"Thank you for your interest in The Berkeley Review's (TBR's) MCAT review program and Home Study materials. Based on what the AAMC has outlined in their current MCAT Student Manual (i.e., The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam (MCAT2015)), the changes to the new exam are as follows:
NEW MCAT versus OLD MCAT
Section 1
NEW: Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems
OLD: The Physical Sciences
Section 2
NEW: Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
OLD: Verbal Reasoning
Section 3
NEW: Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
OLD: The Biological Sciences
Section 4
NEW: Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior
OLD: Nothing as this is a new section on the exam
COMPARISON of MCAT STUDENT MANUALS
If you were to compare the MCAT student manuals from the 1990s, the 2000s, and the current one released in 2014 (i.e., the one mentioned above), you will see that the vast majority of the materials for the first three sections of the new exam has not changed. For example, one still needs to know physics and general chemistry in Section I. The equations F = ma in physics and pH = pKa + log [A-]/[HA] in general chemistry have not changed. In Section 2, the "old" Verbal Reasoning section will sill be applicable to the new section of the exam. In Section 3 they are supposed to remove a little Organic Chemistry, but not much. (When the exam changed from a paper-and-pencil exam to the Computer-Based Test (CBT) in 2006/2007, they said they would eliminate Alkenes, Benzenes, and Phenols. However, they still showed up on the exam!) The only noticeable change in Section 3 is that the AAMC has now said that one needs to have a minimum of a semester of biochemistry at the college/university level. We anticipated this change many (many) years ago and incorporated the necessary biochemistry into Book II of the Biology series.
BIOCHEMISTRY
The Biochemistry topics listed below are incorporated into our books and lectures.
Biology: Cell Structure & Function
Biology: Metabolic Components
Biology: Metabolism
Biology Genetic Information
Biology: Genetic Expression
Biology: Molecular Genetics
Organic Chemistry: Amino Acids & Proteins
All of the lecture topics listed above are Biochemistry topics. If you've completed at least a minimum of a semester of Biochemistry, and you have used a Biochemistry book by either Zubay, Rawn, Stryer, Voet & Voet, Garrett & Grisham, Mathews & van Holde, or Lehninger, Nelson, & Cox, you will see that this material is covered in those books.
The remaining Biology topics you see on the schedule are all Human Physiology topics.
What this means is that the only real (extensive) change in topics comes down to the addition of the new Psychology / Sociology section on the exam.
RECENTLY RELEASED PRACTICE EXAM and NEW FORMAT
The AAMC has recently released a new practice exam for the MCAT that is scheduled to begin in April of 2015. They said that this is the only practice exam they will release for the 2015 exam dates. I think they know that one exam is not enough to practice with, so hopefully they will release a few more practice exams as the year progresses. However, we are not expecting that as this is the same transitional pattern that they used when the exam radically changed in 1991. Back then it took years for them to release new material.
We have seen the newly released practice exam and the only thing that sticks out is the format change to the exam (e.g., the sciences are now 95 minutes and 9-10 passages instead of 70 minutes and 7 passages) and the addition of the new Psychology / Sociology component. The materials in the first three sections of the exam are pretty much the same as it has always been. The new section will require one to be familiar with Psychology and Sociology.
Because there were no radical announcements after the AAMC's annual meeting in Chicago this past November, we think the exam format is pretty much set at this time. However, they have said that their evaluation of the new exam will be ongoing and that if they need to make adjustments, they will. And as an interesting aside, at their San Francisco conference they even said that they would consider reintroducing the Writing Sample in a few years if they felt it was necessary.
Since the first three sections of the exam are almost identical in content to the current exam, we have decided to use the same materials we currently have for our lecture-based review program and for the current set of Home Study books. The content and the passages in the current books will be fine for the new exam. As updated information about the transition into the new exam format is made available, we will adjust our materials accordingly. At the moment, the only new addition will be the Psychology / Sociology component, which should be out by late April or early May of 2015. And, we are also going to release three (3) practice CBTs (in the new format) as well. The practice exams should be available by early March.
One item of interest here: The AAMC has said that once the current version of this exam ends on January 23, 2015, they will be removing from circulation the practice CBTs they currently offer. One needs to ask: "What are they going to do with those practice passages?" It is not likely that they are going to throw them away. Maybe they will be recycled? The AAMC has invested too much time and money into their development. If they were good enough to study with for the old exam, they will be good enough to study with for the new exam as the core content has not changed. What a number of students who are taking the new MCAT in April of 2015 have been doing is purchasing the current practice exams before they are removed and saving them to study with (so at least the have a little more material from the AAMC), and they are purchasing our current books so they can get a jump on their studying and passage-taking skills. They are also going to purchase the one newly released AAMC exam as well. To put this a different way, we find that students are now starting their studying for the upcoming spring 2015 exams a lot earlier than they have in past years.
I hope all of this helps."
. I'm using TBR too, and I'm probably more confused now then ever. 
