best text books for the mcat?

[su_grad2007]

Ok, so when I graduated from undergrad i was absolutely sure I was never going to go to grad school much less med school and I sold all my textbooks I would like to get some textbooks to use to study for the mcat (in addition to the testkracker books i'm getting) and i'm wondering what to get. Does anyone have any suggestions? THanks!

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[bigDee]

I don't know if people actually use textbooks to study for the mcat but I'm taking ochem and I believe I have the best textbook for it. Just search for Organic Chemistry by Wade. You have to get the solutions manual for it or its worthless but the combo is very very good.

 

[Heyeon]

Organic Chemistry by Bruice
Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday

I hvnt found a good bio textbook yet

 

[Forkit]

Organic Chemistry by Bruice
Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday

I hvnt found a good bio textbook yet

Biology by Campbell and Reece

 

[bigDee]

Use the ochem book I listed. It's the best, trust me.

 

[tdjn]

Use the ochem book I listed. It's the best, trust me.

+1

Get wade with the solution's manual... and do all the problems in the book. It should take you couple of months, but if you have the time and want to master o-chem, I believe this is the only way to do it. I did this when I was taking ochem (of course.. I solved the problems over the course of the year), and now I am reviewing with the EK 1001 questions for Ochem... and the questions on there are a joke. I am getting around 90% right, and I pretty much get all the ochem problems right when it comes to the aamc practice tests.


If you don't have this kind of time, I would recommend a different method.. like getting the kaplan/princeton review ochem book and just going over that. Best luck to you.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

A good text book for the MCAT is one that has a whole bunch of examples and applications. It should also do a good job at incorporating other subjects, just like the MCAT passages do.

The absolute perfect set of text books would be the following:

Organic Chemistry: Oulette (it's a book of mostly applications)
General Chemistry: Zundahl (most other books changed their style to copy this one after it was first released. They are still trying to catch up)
Physics: "Conceptual Physics" by Paul Hewitt (explains things at the level of the MCAT)
Biology: Campbell

You're going to hear many different suggestions from people who loved their text books. They are no doubt very good text books for the course they took and they probably got a good grade. But, most people have been through only one text book. That may not be the best group to poll. For a better answer for what you need, describe what you want from the book and get more detailed feedback. See what books fit what you are looking for.

BTW, my list is the result of having read/worked through multiple chemistry and physics text books (I've been on book selection committtees at a couple colleges and have served as an editor). However, my biology suggestion is based on feedback from a few colleagues, so I'm not 100% convinced of my opinion. Also, I'm not saying these are necessarily good text books for courses, as Zumdahl is probably the only one that is. They are great books for someone reviewing to take the MCAT. They explain things well and have great applications of the material.

 

[smeagol]

+1 for Campbell's biology textbook. I would make love to this textbook if that made any sense.

 

[tdjn]

A good text book for the MCAT is one that has a whole bunch of examples and applications. It should also do a good job at incorporating other subjects, just like the MCAT passages do.

The absolute perfect set of text books would be the following:

Organic Chemistry: Oulette (it's a book of mostly applications)
General Chemistry: Zundahl (most other books changed their style to copy this one after it was first released. They are still trying to catch up)
Physics: "Conceptual Physics" by Paul Hewitt (explains things at the level of the MCAT)
Biology: Campbell

You're going to hear many different suggestions from people who loved their text books. They are no doubt very good text books for the course they took and they probably got a good grade. But, most people have been through only one text book. That may not be the best group to poll. For a better answer for what you need, describe what you want from the book and get more detailed feedback. See what books fit what you are looking for.

BTW, my list is the result of having read/worked through multiple chemistry and physics text books (I've been on book selection committtees at a couple colleges and have served as an editor). However, my biology suggestion is based on feedback from a few colleagues, so I'm not 100% convinced of my opinion. Also, I'm not saying these are necessarily good text books for courses, as Zumdahl is probably the only one that is. They are great books for someone reviewing to take the MCAT. They explain things well and have great applications of the material.

Besides O.Chem, I would imagine a lot of us had different textbooks from both AP's in high school and basic science courses in college- so I would say that most of us had experiences with two or more textbooks.

