TBR Bio Difficulty

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I have a very weak bio background and have been finding the TBR bio passages all but impossible. I decided I would read through all the TBR bio chapters before any more passages in an attempt to build a bit of a foundation. I'm finding a lot of these sections unreadable. Lots of it seems very random and seems to lack explanation. Does anybody have any advice on how to build up a solid foundation for bio? I'm taking the MCAT in 2 months and am very solid in physics, orgo and gen chem. I'm just beyond terrible at bio. Will it eventually pay off if I just tough it out through TBR (does it contain everything I need to know)? Any help is appreciated.

This is why physical sciences quickly became my favorite section after taking my first practice exam lol. You use discrete equations to find direct answers with no ambiguity and very little interpretation required.

Though some TBR bio passages were helpful, I did not learn very much from doing their passages because they seemed a bit esoteric (by mcat standards, anyway), irrelevant, and as you wrote random.

My humble suggestion is to build your foundations because this is what i've found BS tests the most. So know mitosis very well, know how the kidney works very well, et cetera. TPR has good practice tests. The end of chapter tests from EK are pretty cool.

That said, I do not suggest TBR bio for this because they give way too much information. And this is not a case where "more practice is better" because it really is WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Yes, with capital letters!

Originally Posted by chiddler

This is why physical sciences quickly became my favorite section after taking my first practice exam lol. You use discrete equations to find direct answers with no ambiguity and very little interpretation required.

Though some TBR bio passages were helpful, I did not learn very much from doing their passages because they seemed a bit esoteric (by mcat standards, anyway), irrelevant, and as you wrote random.

My humble suggestion is to build your foundations because this is what i've found BS tests the most. So know mitosis very well, know how the kidney works very well, et cetera. TPR has good practice tests. The end of chapter tests from EK are pretty cool.

That said, I do not suggest TBR bio for this because they give way too much information. And this is not a case where "more practice is better" because it really is WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Yes, with capital letters!

Thanks for the info. That certainly is reassuring. Would something like kahnacademy videos be good or do they not go into enough detail? Also, is this TPR book the one people recommend for biology?

http://www.randomhouse.com/princeton...=9780375427923

The book? Not sure, but I think so. I have an older version a roommate sold me.

Regarding khanacademy? Also not sure, because I never used khan to learn my bio. I don't think bio needs a lot of explanation nor is exceptionally difficult to understand, so I would think that it is a better use of your time to sit and read for yourself. But this is just personal preference.

Also, make sure to look at that AAMC publication list I posted (subject of thread included "published by AAMC, seriously" )

Every single topic--even the random ones like "origin of coelom" is listed there--you've got the time to look through it.

Originally Posted by chiddler

This is why physical sciences quickly became my favorite section after taking my first practice exam lol. You use discrete equations to find direct answers with no ambiguity and very little interpretation required.

Though some TBR bio passages were helpful, I did not learn very much from doing their passages because they seemed a bit esoteric (by mcat standards, anyway), irrelevant, and as you wrote random.

My humble suggestion is to build your foundations because this is what i've found BS tests the most. So know mitosis very well, know how the kidney works very well, et cetera. TPR has good practice tests. The end of chapter tests from EK are pretty cool.

That said, I do not suggest TBR bio for this because they give way too much information. And this is not a case where "more practice is better" because it really is WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Yes, with capital letters!

I had the opposite experience; I learned quite a bit from TBR passages and answer explanations. I did not read much of the TBR chapters (did EK), but reading the passages and explanations did teach me quite a bit.

I just ordered EK biology and the 1001 questions after reading a few other threads where people recommend them. Sounds like it doesn't go into quite as much detail so maybe a bit easier to build a foundation and then attack TBR afterward. That list is pretty awesome as a sort of check list to make sure you have some familiarity with all the topics. Anyway, thanks again for the advice. Hopefully I can get this stuff down before the MCAT. I feel like bio is the only thing holding me back.

Imo you should try to memorize just about everything in EK bio. That's how superficial it is.

Originally Posted by shoehornlettuce

I just ordered EK biology and the 1001 questions after reading a few other threads where people recommend them. Sounds like it doesn't go into quite as much detail so maybe a bit easier to build a foundation and then attack TBR afterward. That list is pretty awesome as a sort of check list to make sure you have some familiarity with all the topics. Anyway, thanks again for the advice. Hopefully I can get this stuff down before the MCAT. I feel like bio is the only thing holding me back.

The EK bio 1001 questions are good for practice and will drill in your brain information or concepts you need to know. I have found it very helpful except for the last chapter. If you are weak in biology as I am, I think you should definitely use it.

Originally Posted by Temperature101

The EK bio 1001 questions are good for practice and will drill in your brain information or concepts you need to know. I have found it very helpful except for the last chapter. If you are weak in biology as I am, I think you should definitely use it.

Thanks, this is good to know. I think I'm just gonna read it through as many times as I can before the MCAT and like the above poster mentioned, try to memorize everything.