Best Prep Books for 2015 MCAT

[Noel Bender]

I actually have two questions, but I'll start with the main one. Can anyone suggest which MCAT prep material I should purchase for the 2015 version? I'm currently contemplating between the following:

• Kaplan MCAT Complete 7-Book Subject Review
  
• Princeton Review MCAT Subject Review Complete Set
  
• The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam

Which is normally better, if either, Kaplan or Princeton? I doubt anyone can truly recommend a specific prep book as they just came out, but which set would you buy? Any other prep books or material that someone can recommend? Also, I've always heard that Examcrackers is the best for verbal, should I go ahead and purchase the 2014 Verbal prep book assuming that the 2015 version won't be too different?

My second question is when I should start preparing. I'll have my first official semester of college this fall, however, I had over 50 credits through dual-enrollment upon graduating from High School. Of the med school pre-reqs, I took General Biology I, and General Chemistry I & II. This fall my courses will include Sociology, General Biology II, and Elementary Calculus. I'll graduate late 2016 or early 2017 and will then complete a masters in Biology through this hybrid program my college offers. I'll be done with dual majors in Biology & Chemistry with a minor in Japanese and a masters in Biology by 2018. I'm trying to figure out the timing. Should I plan to take the MCAT around 2016 and start prepping now for what I can (chem & verbal reasoning at least) or take it 2017 and wait at least another a year before beginning prep. Any advise is appreciated.

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[Hobakie]

I actually have two questions, but I'll start with the main one. Can anyone suggest which MCAT prep material I should purchase for the 2015 version? I'm currently contemplating between the following:

• Kaplan MCAT Complete 7-Book Subject Review
• Princeton Review MCAT Subject Review Complete Set
• The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam

Which is normally better, if either, Kaplan or Princeton? I doubt anyone can truly recommend a specific prep book as they just came out, but which set would you buy? Any other prep books or material that someone can recommend? Also, I've always heard that Examcrackers is the best for verbal, should I go ahead and purchase the 2014 Verbal prep book assuming that the 2015 version won't be too different?

My second question is when I should start preparing. I'll have my first official semester of college this fall, however, I had over 50 credits through dual-enrollment upon graduating from High School. Of the med school pre-reqs, I took General Biology I, and General Chemistry I & II. This fall my courses will include Sociology, General Biology II, and Elementary Calculus. I'll graduate late 2016 or early 2017 and will then complete a masters in Biology through this hybrid program my college offers. I'll be done with dual majors in Biology & Chemistry with a minor in Japanese and a masters in Biology by 2018. I'm trying to figure out the timing. Should I plan to take the MCAT around 2016 and start prepping now for what I can (chem & verbal reasoning at least) or take it 2017 and wait at least another a year before beginning prep. Any advise is appreciated.

I cant exactly help you with which materials to use since I would like to know myself, but I can help with the timeline bit. As for when you would take the MCAT that's your decision and while you plan now it can change in a year or so. Most people take it after they have finished the so called "pre-reqs" these aren't necessarily all the prereqs for med school but are the courses it would be wise to take before you take an MCAT since they lay down the Foundation. Those are General Bio, Gen Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Statistics and with the new version of the MCAT would include Sociology, Psychology, and Biochemistry. Like I mentioned before these classes are not required before you sit down to take the test but are extremely helpful as a foundation for you to start from. Some students do finish these by the end of sophomore year and will take the MCAT either that summer or the fall of junior year. Some students finish those courses by the end of junior year and will take the MCAT junior year spring or summer. It all depends on your level of comfort with the material, time you need to prep, and when you are applying to medical school. If you want to go to med school directly after university then applications would start the summer of junior year so it would be wise to have an MCAT score by then or sometime early summer. If you take a gap year then your applications wouldn't start until the summer of senior year so you have a lot more wiggle room to take those classes and take or even re-take the MCAT but its still highly suggested to have a score before the application process since it helps with schools list and with getting your apps verified and processed as quickly as possible. So like I said before when you take the test is dependent upon you.

Again idk about the prep books and I probably wont know too much information until the first batch of 2015 MCAT students come around. I do know that I will take a Kaplan course and that's because of the good things I have heard coupled along with the fact that my school grants me a huge discount on Kaplan courses

hope this helps

 

[Noel Bender]

@Hobakie Thank you so much! That helped a lot regarding the timing. I was pretty sure no one would really be able to advise regarding prep material, but I thought I'd ask anyways, just in case. Even just knowing what material everyone else plans to purchase helps.

 

[raiderette]

Many of us are waiting for more materials to be published. I have a couple of the new Princeton review books and will buy the set. Most likely I will be purchasing the Examcrackers set when it comes out as well as Berkeley Review. By the time the test comes out there will only be three official practice tests and a test question bank. I am avoiding the Kaplan materials as most people that use them for self-study do not seem satisfied.