Also, I don't mean to be a grammar/spelling-nazi or anything, but you spelled two of those authors wrong- it's Ouellette and [SIZE=-1]Zumdahl[/SIZE]. It's just kind of surprising because you said that you've been on these committees for book selections...

Otherwise, I do agree that you should go with Campbell for Bio and Zumdahl for Gen Chem. I've used 2-3 different textbooks for both classes, and those are the best in my opinion. Also, I think that's the general consensus from what I gather from SDN, amazon.com, and my high school/college friends.

For O.Chem., I (along with other people on sdn) have had my good experiences with Wade. I think vast majority of the colleges in the U.S. use Wade because it's the most straightforward with clearly drawn out and well-organized mechanisms, etc.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Besides O.Chem, I would imagine a lot of us had different textbooks from both AP's in high school and basic science courses in college- so I would say that most of us had experiences with two or more textbooks.

Also, I don't mean to be a grammar/spelling-nazi or anything, but you spelled two of those authors wrong- it's Ouellette and [SIZE=-1]Zumdahl[/SIZE]. It's just kind of surprising because you said that you've been on these committees for book selections...

Otherwise, I do agree that you should go with Campbell for Bio and Zumdahl for Gen Chem. I've used 2-3 different textbooks for both classes, and those are the best in my opinion. Also, I think that's the general consensus from what I gather from SDN, amazon.com, and my high school/college friends.

For O.Chem., I (along with other people on sdn) have had my good experiences with Wade. I think vast majority of the colleges in the U.S. use Wade because it's the most straightforward with clearly drawn out and well-organized mechanisms, etc.

You are so right about high school text books. I never even thought about that possibility, probably because my district issued high school text books were a joke and I can't recall what they are.

And as for being the King of Grammar, when it comes to names, I should have typed those right. I didn't even notice the typo in Zumdahl's name until you pointed that out. It's hard for someone to look these up based on my crappy spelling. And I just butchered Ouellette's name, but if you're talking about the professor from Ohio, it's the same one. I think that book is out of print now.

Also, in re-reading my post, I hope I didn't come across as know-it-allish as it seems to me upon my second reading. I didn't mean for it to be that way at all. My point was that the original poster should define what they are looking for and ask if any text book meets that need. I think the books I referenced are great for the MCAT because of their many MCAT-esque examples. While I find Wade to be a good organic chemistry text book (and find Ege to also be good), I think they are both beyond what you need for the MCAT. For someone looking to review for a couple months from books they never worked through before, I'm not sure they are such a good idea.

 

[tdjn]

You are so right about high school text books. I never even thought about that possibility, probably because my district issued high school text books were a joke and I can't recall what they are.

And as for being the King of Grammar, when it comes to names, I should have typed those right. I didn't even notice the typo in Zumdahl's name until you pointed that out. It's hard for someone to look these up based on my crappy spelling. And I just butchered Ouellette's name, but if you're talking about the professor from Ohio, it's the same one. I think that book is out of print now.

Also, in re-reading my post, I hope I didn't come across as know-it-allish as it seems to me upon my second reading. I didn't mean for it to be that way at all. My point was that the original poster should define what they are looking for and ask if any text book meets that need. I think the books I referenced are great for the MCAT because of their many MCAT-esque examples. While I find Wade to be a good organic chemistry text book (and find Ege to also be good), I think they are both beyond what you need for the MCAT. For someone looking to review for a couple months from books they never worked through before, I'm not sure they are such a good idea.

You are probably right about the O.Chem.- It would take too long to do Wade in couple of months. It took me a whole year, but I am guessing the OP doesn't have that kind of time frame.

In retrospect, I wish I had spent less time on O.Chem. and more time on Bio. I did the exact opposite, and it's been grueling to learn all the material for Bio. I reviewed the EK's and Kaplan's, and now I am picking up the TBR Bio book. So far, I've been getting around ~60% for the first two sectional tests. Is this normal? Or atrocious? I know I am echoing everyone else, but some of those questions are impossible. I consider myself decent at the sciences and I am hoping to hit around above a 12 on the BS section. Am I delusional? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[NYGirl12]

Wade - Organic Chemistry and Lehninger's Principles of Biochemistry

Lehninger is a personal favorite of mine. I think it does a great job in explaining enzyme kinetics and the pathways. Much better than any of the review books out there, but at the same time more material than you'd need. If you have the time, then definitely go over some Lehninger chapters to reinforce the material.

