basic text books and mcat

[FrogE7]

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I took AP Physics in high school and passed out of it when I was 16 and never took it in college. For the mcats, should I just rely on kaplan/princeton reviews, or should I just go over the textbook by myself and then do the kaplan/princeton stuff. After all, they are just reviews. What do you think? Did any one else use their basic text books for subjects on the mcats?

 

[umass rower]

Depends on how much you remember. I placed out of Physics too, also from AP, but to this day I don't know how it happened-- I really had no idea what I was doing. So I retook physics here at school, a higher level one than what I placed out of. That took care of mechanics, and then for E&M and all that other fun stuff I just used my roommate (a physics major) to give me a quick overview of second-semester physics.

 

[MeowMix]

If you are reviewing for the MCAT, you would be wasting your time to review the textbook first. Whether you decide to take a prep course or buy prep books, there will be more than enough info there. If you are confused about something, then do targeted review on that.

I would recommend that you plan to spend more time than the average student on your physics prep, unless you are exceptionally smart.

You should also consider Examkrackers, Berkeley Review, etc. for your prep - make an informed decision before you spend the $1400.

 

[Dr.Linus]

It all depends on your confidence level and how much you feel you know. To get an idea, do a diagnostic test and then decide if you need to go back to a text book and do a thorough learning or just do a review from the review books.

But even if you do go back to text books, make sure you work out problems after every chapter to reinforce the concepts. Make concise notes that you can go back to, and do passage based problems.

MCAT is a thinking test. Learn and know the concepts cold. Then do problems and do them fast.

 

[thackl]

Same here and gen chem plus I was 29 when I took the MCAT.

The review books are plenty.Go to the library or use the internet if a topic is too glossed over for you. Good luck.