed for me and I found it to be great at saving answers for the practice exams while going along which meant I didn’t have to worry about doing this manually all the time!
Practice exams: Included with the Kaplan course is 10 practice exams. These are very representative of the real exam from what I have experienced and these are the most important aspect of the Kaplan course in my opinion. I found the practice exams to be the best place to mark my progress and improve along the way. The interactive experience is easy to use. When beginning an exam, a timer displays on the right-hand side which shows remaining estimated time for the current question. This is perfect for time management skills and means that you know how much or how little time to spend on each individual question.
For correcting the exams, there is an in-depth explanation for every single answer which goes through each answer option individually and explains why it was or wasn’t the correct answer. This is done, without fail, for each question in every exam. The corrections are where most of the learning is done from the course. Learning why the answer you picked wasn’t the correct one and why another one was is invaluable.
Alongside these in-depth answers, once you have completed an exam, you get an instant score. I looked at the solutions for the ones I got wrong and then I retried my incorrect questions once again to make sure I understood why I got them wrong and see that I understand how to get the answer. The system doesn't allow you to retry wrongly answered questions which is a pity as it would be a very useful feature.
Sadly, there is no physical format for the practice exams so you will be confined to completing them online however it is likely that this is to prevent copying which is understandable. I saw that some of the other courses actually do offer physical formats so if this is important for you then just note this feature won’t be found on Kaplan.
Competition: There a number of alternatives to Kaplan on the market. The main ones are: Dublin Academy, Career services, Institute of education and Ashfield college. These are just a few of the main ones but no doubt there are many more out there. Kaplan has such a broad range of material alongside the huge amount of students who take part in the course.
Price: Beginning with the base Kaplan package you will find their online course available for 99€. In my opinion, this is very reasonable as the course, if used correctly, has the ability to significantly increase one’s chances of achieving the required score in the HPAT. There are other options such as 169€ for 2 months or even 222€ for access until the day of the test
If you are interested, you can find the course here: https://www.kaptest.co.uk/course/hpat-kaplan#prep1
Practice exams: Included with the Kaplan course is 10 practice exams. These are very representative of the real exam from what I have experienced and these are the most important aspect of the Kaplan course in my opinion. I found the practice exams to be the best place to mark my progress and improve along the way. The interactive experience is easy to use. When beginning an exam, a timer displays on the right-hand side which shows remaining estimated time for the current question. This is perfect for time management skills and means that you know how much or how little time to spend on each individual question.
For correcting the exams, there is an in-depth explanation for every single answer which goes through each answer option individually and explains why it was or wasn’t the correct answer. This is done, without fail, for each question in every exam. The corrections are where most of the learning is done from the course. Learning why the answer you picked wasn’t the correct one and why another one was is invaluable.
Alongside these in-depth answers, once you have completed an exam, you get an instant score. I looked at the solutions for the ones I got wrong and then I retried my incorrect questions once again to make sure I understood why I got them wrong and see that I understand how to get the answer. The system doesn't allow you to retry wrongly answered questions which is a pity as it would be a very useful feature.
Sadly, there is no physical format for the practice exams so you will be confined to completing them online however it is likely that this is to prevent copying which is understandable. I saw that some of the other courses actually do offer physical formats so if this is important for you then just note this feature won’t be found on Kaplan.
Competition: There a number of alternatives to Kaplan on the market. The main ones are: Dublin Academy, Career services, Institute of education and Ashfield college. These are just a few of the main ones but no doubt there are many more out there. Kaplan has such a broad range of material alongside the huge amount of students who take part in the course.
Price: Beginning with the base Kaplan package you will find their online course available for 99€. In my opinion, this is very reasonable as the course, if used correctly, has the ability to significantly increase one’s chances of achieving the required score in the HPAT. There are other options such as 169€ for 2 months or even 222€ for access until the day of the test
If you are interested, you can find the course here: https://www.kaptest.co.uk/course/hpat-kaplan#prep1
