I've been reading this board for the last week or so trying to figure out what to get, it's kind of overwhelming because some people recommend one thing and some people another so it's hard to gauge what is considered good.
I'm trying to keep it minimal and not go crazy with loads of different resources. Does this seem like a good approach?
TBR - Physics and Gen Chem
EK - Bio, O-Chem, Verbal
Chad's videos/quizzes for all sciences
AAMC tests
I don't know if it's true but what I gathered is TBR is quite tough (maybe too tough for Bio?). So I split them up so I could try EK and TBR...not sure if that's a good idea
long post is really, really, really long but hopefully contains some good advice you can parse out.. think of it as a VR passage! Tried to bold most important points afterwards but probably missed some!
1) Don't get overwhelmed. The study material doesn't matter as much as how you use it. Not to say some aren't better than others, but that's not, IMO, the biggest component of MCAT success. Whatever the resource, set up a schedule and stick to it.
Three parts to a good schedule: content review, practice passages and practice exams.
Goal here is to know ALL topics at an adequate level and then try and get as many strengths as possible. MCAT covers so much that you can have many, many strengths and still do poorly if you happen to take a test that hits your weaknesses.. so you need to focus your studying on identifying weaknesses and eliminating them.
I suggest a quick round of content review, doing 1/3 of your available practice passages to help consolidate everything. Make a spreadsheet and break down your %s by topic (don't need to get too picky here, just go by whatever chapter in whatever resource you pick). Then, do it all again with another 1/3. After/during this, you should start incorporating practice exams AND THE SELF ASSESSMENT. Using the practice exams, SA and your data on the previous 2/3 of passages, figure out where your weaknesses are and, you guessed it, do another quick review of content and the final 1/3 of passages.
Practice exams (and content review) alone don''t help you identify all your weaknesses.. so don't expect them to. They just pick a specific subset of topics which you may or may not be weak in... and that test's choice of content is NOT representative of the real thing. However, if you found that on a specific test you struggled on a passage about X.. then X is likely a weakness! Just don't expect practice tests to find every X for you.
Practice exams are for timing/experience and finalizing testing strategies. Practice passages are the main component of a successful study schedule. To put it bluntly, practice exams and content review don't get you as many points on test day as practice passages will.
Very similar to SN2ed's schedule but make sure your
mindset is focusing on weaknesses.. people tend to like to focus on strengths because they're easier to identify and well, more enjoyable to study. This equals potential MCAT struggle when you don't get a test that luckily picks only your strengths.. which you probably won't get.
2) I'll comment on the materials I know/used.
I think different resources work for different people depending on their content background.. don't be afraid to mix and match based on what your weaknesses are going in. Again.. just pick and don't think about the grass on the other side.
TBR content review + passages:
IMO, TBR is the perfect resource for those looking to ace the MCAT. Difficulty wise, TBR passages are, on average, HARDER than the real thing... but that's a good thing. If you're shooting for a top score, you'll want to make sure you know a topic inside and out.. which means you need a proper gauge which TBR provides with its passages. Chapters are dense but again, you WANT to over-prepare if you're looking to ace the MCAT.
If you're not starting from a good knowledge base and/or not shooting for a 33+, TBR is likely not the best resource for you.
People get annoyed at TBR Bio but its really just the metabolism chapters that are ridiculous. Use TPRH or EK for those.
TPR Hyperlearning (not regular) content review + passages:
I found content review to be okay. Not stellar but okay. Less dense than TBR, of course.
I'd use this resource if I were looking for a thorough review of the content coming from a not so great knowledge base.. because TBR is quite simply too much to learn on an MCAT study schedule and EK is too little. Passages are very similar to MCAT difficulty. While TBR isn't a good predictor of MCAT score (as in, 70% in TBR is quite a bit better than 70% right on the MCAT), TPRH would be.
Very good to use to gauge weaknesses whereas TBR is less so because of the difficultly level (you'd think you're weak in more than what you are because TBR demands a higher grasp of the content than the MCAT).
Examkrackers content/practice passages (in book + 1001 series):
EK is very bare bones.
This is good for the student who has a strong knowledge base and/or limited amount of time to study. You can definitely do well just using the review provided in EK but this resource falls short on its own because it
contains very, very few practice passages. The ones it has are great.. just not enough. Don't just use EK for a topic that you don't like.. that's allowing yourself to gloss over a weakness by just giving up. I liked quickly looking through EK as a means to ensure I understood the major topics at play.
1001 series is very good AND very bad.
Very good in that if you know where your weaknesses lie, it's a very good way to help do them away by drilling. For instance, I hate physics.. so when I was studying, I would find a physics topic I sucked at. So I'd open up 1001 and do problem after problem on that topic. The way the book is designed is great for making sure you really understand how to do a problem because each successive problem changes the preceding one just a bit (i.e. drilling).
It's also very bad though because it doesn't help you efficiently identify weaknesses... don't treat these as practice passages.
AAMC exams:
I said it above but I'm going to repeat it here.. don't expect practice exams to point out if you have weaknesses in a specific topic. So much to test, that even after 10 practice exams.. you can still have a hidden weakness that will be exposed on test day. This is why practice passages on ALL topics is important.
Make sure you do enough practice tests, though, so that you're comfortable with the timing and test experience as a whole. You should score within a few points of your average because while the tests don't cover ALL the material, it does enough that it holds some predictive value. You can always hit the jackpot (all strengths) or bust (all weaknesses) though.
Self-assessment is quite possibly THE BEST STUDY RESOURCE. Why? because it helps you do your main job: identify weaknesses. All MCAT-level passages, obviously.. and even breaks it down nicely for you. Do this, then do it again. Where practice tests aren't good for identifying weaknesses, the SA is.. because it covers pretty much everything.
Verbal:
TBR isn't very good. Neither is EK101, quite honestly.. though it's better than TBR and can be used to at least get yourself into the game. TPRH Verbal Workbook is the best practice resource here.. but the Self-Assessment and AAMC practice exams are by far the most valuable resource for verbal.
Limited material means post-gaming becomes integral to success.
Personally, I used a combination of TPRH Science Workbook and TBR for my prep. This way you get the MCAT level passages and the passages that push you to understand topics at higher conceptual levels.
IMO, this is the best combination for the average student. Helps you identify weaknesses (TPRH) and turn them into strengths (TBR). Content wise, all TBR substituting some chapters with EK for Bio. For Verbal, I did a bit in the TPRH VW but mostly just saved my practice for AAMC materials.
Basically:
Mandatory
AAMC Tests/Self-Assessment
Highly recommended for everyone
TPRH Science and Verbal Workbooks
If you're shooting for a high score...
TBR
If you have an excellent background and/or not much time to study
EK
If you have an average background..
TPRH
If you know you have weaknesses..
EK1001
Addendums:
Kaplan content review is good, possibly even better than TPRH for that thorough review with a decent background.. it suffers from the same problem as EK though with very little practice problems. The course is another story though (online materials = superb).
AAMC topic list (see NextStepTutors post below as well as my followup post).. one of the most unused yet valuable study resources
And no, I won't share my score because a number does not qualify the value of anyone's advice. Anyone can PM me about specific questions, I'm usually receptive as long as you ask nicely!
