MCAT Practice Materials Questions

[JustANewGuy]

Hey everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I realize there are many threads already on this topic, but I would like some clarification regarding prep materials for the MCAT. I'll likely take my exam sometime in spring 2016 and would start sometime this week, if not next.

From what I saw, the following materials are required to do well: AAMC Practice Test, AAMC Question Packs, AAMC Official Guide, and KhanAcademy (is there anything more I'm missing?). I have also seen that NextStep books are recommended for good practice materials.

Now, since I'm planning on studying on my own, my question is pretty much on what books I should be using.

So far, the answers are a tie between EK vs Kaplan vs TPR. Any preferences of choosing one over the others? And would you recommend having TPR hyperlearning bookset for further practice?

Lastly, what would you recommend for practice FLs other than NextStep and AAMC?

Sorry for asking many questions but just wanted to be prepared. Thanks!

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[BerkReviewTeach]

So far, the answers are a tie between EK vs Kaplan vs TPR.

There's actually an ongoing poll of opinions on 2015 materials, and the results are VERY different from what you posted. That might be a good place to start. The opinions of 100+ users in one post should be very helpful.

 

[Gurby]

There's actually an ongoing poll of opinions on 2015 materials, and the results are VERY different from what you posted. That might be a good place to start. The opinions of 100+ users in one post should be very helpful.

Could you post the link? I can't find this post anywhere.

 

[Swagster]

We really miss you SN2ed.

More than anyone, he (or she) kept current on the best of everything and offered sage advise that mixed personal experience and consensus opinion. When I studied for the MCAT the first time, I too had been lurking and absorbing all the information I could. I has access to many different materials and experimented with everything to see what worked best. In the end, after wasting a few weeks, it was exactly what SN2ed listed. That list is pure gold. So far, as I study for the January exam (my old score is unfortunately outdated), I'm finding that what worked back the is working great now. You cannot beat SN2ed's methods.

There is a reason SN2ed recommended TBR for passages for all of the sciences and that's because their questions, explanations, and tricks are far and away the best out there. With all of the posts about people getting stellar scores from the SN2ed material cocktail (TBR for chem, orgo physics, and bio, EK for bio and verbal, TPR for verbal and random science passages) I just don't get why people now wonder what to use. The funny thing is, since people at SDN have started following other plans (some from people who scored poorly), there are more threads per page about bad scores and repeating the MCAT that ever.

Why not just stick to what has worked for years? A year printed on the front of a book does not make it better. To each their own, but it seems crazy to me that people would not follow what works.

 

[Swagster]

Could you post the link?

I can't seem to link it right. It's on the third page here, so just scroll two more pages and look for the word poll and the number 2015. Right now the list shows the best five as:

EK
TBR
Khan
Kaplan
TPR

Based on my first time studying and my current studying, I completely agree that EK and TBR are the best. I'd put TBR ahead of EK because of the passages and better editing, but they are both vital to doing well. Khan is a nice supplement.

As a high school coach used to scream at us all the time, "if you want to do your best then you need to surround yourself with the best."

 

[JustANewGuy]

There's actually an ongoing poll of opinions on 2015 materials, and the results are VERY different from what you posted. That might be a good place to start. The opinions of 100+ users in one post should be very helpful.

Could you post the link? I can't find this post anywhere.

I'm curious of the link as well, so if you could post that, it's appreciated

We really miss you SN2ed.

More than anyone, he (or she) kept current on the best of everything and offered sage advise that mixed personal experience and consensus opinion. When I studied for the MCAT the first time, I too had been lurking and absorbing all the information I could. I has access to many different materials and experimented with everything to see what worked best. In the end, after wasting a few weeks, it was exactly what SN2ed listed. That list is pure gold. So far, as I study for the January exam (my old score is unfortunately outdated), I'm finding that what worked back the is working great now. You cannot beat SN2ed's methods.

There is a reason SN2ed recommended TBR for passages for all of the sciences and that's because their questions, explanations, and tricks are far and away the best out there. With all of the posts about people getting stellar scores from the SN2ed material cocktail (TBR for chem, orgo physics, and bio, EK for bio and verbal, TPR for verbal and random science passages) I just don't get why people now wonder what to use. The funny thing is, since people at SDN have started following other plans (some from people who scored poorly), there are more threads per page about bad scores and repeating the MCAT that ever.

Why not just stick to what has worked for years? A year printed on the front of a book does not make it better. To each their own, but it seems crazy to me that people would not follow what works.

Does the SN2ed method work for the 2015 MCAT?

I can't seem to link it right. It's on the third page here, so just scroll two more pages and look for the word poll and the number 2015. Right now the list shows the best five as:

EK
TBR
Khan
Kaplan
TPR

Based on my first time studying and my current studying, I completely agree that EK and TBR are the best. I'd put TBR ahead of EK because of the passages and better editing, but they are both vital to doing well. Khan is a nice supplement.

As a high school coach used to scream at us all the time, "if you want to do your best then you need to surround yourself with the best."

So EK/TBR/KA are the way to go. I wasn't sure about Kaplan since people were doing worse on the practice tests but did really well on the real deal. Would you recommend using Kaplan practice tests for good practice? And if so, any way to access them without taking a course?

 

[Swagster]

So far the best feedback for MCAT2015 seems to be either the SN2ed method or the BoomBoom method. I chose a slight variation based on a few books that recently came out and I'm loving it all so far. Will keep you posted.