HELP! Terrible at physics

[osumc2014]

Im in the last 2 months of my review and I realized that I am just awful at physics, is there anything that could help me with that? Like I heard EK physics book is good? I've been studying with kaplan and it just sucks.

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[SN2ed]

Originally Posted by TheBoondocks
This question gets asked like every three days. In short, EK series are stripped down with the basics you need to know. Get EK bio, it is by far the best for bio, all the responses on SDN say this. Know this book cold. If you don't believe me, type in EK bio in the search function. Personally, you learn the best from passages, If you have time and the cash I highly suggest purchasing Berkeley Review Gen Chem and Ochem. There physics is good too, but with PR it may be redundant. You will thank me later. You'll probably want EK biology review and EK 101 biology passages and EK verbal 101. PR is good, however, if you want to kill the MCAT you have to be able to integrate material. That's what BR does better than anyone else. Like, be able to answer questions if you see the circulatory system wired in parallel series.

bio - 1. EK bio and 101 bio passages 2. Kaplan 3. PR/BR however, these don't suck, they're just detailed which turns off many people.

Physics 1. BR/Nova 2. PR 3. Kaplan I really think BR but they're are a lot of people who swear by Nova on this site

Verbal 1. Ek verbal and 101 passages 2. PR 3. BR 4. Kaplan (read stay from)

Gen Chem 1. BR by far 2. PR 3. Kaplan/EK

O Chem 1. BR by far 2. toss up between Kaplan/PR/Ek

That is a general list of what i have read on SDN for the past 4 years, i came here and lurked throughout highschool. Good luck and hopefully this will help. EK is for people who KNOW the material and want review. If you are weak in something BR is the best since it's the most detailed and PR is detailed too, Kaplan is in the Middle, and EK is the least detailed but that doesn't mean it's bad. Just depends on the person. If you can I would buy the BR Chemistry books and Physics book. If you complete the PR science workbook along with BR passages and EK bio, you will kill the sciences. Ek Verbal should help you out with verbal.

 

[Zona Pellucida]

Physics and Gen Chem are my weakest areas.

I just picked up NOVA's MCAT Physics Book and so far I have been liking the book. I do about a chapter a day in the library and all the questions. I return to the questions I either missed or did not understand and attempt to do them again.

I find the most difficult thing to do is not set up HOW to get the correct answer, but actually doing the math to get the right answer. I am horrible at squaring strange decimals, doing odd radicals, and working with large numbers such as 5.63 X 10^13 or something similar.

The majority of problems I get wrong are related to me sucking at math, so I ordered a mental math book and will attempt to strengthen my mental math skills. That damn calculator made me so dependent!

 

[J ROD]

I think PR has the best content review, while BR has the best practice materials.

They offer more than a review and help you learn.

 

[Malayna]

Im in the last 2 months of my review and I realized that I am just awful at physics, is there anything that could help me with that? Like I heard EK physics book is good? I've been studying with kaplan and it just sucks.

I inherited EK and PR books from someone in lab and I have the BR books with my class. I did a few chapters from each book before deciding which one was best for me.

In reverse order, I thought EK was okay, but I felt it was missing something. And all of the typos took away from my focus. The passages seemed nothing like what they were supposed to and I thought the questions weren't that helpful; I didn't get much from their explanations. PR has okay text review, but was a little more into the math than I like. Their passages and questions weren't very useful, so I agree with J Dub about that.

BR is the one I'm going to use. I love the testing tips that they have in the text and in the answer explanations. I like that they show several different ways to solve each question, usually one based on math and the other based on process of elimination logic. Their translational motion tricks are amazing and I never miss those questions anymore.

To be honest, I read Boondock's list several times, and was skeptical whether it was applicable to my needs. But after working through PR, EK, and BR books so far, I have to agree that the list is right on the mark, at least it is for me.

I recommend BR physics as the best of the three I've been through. I agree with J Dub that BR has the best problems. I happen to think their review section is better than PR's because they incorporate test tricks. I think EK's text is not very good.

Good luck! Are you taking the MCAT in January?

 

[osumc2014]

Thanks for the advice!!! And yes I am taking it in January, I am freaking out a little bit because of how little time is left to study.

 

[Malayna]

Thanks for the advice!!! And yes I am taking it in January, I am freaking out a little bit because of how little time is left to study.

Six and a half weeks, right? That's a lot of time. People in the summer take 8-10 weeks, so you can do it! Just keep working! Good luck and we're rooting for you! "Go osumc2014, go"

 

[osumc2014]

Haha thanks for the much needed encouragement! also where do I get my hands on BR books?

 

[Malayna]

Haha thanks for the much needed encouragement! also where do I get my hands on BR books?

We all need encouragement. Right now I need to be encouraged to stop wasting time on line and go study.

As for BR books, mine came with the class. I'm pretty sure you can get them from eBay or Craigslist or something like that. I think they sell some of them on line too.

 

[SN2ed]

Haha thanks for the much needed encouragement! also where do I get my hands on BR books?

http://www.berkeley-review.com/TBR/home-study.html