Ugh. I just bought the new TBR bio and orgo books and I am highly dissatisfied. I feel as if nothing was changed in terms of content.
Your immediate comment is what I'm afraid of. At face value upon skimming the books, it will appear that way to many people. Some people will look only through the first pages of the organic chemistry book and assume this conclusion. Without going through the books, especially book II, you will miss a great deal of what has been modified. Yes, some of the book remains the same, which makes sense given that it was the best book for the MCAT for years and most of the material tested prior to 2015 remains tested today. The tricks and strategies that worked before for learning material and answering questions will still work on the new exam.
Chapter 1 text is very similar, albeit six pages shorter. This because what they expect you to know in organic structure has not changed drastically, and the author consolidated material. The phase I passages are the same with some of the answer explanations modified. The phase II passages have two new passages and another 8 questions changed. Phase III retained two of the five passages with the rest changing.
Chapters 2 and 3 have been flip-flopped and rearranged, consolidating some material that was redundant. Stereochemistry passages Phase I is essentiality the same, but Phase II has a new passage, a different passage on a similar topic, and several altered questions. Phase III has two new passages and the introduction of free-standing questions. The structure elucidation passages are the same in Phase I, although the free-standing questions got altered. Phase II has a new passage and 8 altered questions while Phase III has two new passages and the introduction of free-standing questions.
Chapter 4 is the former chapter 8, which was by far the bread and butter of preparing for MCAT organic chemistry. That chapter stayed essentially the same because it is by far the best presentation of that material anywhere. Phase I homework passages are the same except for a typo or two that was fixed. Phase II homework had one passage changed out and six questions changed. Phase III passages have been modified with one passage removed.
Where you should notice a very big change is chapter 5. It is kind of the former chapter 4. Only one page plus the terpenes section remain from the previous edition. In place of traditional hydrocarbon chemistry is lipid biochemistry and organic chemistry applications. That chapter is essentially completely new. Phase I passages include one completely new passage, one that was added in 2014, and one from before. Phase II passages are four new ones and three that were modified and/or added in the 2013 edition. In Phase III, only one passage remains from before, with the inclusion of biologically-based passages for the remainder of that homework section.
Chapter 6 is carbonyls (formerly chapter 5), and in this section there were omissions of some name reactions in the text and general rephrasing of some material. Phase I homework passages have been changed to include a new biologically-relevant passage and questions in the other passages were modified. Phase II homework passages were edited and a few questions were removed, but that section was predominantly biology-related material as of 2013, so it was retained. Phase III homework passages were changed by omitting a passage that was no longer considered relevant and incorporating free-standing questions.
Chapter 7 is sugars (formerly chapter 6), and this section got a thorough edit and many changes that you may not recognize immediately. For instance, if you compare the old page 99 to the new page 169, you'll see the pictorial representation of the shortcut for sugar recognition. Phase I homework has had one passage changed completely and the other two edited. You should notice the reduction in the number of questions on the passages that were retained. Phase II passages are still the same collection of biologically-related topics that appeared in 2013. Phase III homework was edited down to remove questions and a passage with some new questions added to the free-standing section. One of the changes that may go unnoticed is the incorporation of more stereochemistry based questions.
Chapter 8 is amino acids (formerly chapter 7), and this is our pride and joy of the new book. Many of the superfluous reactions have been removed and structures such as ß-lactams have been incorporated. The Gabriel amino acid synthesis is now included. The amino acids section remains very similar, because it was ahead of its time. We included details such as the one-letter codes for amino acids prior to 2015. Once it was announced that it would be tested, our books included that. There are several biochemistry lab techniques in this section. There is the ultimate shortcut for getting the isoelectric point in that chapter, so that stayed in there with a few of the examples modified to build on one another better. In the homework, you should notice a change in the number of questions and about 7 of the questions in Phase I. In Phase II you'll notice two new passages and 12 new questions as well as the editing and/or removal of many of the pure organic questions to make room for biochemistry questions. Phase III had a passage removed and free-standing questions inserted to replace it.
Please realize that our goal in writing the new book was never to generate a complete different book. Our books are excellent and our reputation has been strong because of that excellence. So we wanted to modify the organic chemistry book in a way that kept what was great and incorporated more biology while removing topics that were taken out of circulation in 2015. We also kept the same layout of the book, because we spent countless hours and time researching the optimal layout for learning back when we settled on the current format.
I hope that over time you come to realize how much has actually changed in the books and that the parts which have not changed are excellent as they stand. Also realize that the changes to the books for 2015 started back in 2011 when MR5 first announced their plans. The book you recently received is designed to be a perfect match for the current MCAT.
