@femmegoblue - I've included my thoughts on the EK 101 Verbal Workbook below. And as to Jack's point (Jack really knows his stuff BTW), I'll just add that concerning the Verbal vs CARS:
The two sections are nearly identical except for the following:
1) No natural science passages
2) CARS has 9 passages instead of the old MCAT's 7
3) CARS has 53 questions instead of the old MCAT's 40
4) With the CARS, you have 90 minutes, instead of only 60 with the old MCAT.
5) You can get a lot of great material from the old verbal resources, but just make sure you aren't wasting time on natural science passages.
Exam Krackers 101 Passages in Verbal Reasoning
This is one of the most commonly recommend Verbal/CARS prep books out there. I thought the early practice tests were quite good. The passages aren't always exactly of the type the AAMC uses for the MCAT, but they are close enough, especially for rough practice. I think the passages helped me by giving me material to use to get my timing down. While I thought the first 9 or 10 practice tests were of good quality, I thought the quality really trailed off towards the end of the book, with a number of errors in the answer keys and solutions guide. I almost didn’t finish the book, because I felt like the logic behind the answer choices was so flawed and unhelpful that it almost seemed counter-productive to continue investing time, so keep an eye on the practice tests numbered 11 and above. I would rate 2/3 of the book at a four-star rating, but the last 1/3 a two-star rating.
I went through and counted up the number of passages that would fall under the current Humanities/ Social Sciences CARS framework and I came up with the
number of 76 passages which remain useful. Overall, EK101 has a pretty good reputation as being a lot of practice for not a ton of money. A used copy with shipping will run you roughly
$30, so that’s about 40 cents per passage.
EK101 currently has 114 reviews on
Amazon.com with an average rating of 3.9 stars, it has 58 five-star and 20 one and two-star ratings.
A five-star reviewer on Amazon.com wrote, “This book let me really think what are the possible types of questions on the MCAT. I scored highest among all other scores on my Verbal Reasoning. This book really gives you lots of practice before the actual exam.”
While a one-star reviewer wrote, “The passages are varied and interesting. Attempting to learn anything from the passages, however, is a waste of time. The answers found in the back of the book are arbitrary with justification and reasoning so terrible, contrived, and sometimes utterly wrong, it's just unforgivable. Save yourself the frustration and buy a different verbal review book.”
There’s a lot of stuff on EK101 on the Student Doctor Network. I’ve included two threads in order to give you a taste of what’s out there, but a quick search of the forum will give you enough to read for an entire afternoon.
EK 101 vs TPRH Verbal Scores
Serious Doubts about EK Verbal 101
Also another option if you're wanting to stick with EK materials is their little known book:
Exam Krackers 16 Mini-MCATs
While I can't recommend this book for the majority of its content, as the MCAT has changed and much of the science content is out of date, this book can be purchased for incredibly cheap on amazon (something like $4 or $5 with shipping). I thought the passages were very similar to what you get in the EK101 book, and most of the reviews I've read agree.
It really hasn't gotten much play here on SDN, although here is a decent thread reviewing the book.The book has 16 "Mini-MCATS" each with 2 verbal passages each, so the book includes 32 verbal passages. By my count, 27 of the passages are still useable for the CARS, so this is actually one of your cheapest ways of picking up verbal passages,
at a cost of 19 cents per passage. If you're thinking of going with EK, this is a cheap way of getting a number of passages for almost no money.
