MCAT Study Screw Up :/ (Science books)

[daybyday234]

So I've been studying for my upcoming MCAT. I have the EK (9th), Kaplan, and TBR. I have really liked the TBR and feel like those book help me the most.
However, in a moment of extreme ignorance...I realized that my science TBR books were from 2010...the person who sold them to me lied and I should have checked before purchasing

I don't have the finances or time to buy more books...so does anyone have any tips on what I should do??? I know some of the content is going to be the same...and I am mainly using the books for content review...should I stop using TBR? I feel like it has helped me the most compared to EK or Kaplan...but I want to ensure that I am getting all the info needed


I have already read the EK science and Kaplan biochemistry book...should those be sufficient in combination with the old TBR? Thanks everyone

Please note that I am only talking about science, not cars or psych

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[BBBallIsLife]

My university had some MCAT study books available to check out, you could check your local/school libraries first.
Additionally, my personal belief is that any content book is good if it covers all material that the AAMC tests on (there are good sources on this forum that have outlines of material covered), and rather you should put more emphasis on finding/buying UPDATED (not pre-2015) practice tests now and learning how the AAMC asks questions. If you still had trouble with the concept, google/youtube/KA are good friends.

Coming off of kaplan review books, I'd say the biochemistry covered in it is accurate, though I got more out of the biochem classes i enrolled in at my university. Again, there is only so much content and rather you need to learn how to apply that knowledge to AAMC questions.

have you checked for refund policies?

hope this helps, and good luck studying!

 

[daybyday234]

My university had some MCAT study books available to check out, you could check your local/school libraries first.
Additionally, my personal belief is that any content book is good if it covers all material that the AAMC tests on (there are good sources on this forum that have outlines of material covered), and rather you should put more emphasis on finding/buying UPDATED (not pre-2015) practice tests now and learning how the AAMC asks questions. If you still had trouble with the concept, google/youtube/KA are good friends.

Coming off of kaplan review books, I'd say the biochemistry covered in it is accurate, though I got more out of the biochem classes i enrolled in at my university. Again, there is only so much content and rather you need to learn how to apply that knowledge to AAMC questions.

have you checked for refund policies?

hope this helps, and good luck studying!

Okay, thanks so much! all the practice exams/questions I've done are for the current MCAT (just using TBR for content) I'll check out an MCAT outline to ensure I'm not missing anything. Again, thanks!

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

So I've been studying for my upcoming MCAT. I have the EK (9th), Kaplan, and TBR. I have really liked the TBR and feel like those book help me the most.
However, in a moment of extreme ignorance...I realized that my science TBR books were from 2010...the person who sold them to me lied and I should have checked before purchasing

As long as you cross-reference the AAMC list and omit things like planetary motion, solids, alkene chemistry, and so on, then you should be fine. The MCAT still uses the same format of four answer choices per question and as you will see in the AAMC question banks, the style of questions are very similar to the old exam. There are more experiment-based passages on today's MCAT, but the older exam also had those too. So you should be fine in terms of preparation.

I don't have the finances or time to buy more books...so does anyone have any tips on what I should do??? I know some of the content is going to be the same...and I am mainly using the books for content review...should I stop using TBR? I feel like it has helped me the most compared to EK or Kaplan...but I want to ensure that I am getting all the info needed

You should keep doing what you're doing. Buying new books at this point would be fruitless. Any money you spend at this juncture should be on AAMC materials. If you are looking for more FL exams, there are plenty out there. In addition to our FLs, we recommend our students try at least two from EK and two from Altius as well as all of the AAMC exams. The more different resources you use for practice exams, the better your exposure. And as we tell our students in class, if the tricks we are teaching you work on exams from four different sources, then you know you can trust them on your actual MCAT. You should count on FL exams from those four sources (three companies that are primarily or exclusively MCAT, each with over ten years of experience, and AAMC themselves) to give you the current MCAT topics in practice exams.