Wade is a great book when I used it in Orgo I&II, but just like what the other posters said, there's a LOT of information in Wade and it's almost impossible to cover it in like 2 months. If we did the entire book in 9 months in college rather than 2, then there must be a reason for that. I've been told by posters here that Kaplan/EK would be enough for Orgo review.

 

[ssh18]

What's a good organic chem text book to use for review/reference?

Thanks!

 

[Spidey10]

What's a good organic chem text book to use for review/reference?

Thanks!

I think the general consensus on here is that textbooks are a waste of time for studying for the MCAT. It's not that they aren't valuable, its that they have way too much information and you will spend lots of time learning material that is not on the test. You should get the prep books (EK, TPR, Kaplan) if you want to review/reference the content.

 

[Caesar]

I think the general consensus on here is that textbooks are a waste of time for studying for the MCAT. It's not that they aren't valuable, its that they have way too much information and you will spend lots of time learning material that is not on the test. You should get the prep books (EK, TPR, Kaplan) if you want to review/reference the content.

I agree, if you want one for refrence though, I use Organic Chemistry by Vollhardt Schore. I think it's a pretty standard text.

 

[Jman35]

What if you haven't taken the classes in a very long time? The classes that the mcat covered were 3 years or more ago...I barely remember any ochem anymore.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Y... now I am picking up the TBR Bio book. So far, I've been getting around ~60% for the first two sectional tests. Is this normal? Or atrocious? I know I am echoing everyone else, but some of those questions are impossible. I consider myself decent at the sciences and I am hoping to hit around above a 12 on the BS section. Am I delusional? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The typical score on the book passages is about 4/7 (58%) and our average student gets 10.8 on the BS section. So, ~60% correlates with a 11 roughly.

And yes, some of the questions in our books (about ten percent) are impossible. We have a method to our madness. A student who misses a question will read the answer explanation. It is our belief that the greatest learning comes not from reading texts or doing questions, but when going over questions and thinking about them a second time. That is why our answer explanations are so long. There are about ten to fifteen questions in each section designed to have students miss them so that they read the answer explanation and get some test strategy, key peice of information, or something we feel will help come test day.

As we tell students in the class, the passages/questions in the books are not going to make you feel good. They are going to beat you up a bit and get you to think. Our practice exams are much more on par with the actual exam though, because we also believe that as you apporach test day, you want to have a realistic idea of what to expect (as much as possible). Don't freak out too much at the current scores.

 

[bodonid]

Big upps to Zumdahl for Gen Chem! Had him in high school and college, much better than the rest!

Hands down Campbell for Biology.

Physics books don't vary much. Don't use a calculus based physics book.

This isn't a typical MCAT review book, but Lodish over Alberts for molecular biology in a BIG way. Much much better than Alberts.

 

[Caesar]

Big upps to Zumdahl for Gen Chem! Had him in high school and college, much better than the rest!

I agree.

 

[Jman35]

Big upps to Zumdahl for Gen Chem! Had him in high school and college, much better than the rest!

Hands down Campbell for Biology.

Physics books don't vary much. Don't use a calculus based physics book.

This isn't a typical MCAT review book, but Lodish over Alberts for molecular biology in a BIG way. Much much better than Alberts.

Why do you like Lodish over Alberts? I hated Lodish, it seemed too condensed. Although it might be because the Molecular bio class I had used Lodish as the required text, but the profs taught straight out of Alberts. I didn't even realize (I don't think many other people did either) until I saw my sister's old book and everything was exactly the same as lecture...maybe that's why I hate Lodish....

Either way though, books like Lehninger, Alberts, and Lodish are probably overkill for the mcat. BUT a through understanding of their materials will definitely give you the ability to tackle tougher problems. That's just my opinion though.

 

[RoadRunner17]

I think the general consensus on here is that textbooks are a waste of time for studying for the MCAT. It's not that they aren't valuable, its that they have way too much information and you will spend lots of time learning material that is not on the test. You should get the prep books (EK, TPR, Kaplan) if you want to review/reference the content.

