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yes2es

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So, I have all of the Examkrackers books and TPR Cracking the CBT books to study from for the MCAT. I've read that the Berkeley Review books are excellent for the Physical Sciences section and I've been wondering whether or not it would be worth it to invest the $180 for the three PS study guides from BR.

Any input? It would be greatly appreciated!
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yes2es said:
So, I have all of the Examkrackers books and TPR Cracking the CBT books to study from for the MCAT. I've read that the Berkeley Review books are excellent for the Physical Sciences section and I've been wondering whether or not it would be worth it to invest the $180 for the three PS study guides from BR.

Any input? It would be greatly appreciated!
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Last time I checked the Gchem and Physics sets were $50 each......

I think they are worth it.....
 
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I'm studying physics/chem with BR my second time around, and these books are the best for those subjects, especially when you consider all the practice questions they have which are largely mcat format.
 
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It would be worth it for you to invest BR, if you are only working with the CBT book + EK. You would rather spend more money and ace the MCAT 1st time through then take it again and spend another $225+ for the test.
 
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Steelersfan2009 said:
You would rather spend more money and ace the MCAT 1st time through then take it again and spend another $225+ for the test.
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That's what I'm figuring now because I certainly do not want to be doing this all over again. I just wasn't sure if those books were THAT good. Thanks for the input!
 
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ishchayill said:
You can get them a bit cheaper on eBay.
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God, I wish it really was that easy. I spent way too much time checking MCAT auctions for a week and a half, and nothing ever came up for BR materials. The only place I had any luck finding them was the classifieds here at SDN, but it ended up being cheaper to buy them in person from BR rather than have them shipped from NJ.

Now that I have new materials, I'm glad I went through the hassle to get them. It's nice to have clean passages. At least that's what I told myself when I saw my last bank statement. :(
 
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It appears the BR is the best for the PS section. Exam krackers is best for the Verbal, and Princeton Review is best for classroom instruction since they provide the most amount of time in the classroom.
Seems like a big hassel and much more expensive to go through all these different companies.

If one wanted to review everything, but will need to learn some of the biology aspects (since they were not taught in my bio courses - physiology mostly) and maybe some physics which program would be the best? Note: I am not worried about the VR portion of the exam.
I feel going with Kaplan might be the easiest route...after reading through so many threads I find myself lost as to which path to take.
Thanks for your help
 
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I decided it would be in my best interests to invest in the BR Physics, General Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry so I sent out for my books today. I used a money order since it seems like that would be the best and fastest way to get my books. I'm using Examkrackers for Biology and Verbal. Hopefully this combo works well, it seems to have worked pretty well for everyone on this forum so far.
 
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So would taking the BR course be the best choice over the kaplan, princeton review, or Exam krackers courses? I was just looking at their page and it seems like their professors will be helpful based upon their experience and there will be more lecture hours crammed together in 4-5 days for 10 -11 weeks.

is there a thread where all four of these programs are compared without a bias towards one or the other?
 
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Michael8009 said:
So would taking the BR course be the best choice over the kaplan, princeton review, or Exam krackers courses? I was just looking at their page and it seems like their professors will be helpful based upon their experience and there will be more lecture hours crammed together in 4-5 days for 10 -11 weeks.

is there a thread where all four of these programs are compared without a bias towards one or the other?
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I'm obviously a bit biased, because I taught for them for about five years. I stopped teaching a couple summers ago. From my student experience, I loved the course and can say without a doubt it was much better than what my friends got from their review courses. I think the biggest difference is what you mentioned: the experienced teachers. It starts with Todd and Dale, who have been teaching forever. They teach most of the classes, so you get the guys who wrote the books teaching your class. They round out the staff (both when I was a student and when I taught) with popular TAs or professors.

If they would give up teaching, they could grow big, but I think they prefer teaching to everything else. They definitely prefer teaching over managing. I don't want to complain, but their ancient website compared to all of their review sheets, lecture notes, and workshops kind of says where they put their attention. I always had an amazing assortment of information to use in my lectures (updated constantly), but they sometimes forgot to unlock the room when I had office hours, so I'd have to leave a note and have them elsewhere. If you can deal with the low key nature of the class, then it is going to be great. Their tricks are the best out there.

As far as other opinions, I think you just have to search different course surveys. There was a writeup on courses when i first registered here, but it disappeared after a while. It might be lost in the archives or maybe it was pulled for some reason. It was pretty unbaised and listed the details of each course. I think asking around will help. Start by asking about a specific location, because courses vary from location to location.
 
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to those who have taken TBR practice tests, what order would you recommend taking it? I know two of them are super-hard. Would it be a good idea to take those two first, perhaps to be 'scared' a little more by the mcat, and have the other 5 to take closer to january 30? Unfortunately, as a retaker I have no new AAMCs, so this is my last set of practice...
 
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Michael8009 said:
So would taking the BR course be the best choice over the kaplan, princeton review, or Exam krackers courses? I was just looking at their page and it seems like their professors will be helpful based upon their experience and there will be more lecture hours crammed together in 4-5 days for 10 -11 weeks.

is there a thread where all four of these programs are compared without a bias towards one or the other?
Click to expand...

I took the BR course and it was the best choice I made. In addition to all of the classes, they have extra sessions throughout the course where we'd go over test skills like graph reading, table analysis, math tricks, etc... The teachers are excellent, especially the two owners. Todd was by far the best teacher I've ever had in my life, and his tricks I am 100% certain are the reason for my PS 15.

As for comparing the courses, I looked at tons and tons of threads, but what made my choice easier (better) was sitting in on the classes before signing up. I strongly recommend you do this, because then you'll see exactly what you'll be getting. I liked that they taught the thinking process more than memorizing material.

SwedishMD2B said:
I have better luck with this number to get in contact with them. 510-843-8378
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That's the number they gave us in class to contact them. I think I only called maybe once or twice ever, and I got through. At least I don't remember not getting through, if that makes sense.
 
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Anyone take BR CBT #3 yet? The scales were pretty generous, but I thought the biology section of that was killer (scored 10s on the first two, got an 8 even with the scale on this one...).
 
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