Anyone else think EK 1001 Bio is worthless?

[BrianK0220]

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Anyone else think EK 1001 Bio is worthless? What are you guys using for biology content review? Is biology content review even worth it? Should I focus on terminology or practicing passages?

 

[ThirdEye]

I think it's worthless. I only reviewed the EK bio content book and used the AAMC cbts for practice. I also didn't study much for organic and the bio turned out to be my best section

 

[411309]

second that its worthless. i didnt do hard studying for orgo and that turned out to bite me in the ass though..i dont even think tbr bio is good. so imo, theres not much you can do for the bio section lol

 

[ThirdEye]

That orgo is pure luck of the draw. My first exam didn't have a single organic problem that I could recall. The second time I took the mcat, I had 3 freaking passages of organic. Somehow I scored the same both times.

I'm going for my third attempt, and I'm still going to passively study bio and organic. PS and VR is where the improvement opportunities are.

 

[Dbate]

Why do you think it is worthless? I haven't started on it yet, but when I skimmed through, it had many passages, which is what the MCAT primarily consists of.

 

[vashka]

second that its worthless. i didnt do hard studying for orgo and that turned out to bite me in the ass though..i dont even think tbr bio is good. so imo, theres not much you can do for the bio section lol

Why do you think tar bio is worthless?

 

[ThirdEye]

Why do you think it is worthless? I haven't started on it yet, but when I skimmed through, it had many passages, which is what the MCAT primarily consists of.

I did a few passages out of 1001. Too many questions can be asked without reading the passage and too much of it is trivial knowledge. Some of the passages might be kind of similar in style to the mcat, but the Qs and As certainly are not.

The BS section is a VR test. You still have to know your science but it's the info in the passages that matters the most.

 

[411309]

The BS section is a VR test. You still have to know your science but it's the info in the passages that matters the most.

this is why i thought TBR bio didnt help me also. On TBR bio the passages always seemed to be on one subject too- on the real thing they integrate way more in a single passage and it requires careful reading..

 

[FalconSlice]

I did a few passages out of 1001. Too many questions can be asked without reading the passage and too much of it is trivial knowledge. Some of the passages might be kind of similar in style to the mcat, but the Qs and As certainly are not.

The BS section is a VR test. You still have to know your science but it's the info in the passages that matters the most.

Okay, I took the mcat on 5/24 and I believe the EK bio 1001 to be awesome.
1. It has some "WTF" questions, which you will DEFINITELY see on the mcat
2. It reviews EVERYTHING that is in the EK bio manual
3. It gives really good explanation

I felt that bio 1001 really helped me. Anyway, since I love organic chemistry, I didn't really focus on that (it is one of my strong suits). But thanks to this book, I got a bit of confidence. I don't know why there is so much hate on Bio 1001 EK though...

 

[JFK90787]

The passages are not similar to the real deal, and it has some very esoteric topics that you don't see that often on AAMCs but pop up repeatedly in the EK 1001 book. Nevertheless I did learn a few new things and would recommend it if you have the time.

 

[scruffy821]

I think EK Bio 1001 was really helpful for me! I had a lot of trouble with answering random bio discretes, and going through the book really helped me memorize the ones that were high yield. But yes, don't rely on it to help you learn how to work through passages, they're very different. What was particularly helpful was going through the back of the book and writing down any facts that the answer key labelled as "high-yield".

 

[BrianK0220]

I get that EK bio 1001 is designed to be a content review book, and that it's not meant to represent what an actual MCAT passage would look like. EK suggests doing all their stuff and then taking full length AAMC's. This is what I'll do.

I have all TBR and EK stuff. From what I've seen so far, EK is underkill and TBR is overkill. I guess if you're pressed for time it's better to have the basics down cold than to only be vaguely familiar with everything.

I'm doing an EK verbal passage every day, 1/3 to 2/3 of every EK 1001 book and all the full length AAMC's. I only need a 28. We'll see what happens.

 

[BorninDecember]

I wouldn't say it's worthless. No practice material should be worthless, you'd alwys learn something from it. I'd say however, that I did notice a couple of spelling errors and few pieces of contradicting information which make me question it's accuracy and validity.

 

[FalconSlice]

I forgot to add: Also those "WTF" questions I mentioned could be like this (this is not an actual MCAT question, but after taking and retaking this is something they might ask):

Which one of the following is the correct structure of an essential amino acid?
(and imagine the answer choices to be all different amino acids, and you have to know which is which)

If you used all other prep materials, good luck with this question.
EK bio helps

 

[JFK90787]

Which one of the following is the correct structure of an essential amino acid?
(and imagine the answer choices to be all different amino acids, and you have to know which is which)

Consequently, I had a question on my real examine about the specific side chain structure of two of the less common amino acids 😛

Narrowed it to two choices and guessed. Found out after the exam I got it wrong

 

[NYKnick]

The passages are not similar to the real deal, and it has some very esoteric topics that you don't see that often on AAMCs but pop up repeatedly in the EK 1001 book. Nevertheless I did learn a few new things and would recommend it if you have the time.

I second that! It really is not that bad. With the real MCAT being so unpredictable you never know whats going to be on it. that extra info might come in handy

 

[rosehudson]

I am using Ek bio for content and Br for passages.

 

[BritIndian]

I found EK bio1001 really really hard...
It does not follow the lecture pattern very well... I studied chapter 2 and the questions talk about things that have nothing to do with chapter 2.. like passage 210... and many others,

it is very demoralizing

 

[FalconSlice]

Consequently, I had a question on my real examine about the specific side chain structure of two of the less common amino acids 😛

Narrowed it to two choices and guessed. Found out after the exam I got it wrong

umm... aren't you NOT allowed to talk about actual specific mcat questions???

 

[Postictal Raiden]

How helpful are the other ek1001 books for gchem and physics? did they help nailing down concepts?

 

[TriagePreMed]

I found EK bio1001 really really hard...
It does not follow the lecture pattern very well... I studied chapter 2 and the questions talk about things that have nothing to do with chapter 2.. like passage 210... and many others,

it is very demoralizing

I find this to be the case too. A lot of stuff is simply not covered at all in lectures.

 

[Temperature101]

I found EK bio1001 really really hard...
It does not follow the lecture pattern very well... I studied chapter 2 and the questions talk about things that have nothing to do with chapter 2.. like passage 210... and many others,

it is very demoralizing

EK bio 1001 is not hard...

 

[TriagePreMed]

EK bio 1001 is not hard...

I think that's why he specified that HE/SHE found it hard, not that it's hard for YOU.

 

[BritIndian]

I understand the answers after I read the back of the book - It's just that I don't feel like I would be able to get to those answers on my own. There is so much high order rationalization and derivation, and then they include things we haven't read yet. I took my Bio classes 2 years ago, so if they answer questions with relevance to other parts of the texts, of course I won't have much clue. On some of the questions, I just whiz past, but it's not what you can do, it's what you're not able to do that matters.

 

[BritIndian]

I'm not sure how many of you have taken math, but this is how it feels.
we had the sandwich/squeeze theorem remember - when you find the value of something by fixing it between two functions( x < number < y), and limiting the functions on each side to find the same number on both sides. Then since the number in the middle is greater than one side and less than one side, and if the numbers on both sides are the same( let's say 8), the number in the middle has to be 8, right?

Well the EKBio explanations feel like that to me.... I mean I understand them, but would never have thought of taking that route of thinking. The example above was still intuitive mathematically.... The answers they give are not as intuitive, and the rationalizations are crazy.. even though they make sense...

 

[BritIndian]

It's a bit scary, since most people find the material easy.