100% agree. There's having enough information to build up your fundamentals, and then there's too much information. In the end, practice > textbooks.

 

[4am]

I know that everyone is saying that textbooks are a waste of time, but I thought I'd just mention that Organic Chem by Jonathan Clayden, Nick Greeves, Stuart Warren, and Peter Wothers is very, very good. It's much clearer than the Wade book I am using now for my orgo class.

 

[mddoc]

I agree, if you want one for refrence though, I use Organic Chemistry by Vollhardt Schore. I think it's a pretty standard text.

Actually, the aamc actually recommends using textbooks, course materials, notes, etc. from undergrad courses. Prep courses seem to be discouraged more than anything else. And the MCAT, according to AAMC, is about mastering basic concepts from the courses, so actually, in contray to what you say, demonstrating a mastery in the fundamentals i and applying them to problem-solving situations what the MCAT is all about.

 

[nshams]

You probably won't need textbooks so much. Honestly, textbooks have a LOT of info & depending on when you're taking the MCATs, they're just not worth it. That being said, I believe the best thing you can do to help yourself is to just hit as MANY practice questions as you can:

ExamKrackers 1001 - the whole series (they're only $20 a piece & worth their weight in gold in terms of just hitting you with a whole bunch of questions to get your speed up).

Nova Physics also did an excellent job for me.

Also, GoldStandard practice MCATs (got from ebay - 10CBTs for $50 total) are excellent as a review tool. They're hard (HARD!!) & you'll feel bad everytime you get a score back, but they're WORTH IT...

If you insist on getting textbooks, maybe you could consider borrowing some from the library instead of spending $ buying them. You could use the $ you save to apply to more schools!!

Goodluck!!

 

[study pray love]

I find with the physical sciences I like to go through pertinent questions in my text book prior to using MCAT materials to give me a foundation.

Does anyone know of a good college physics text book to use as a reference for MCAT physics studying.

My current one, College Physics by Raymond A. Serway, Jerry S. Faughn and Chris Vuille SUCKS.

thanks

 

[MDminded]

The typical score on the book passages is about 4/7 (58%) and our average student gets 10.8 on the BS section. So, ~60% correlates with a 11 roughly.

And yes, some of the questions in our books (about ten percent) are impossible. We have a method to our madness. A student who misses a question will read the answer explanation. It is our belief that the greatest learning comes not from reading texts or doing questions, but when going over questions and thinking about them a second time. That is why our answer explanations are so long. There are about ten to fifteen questions in each section designed to have students miss them so that they read the answer explanation and get some test strategy, key peice of information, or something we feel will help come test day.

As we tell students in the class, the passages/questions in the books are not going to make you feel good. They are going to beat you up a bit and get you to think. Our practice exams are much more on par with the actual exam though, because we also believe that as you apporach test day, you want to have a realistic idea of what to expect (as much as possible). Don't freak out too much at the current scores.

Just bumping this comment. This makes me feel SO much better.

 

[FormerCorpsman]

I find with the physical sciences I like to go through pertinent questions in my text book prior to using MCAT materials to give me a foundation.

Does anyone know of a good college physics text book to use as a reference for MCAT physics studying.

My current one, College Physics by Raymond A. Serway, Jerry S. Faughn and Chris Vuille SUCKS.

thanks

I used the same text for Physics 1 and have obtained the same loathing you evinced towards its prose and style. It is so convoluted that I am surprised that is consistently the physics staple for algebra/trig based physics. I would recommend "College Physics," 2nd Edition by Peter Urone. It is a tough text to come by, but worth every penny if you can obtain a copy.

As for General Chemistry, Zumdahl is not one I would recommend. I used it for a week or so, and became very angry with the language of the text, as I constantly felt lost and misguided. I dropped my class after about 3 weeks in. Then, I took it upon myself to find a text explained clearly concepts and principles of General Chemistry. To test the water, I purchased the book and used it for about 4 months of self-study. I was convinced that it was superior to many other text I had come across. I enrolled in Chemistry again, and loved every minute of it. The book I used was "Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity," 6th edition by Kotz. It provides numerous worked examples throughout the text and excellent problems at the end to help student master the concepts.

For Biology, I am in full agreement with Campbell & Reece. For O-Chem, Wade is superior.