Are These Books O.k. For Preparation??

[sistahnik]

hello everyone!! I'm from michigan and I've been looking for some different books to enhance my science knowledge, of course along with my school textbooks. I went to a bookstore called Walden's and found: ALGEBRA THE EASY WAY by Barrons, ALGEBRA for DUMMIES, CHEMISTRY/PHYSICS/BIOLOGY FOR DUMMIES, CLIFFS AP (for science and math) by Thorpe, WORD SMART and WORD POWER by PRINCETON REVIEW (for vocabulary enhancement) I just wanted to know if these would be o.k. to use to prep for the mcat. I just want to be prepared for the test!!!! any responses would be greatly appreciated.

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[topherius]

Unless you're seriously rusty on algebra (and I mean in the sense that you couldn't solve an equation like x^2 - 4 = 0) you probably don't need an algebra review book, much less two.

The Cliffs books are so light on details that I'm not sure they would be all that helpful.

Getting physics, chem, o-chem and bio review books would be helpful if you haven't had the classes recently. Don't know much about the dummies books but they're probably good.

Word power-type books might help, but keep in mind that the verbal section of the mcat is all reading comp. There are no analogies or fill in the blanks (a la SAT) so unless you need to improve your vocab for reading purposes, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Focus instead on intensive reading.

The most helpful books are those with real mcat sections in them. Because as much as you study in isolated settings, nothing can prepare you for the actual test as well as the actual test itself. If you can afford it, a kaplan or princeton review class is probably the way to go--they give 5 or more full-length tests while you're in the class. Otherwise, you can buy their books at any bookstore, and they have full mcats in them. Not as many as you get from the courses, but enough to be of use.

Good luck!

 

[MeowMix]

Don't waste your money on any of these for the MCAT. Go over to the MCAT forum and read the collective wisdom on prep materials. If you still have questions, people will be happy to give you suggestions.

 

[DrMom]

closing. duplicate thread. see the open on in the MCAT forum.