Ek bio - 5/5 hunterGatherer rating: this is the STUFF!! But you know that already. I owned the BS MCAT by reading this book 3 times and difficult topics 2-3 more times.
EK Orgo- 4.5/5 hunterGatherer rating. Very condensed. Excellent chapter on experiments. Very solid review book but Bio book is still tops. note cards tear out of book that's on heavy stock of paper. memorize those. I did not give it 5 stars because I needed to use a chart from my Pavia Ochem lab manual to figure out solubilities. Solubility Test is CRUCIAL for MCAT passages.
EK Chemistry - 4/5 HunterGather rating. Good book. Wish it had more examples in the Acid/base chemistry. Electrochem chapter probably needs a small amount of further explanation. Everything else is solid. One caveat: I took general chem well over 10+ years ago.
EK Physics - 3.7/5 hunterGatherer rating. Good book. E&M chapters needs more work. The Thermo chapter is actually very good. Thermo is just a tough topic. Should have an example on incline planes explained in the readings before heading into problems. The Optics chapter is actually very good if you spend some time on it. This is a solid book but I had to supplement 2 chapters with a physics text book. One caveat: I took physics well over 10+ years ago.
I would study with ALL of these books all over again if I had to retake the MCAT because I like the way the material is presented in a condensed simple form with lots of charts/graphs. I had to supplement Chem/physics. Maybe it was because of the length of time between taking the class and prepping for the MCAT
The end of topic questions are right on par with the MCAT. I redid these with each reading and can say they are challenging that you are not going to simply memorize the answers. You really need to activate the thought process. the 30 minute exams are great as well. Don't do the 30 minute exams until you feel comfortable with the material.
EK 1g full length (yes these are usefull as well):
1. rip out one page.
2. crumple up page.
3. unfold page.
4. repeat until the paper is soft.
5. place soft paper aside and repeat with a newly torn page.
place these in the bathroom in case you run out of toilet paper.
I would take this as a diagnostic or very early in your studies(definitely before AAMC). Too many calculations and very similar to any AAMC exam or MCAT.
be sure to buy AAMC exams.
xylem29 said:
To the people who know from personal experience - are the EK bio, physics, and chem books any good? (i'm not talking about the 1001 books). Can anyone comment on the practice questions they have in these books? I heard the chem book was terrible but the bio book is good - however, I don't know if they were referring to the fact that the books are good for people who need to review - b/c i think i can just use my course notes and text books. But if these ek books have good practice passages then i'll buy em! Oh, i forgot too...are their full length mcat (1g, 2f, 3g) any good or should I just stick with the aamc tests??
Thanks a bunch. Man, I've been getting so much info on these boards from fellow premeds (thanks USA for that term, we don't have that here!) and its helped alot on prepping for mcats, applying to us schools, etc. I swear once I'm through the process and in med school i'll contribute all my knowledge back to these boards.