Berkeley Review vs Nova Press

[newooub]

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I heard Berkley Review and Nova Press are some of the best for a comprehensive science review. I was wondering how the they differ, since I will probably buy one of them.

1) Which one is more complete?
2) Is there any difference in their explanation style?
3) Which one has better practice questions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BrokenGlass]

I heard Berkley Review and Nova Press are some of the best for a comprehensive science review. I was wondering how the they differ, since I will probably buy one of them.

1) Which one is more complete?
2) Is there any difference in their explanation style?
3) Which one has better practice questions?

Thanks in advance.

1) Berkeley Review, no contest.
2) Yes.
3) Berkeley Review, no contest.

 

[RoadRunner17]

I get my BR books this week. So I'll let you know how they are.

 

[BrokenGlass]

I get my BR books this week. So I'll let you know how they are.

So far I finished G-Chem, Physics, and Bio books. Working on O-Chem.

Physics: I got 90/100 right on average (out of about 700 questions)
G-Chem: I got 85/100 right on average (out of about 1000 questions)
Bio: I got 75/100 right on average (out of about 1000 questions).

O-Chem: I did 7 passages and got 47/50 questions right

Berkeley Bio definitely has the hardest questions out of the entire Berkeley set. Don't expect to get all the bio questions right.

 

[BrokenGlass]

I get my BR books this week. So I'll let you know how they are.

When are you taking the test? You'll need about 2 months (at least a month) to do all the passages in Berkeley books. If you are taking the test in August, I don't think you'll be able to finish all the Berkeley materials by then.

I work full time and it's taking me more than 2 months to do all the Berkeley passages (and keep in mind that I took the class and was familiar with the material before I started doing the passages).

 

[RoadRunner17]

I take the test September 7, and I am studying full-time. I'm really planning on completing only the General Chemistry and Physics books, which everyone seems to say is the best part of TBR. I will probably plan on finishing more than half but not completing the Biology and Organic Chem books (unless I determine I have more work to do in Organic Chem, but Biology has always been a strong suit). What I'm looking to do with the TBR books is to use them for practice, supplemented by quick content review. I would like to continually review over the next two months, and if you're reviewing a topic for the third time but using a different book, otherwise I tend to just glaze over it. That's what's happening with me and the Kaplan comprehensive review book. So I intend to use TBR in that way.

 

[Raihan Mirza]

would you guys consider Berkley Review better than Examkrackers?

 

[BrokenGlass]

would you guys consider Berkley Review better than Examkrackers?

I read the EK complete study package and I liked it. EK is good for nailing down all the concepts that you absolutely must know. EK Audio Osmosis is also very good if you have time on your hands that would otherwise would be wasted. But if you only have about a month or so before the test, AO is probably not worth it. First time I listened to some of the AO lecutres, I didn't understand much, but with time, everything sinks in. At this point, I pretty much know AO by heart.

TBR course and materials are great. If you are in California, consider taking TBR. You will have one of the best MCAT instructors in the country (if not the best) teaching most of your classes.

Prepare to do a lot of work, regardless of which course you take. Much of your improvement will depend on how much effort you put into it.

 

[gotmeds?]

would you guys consider Berkley Review better than Examkrackers?

For everything except Verbal, Berkeley Review is awesome. Their Verbal isn't bad, but I'd give a slight edge to EK on that one. If I had to study for the MCAT all over again (and thank God I don't), I'd get the set of BR books + EK 101 VR.

 

[BrokenGlass]

For everything except Verbal, Berkeley Review is awesome. Their Verbal isn't bad, but I'd give a slight edge to EK on that one. If I had to study for the MCAT all over again (and thank God I don't), I'd get the set of BR books + EK 101 VR.

I don't think there is an MCAT prep company other there with good verbal reasoning materials. The best way to prepare for the VR section is by doing real LSATs released by LSAC. They are very well written and there is only ONE correct answer choice, unlike EK verbal. I personally thought EK verbal reasoning passages were low grade...they are too ambiguous and require too many assumptions.

If you can do the LSAT verbal reasoning (not some prep company's passages, but the actual LSAT passages), you will own the MCAT verbal reasoning section.

 

[RoadRunner17]

Very interesting about the LSAT passages. My older brother is studying to take the LSAT. I wonder if I should go see if he has LSAT passages for me to practice on.

I think the ambiguousness of the EK VR 101 passages is key to doing well on the MCAT, though. There are plenty of questions where the answer isn't immediately clear and depends on how well you comprehended both the big picture and the details of the passage, and how tuned in you are to what the people who write the answer keys are thinking. Which is why its a crapshoot for some people.

