Berkeley Review Chemistry

[RoadRunner17]

Just wondering who wrote the Chemistry books... I've been going through the first one over the past few days, and I think both the review and the passage questions are very well-written. Also, the answer explanations are great, I particularly love how the writer goes "Answer choice A is a fine selection if your goal is to be correct" or "Be a hero or heroine by choosing A", or "It is in your best interest to choose choice C". Can't really say it's boring at all when you have these brief moments of levity while studying.

All I got to say is that this is already way better than Kaplan's comprehensive review for at least General Chemistry so far. Thank God I have the time to work through these books, because its going to take a while to go through all the problems.

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[booji]

I completely concur with your point. TBR books are awesome.

 

[RoadRunner17]

As a side note, did you do the passages in the order that they recommend, or did you just go through them from questions 1-100?

Anyone know why its like that?

 

[lifeistough]

I think user BerkReviewTeach writes the Chemistry. I believe Todd or Scott writes the Biology. I have found their physical science to be fully enough for you to prepare for the MCAT.

For biology, not organic, after you have gone through the content, you can look at the AAMC report card and do specific questions in either the Berkeley, and other sources. Definately, for biology, I have found that I had to supplement from other sources (Kaplan Comp 2008, only one I used). I have purchased the Kaplan QBank for 199.00, yesterday, and been using the customization tool to just do all the section questions they have.

I have looked over the recent AAMC I took and have noticed that it is passage based problems and reading that I will need to practice on. Thankfully, the qbank had quite a sum of hypothesis/experiment analysis. For those, I have to slow down and try to really understand what is going down. For example, common questions that require you to understand the viewpoint and make inferences on hypotheses, require 0% base knowledge. I am hoping that practicing these might prevent future occurances on last practice MCAT I have yet to take: AAMC 10S.


Best regards.

 

[RoadRunner17]

Oops, I was looking at the title page of the Chemistry sections and it says Todd Bennett wrote them. Its a shame I don't live in California as I wouldn't mind spending the money for the class as the material is just great. I'm going through it at a rate of about 1 TBR book every 4-5 days... roughly reading two sections and doing one entire problem set (of 100) each day. Pretty fun to do with these books, in fact.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Just wondering who wrote the Chemistry books... I've been going through the first one over the past few days, and I think both the review and the passage questions are very well-written. Also, the answer explanations are great, I particularly love how the writer goes "Answer choice A is a fine selection if your goal is to be correct" or "Be a hero or heroine by choosing A", or "It is in your best interest to choose choice C". Can't really say it's boring at all when you have these brief moments of levity while studying.

All I got to say is that this is already way better than Kaplan's comprehensive review for at least General Chemistry so far. Thank God I have the time to work through these books, because its going to take a while to go through all the problems.

THANK YOU so very much for your kind words. You have no idea how much such comments mean to us. I wish you the absolute best of luck in this entire process (from MCAT to graduation), because the world needs doctors like you. Your patients will be lucky people.

 

[RoadRunner17]

THANK YOU so very much for your kind words. You have no idea how much such comments mean to us. I wish you the absolute best of luck in this entire process (from MCAT to graduation), because the world needs doctors like you. Your patients will be lucky people.

Thanks I definitely appreciate all the work you guys at TBR put into the materials, keep up the great work!

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I think user BerkReviewTeach writes the Chemistry. I believe Todd or Scott writes the Biology. I have found their physical science to be fully enough for you to prepare for the MCAT.

Thanks for the endorsement on physical sciences. Todd writes the chemistry, not the biology. The biology text has a single primary author, and the passages are team written by a combination of professors, MDs, and medical students (to incorporate variety and diversity of style).

 

[mils617]

Is there a way to buy the TBR exams if you're out of state?

 

[drizzt3117]

I believe they sell them on their website.

 

[RoadRunner17]

How do you find the TBR exams to be, especially in light of the recent MCAT administrations? Are these worth obtaining? I can never seem to find them separately available on say, eBay or craigslist, so I may have to order them straight from TBR, but that takes time due to having to send a money order and such (I write on September 7). So, 1) are they worth the time and expense, and 2) is there any way I can possibly get them quickly?

As a side note, I went through TBR for Chemistry and Physics (the Chem books REALLY helped me for Chemistry, I can't express in words how much it has improved my reasoning ability for Chemistry-related topics; it has bled into my Physics thinking as well; Physics is something that's better taught in an undergrad class IMO but TBR's main asset is the practice problems. As it stands, I am scoring higher %'s in PS on practice exams than just with Kaplan.) but I haven't tried going through Organic Chem, and I don't have the Biology books.

At this point, before September 7, is it worth getting/going through those particular books? I'm hoping having already read through Kaplan's Comprehensive Review for Biology, having already done EK 1001 Biology and currently reading through the EK Biology book will be enough.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Is there a way to buy the TBR exams if you're out of state?

Paper versions of the exams are for sale. You should get the versions with more questions (77/60/77 instead of 52/40/52) to get a better value. Google Berkeley Review for more details.

Although they don't really pop up much on eBay, you can probably find someone here willing to sell there old exams.

 

[FIREitUP]

i'm glad theres an effective way to 'relearn' chem, for I have totally forgot everything. how's the bio book in the TBR series?

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

i'm glad theres an effective way to 'relearn' chem, for I have totally forgot everything. how's the bio book in the TBR series?

The biology books don't get the rave reviews that the chemistry and physics books get.


BUMP

Doing so with an apology, because I'm bumping this out of a you're forgetting about us when you ask about materials mentality. There are some very good materials that people miss out on because they aren't mass produced and sold in bulk. I don't mean to be as defensive as it might seem, but I feel proud of the physical sciences books. Not that I had much to do with the books (I've editted some and been consulted on parts), but there is a bit of creator's pride. Whether you buy them used or from BR, you should get their chemistry and physics books.