 

[zzxxzz]

Too soon to tell. Based on company alone, I would recommend EK and TBR as the two best, and the perfect combination as they are pretty much completely opposite approaches.

 

[Noel Bender]

@zzxxzz That's what I figured. I looked for EK and TBR 2015 MCAT prep books and as far as I know they haven't come out with prep material for the 2015 MCAT. I might be wrong though. Should I just get some of their current MCAT prep offerings anyways? It couldn't hurt, but I don't know how much it could help. How different could the new version be regarding current sections such as chemistry, verbal reasoning, and biology? I apologize if my questions sound clueless, but that's what I am at this point.

 

[zzxxzz]

@zzxxzz That's what I figured. I looked for EK and TBR 2015 MCAT prep books and as far as I know they haven't come out with prep material for the 2015 MCAT. I might be wrong though. Should I just get some of their current MCAT prep offerings anyways? It couldn't hurt, but I don't know how much it could help. How different could the new version be regarding current sections such as chemistry, verbal reasoning, and biology? I apologize if my questions sound clueless, but that's what I am at this point.

I interview at Kaplan pretty soon, and I'm sure I'll find out what's on the 2015 MCAT from them if I get the job. I'm still in the "thank-god-I-don't-have-to-retake" phase.

 

[otterxavier]

Right now no one has studied using 2015 MCAT prep materials and then taken the 2015 MCAT, so right now no one can really tell you which materials are best; all you'll get is speculation, some more informed and some less. FWIW, I ordered the Princeton Review set for 2015 because of the four big prep companies (PR, BR, EK, and Kaplan) only PR and Kaplan have put out their 2015 study materials, and PR seems to have a reputation for better content review.

But if you haven't started your first official semester of college yet, there is no reason to rush into prepping for the MCAT. You're better off sitting out the carnage of 2015 and starting MCAT prep in a year or two once the dust has settled (and better materials will be available!) Just make a good deck of flashcards to keep your knowledge fresh from the prereqs you've already taken.

 

[Shirafune]

I am preparing for the Sept MCAT and can tell you that Princeton Review has superior review material compared to Kaplan. I purchased both complete sets of material and it's becoming increasingly clear how much Kaplan lacks in explaining materials in an intuitive way. People learn differently, obviously, but just from personal experience, Princeton Review is leaps and bounds better than Kaplan.

And just to put my own two cents out there, as linear has suggested, there's no need to rush your college journey! Your plans will certainly change within the course of your first two years of college. It's great that you have the sense of urgency to plan ahead and get your goals laid out, but consider waiting until after your first year to set up any goals in the distant future.

 

[FOUR2004]

I am currently registered for a Kaplan Mcat on site prep course that starts in May; however, I am hesitant about proceeding with this plan because I fear that this course would expose me mostly to kaplan practice exams granted that there is only one AAMC full length exam available in turn limit my practice. Thus, I am thinking about canceling my registration and using the refund to buy a variety of prep material and practice in an effort to broaden my exposure.
I would really appreciate any advice.

 

[toffee_bloom]

I have purchased the complete book sets from both Kaplan and the Princeton Review. I have been working with a study group since January and they all have the Kaplan set so we've been reading about 7-8 chapters every week and then come together one night to go over it and do practice problems from khan academy.

The Kaplan books are OKAY. They review the material and the questions they give at the end of the chapters are stand-alone questions, which will only be about a quarter of the questions on the MCAT, the rest will be passage-based. They do have the passage ones online, I've yet to look at them so I don't know if they're good or not.

As for the Princeton Review, they provide both passage based and stand alone questions within the book, which I think is nice.

The best thing of course is purchasing everything you can from the aamc. Even though they only have one practice test out, the question packs would definitely be something that you should invest in! You can take them all up to 20 times and they last a year.

I have also used khan academy and I think that their resources are pretty good! They provide hundreds of passages for all the topics covered and their hints are good at explaining why certain answer choices are wrong and what makes the right answer correct.

As for the prep course, I personally wouldn't recommend it. It's different for everyone but from what I've heard from people it works well for them because they couldn't set aside time on their own to dedicate to preparing. But then people have also told me that the courses mostly teach you test-taking strategies and approaching it the "Kaplan" way. Personally I think if you just sit down and simulate the test taking environment every time and go over what you did wrong, you'll find out what works best for you.

Definitely take the courses that will be on the MCAT! It's a great help so that when you're studying everything isn't foreign. (Except maybe sociology. You can probably get away with that by just reading the prep stuff for it!)

 

[NeuResurgens]

I'm using Kaplan On Demand and I like the materials. Their tech support is bad. But overall I like their content review.

 

[billcx]

So you listed all the books available?