The Berkeley Review
Started by fn7909
No, they are garbage. Way too detailed. I took PR for last April's test and bought BR books in Feb (2 months before the test). They are an absolute waste of 250 bucks...especially the verbal which is nothing like the MCAT verbal. Try out the Examkrackers 101 passages book if you need help in verbal. If you need help in the sciences PR is just fine and then you can try out the EK books .
lakersfan said:
I took the BR course and the books were great. Maybe they only work when they supplement the course (?) but if you can afford it do it. I had f*cking mono when I took the MCAT last August and my score still went up 6 points-made me a full-on advocate for TBR, but that's just me.
Floseph said:
Hey Floseph,
Did your scores go up 6 points from thr BR exams or from AAMC exams? I am taking the BR exams now for the April MCAT, and even though their scales are pretty lenient, I still am getting around 26-28 on them. I would love to break a 30 on the real thing...
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Floseph said:
Yeah, I didn't take the course (I took the PR) so what Floseph is saying is probably true...if you take the course, the books might be just fine. I had a few friends take the course and they liked it but I think there is much more detail than PR. Saying that, I assum from the OPs post that he is taking a different course (not BR) so my opinion is that if you are taking a course, it is probably not worth purchasing the BR.
beponychick said:
I took the MCAT twice.. August '02 and '04, and went from a 28 (after taking PR which, in Santa Barbara, is crap for MCAT prep) to a 34 after the Berkeley Review, so I'm a true believer in BR, but if you're not taking the course, I'd listen to Lakersfan about the utility of the books alone. The grading on the tests, I found, was fairly reflective of the real grading. I was getting 31-33 on BR practice tests by the end of the course.
That said, I don't think I opened the verbal book twice the whole time I was studying. They give you good ideas of how to attack the verbal section strategically (doing the passages in order vs. ranking easiest to hardest based on the subject, etc.) but not much help on actually answering the questions properly. My verbal score was the same at both sittings.
Totally different story for physical and bio. They went over obscure systems/concepts that they've noticed recur on the MCAT, as well as strategies for finding shortcuts on tough questions that can drain time.
Good luck!! and remember, the MCAT is important, but it's only part of the package. I had to do well to make up for a low GPA, but you may not need to do that.