 

[BrokenGlass]

Very interesting about the LSAT passages. My older brother is studying to take the LSAT. I wonder if I should go see if he has LSAT passages for me to practice on.

I think the ambiguousness of the EK VR 101 passages is key to doing well on the MCAT, though. There are plenty of questions where the answer isn't immediately clear and depends on how well you comprehended both the big picture and the details of the passage, and how tuned in you are to what the people who write the answer keys are thinking. Which is why its a crapshoot for some people.

I don't think ambiguousness is good for VR. If you get used to crappy passages, you may start second guessing yourself on the real test and that's not exactly a recipe of success. I applied to law school in the past and so I did take a real LSAT (if I remember correctly, I missed 3 out of 28 on the reading comp). Real LSAT passages are so much better than EK 101 passages. Finally, like I have said a few times before, EK verbal stragegy is nothing new. To prep for the LSAT I took Testmasters, which is another prep company and they pretty much focus on the main idea too. Everything else depends on practice and paying attention to details without being drowned by them.

 

[RoadRunner17]

Yeah, I take what I said back, because it didn't make much sense then and doesn't make much sense now.

I just did a EK 101 section, and at least 2 of the questions I saw were super ambiguous. Its as if the writer went out of his way to make it so, on purpose. Basically they were questions with no real good answer, and you had to decide which one of the choices were the least wrong. That's annoying as hell, and the explanation basically says "Use POE to get this answer". Unfortunately I think there are usually a couple of those on the MCAT though. So in that sense, EK's tendency to do that kind of thing is a necessary evil.

 

[newooub]

I think I'll buy berkley review; thanks. How long do you think it will take to finish the entire berkley review science books (not just the passages)? 2 months for just the passages seems a lot...

 

[BrainTeazer]

is it possible to buy BR practice material only? What kinda BR books are out there?

 

[RoadRunner17]

Google The Berkeley Review and find their homepage and it has everything you need to know. All the passages and everything are in their subject books.

 

[LUCPM]

I found both Nova and TBR books are helpful.

Nova books drill you on proportionality-type of questions, whereas TBR books give you some excellent tips on how to eliminate wrong answers and how to do them quickly.

One thing about ordering TBR books: make sure you send your money order/cashier's check way ahead of time and send it with delivery confirmation. I send mine via USPS priority mail without delivery confirmation and it took over 3 weeks instead of 2-3 days. In the meanwhile, I had to cancel the money order (cost $12) and send a new money order via Express mail (cost another $16).

I guess it's not Berkeley's fault but they don't take CC for payment. I would never trust USPS except their Express mail. This isn't the first time I had a bad experience with USPS priority mail.

 

[IvyLeagueThug]

I guess it's not Berkeley's fault but they don't take CC for payment.

Respectfully disagree with you here.

If it's not their fault--as a privately owned company--whose fault is it?

I've heard nothing but the best about the quality of TBR products (I'm actually set to order some today).

Nonetheless, I would feel a lot more confident if the firm had a professional looking Web site and an ordering process in-line with virtually every other firm on the planet today.

In 2007, it's inane for any business not to accept credit cards, PayPal, etc. The whole "wait for your money order to get across the country and we'll force you into expensive 2-day air on the back end" is just not a customer friendly business practice.

 

[nabeel76]

I completely agree with this. I ordered the gen chem books and after 2 weeks I almost gave up on them and thought that they had forgot about me, they hadn't even cashed the check I had sent them. The whole 15 dollars for 2 day delivery just isn't the same when the company takes 2-3 weeks to ship the book.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I've heard nothing but the best about the quality of TBR products (I'm actually set to order some today).

In 2007, it's inane for any business not to accept credit cards, PayPal, etc. The whole "wait for your money order to get across the country and we'll force you into expensive 2-day air on the back end" is just not a customer friendly business practice.

Thanks for the kind words about the quality.

As for the credit card issues, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. It is something we address every year and always go back to the same arguments. Convenience versus risk. Unfortunately, we were SEVERELY burned via an internet transaction and by the time it was over, we had wasted a whole bunch of time, money, and sleepless nights.

I know in this day in age where the top priority of a business is to generate huge profits, it's not our main goal. I guess we qualify as old fashion (or old school, as that sounds a bit better). Hopefully the pride we take in putting out a book with hundreds of questions and well-thought answer explanations compensates for our "Pony Express is still the best route" mentality.

I am sincerely sorry for this, as is everyone who sits in on our meetings when we discuss business, but hopefully the quality of what you get makes up for the frustrations.

Kick butt on the MCAT, get into medical school, become a great doctor, and hopefully forget about our outdated mentality.