Bio: Schaum's vs. Examkrackers

[theun4given]

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Which book do you think better prepares you for Bio on the DAT, Schaum's outline of Biology or the Examkrackers Bio book?

 

[ATLATLATL]

both😀

 

[Lonely Sol]

Well it all depends on how much time you have, if you are pressed for time then go with Examkrackers bio, It will be a great supplement to your kaplan and Destroyer bio.


But if you have time, then go with Schaums, it is really in-depth and you might have to read it 2-3 times in order to all make sense but once u have it, ur good to go! I think you need alot of time and patience to understand schaums.

Good luck!

 

[Lonely Sol]

Btw, does anyone know any Human Physiology textbook that's really good!?

 

[poc91nc]

Try hitting up a used book store if they have one near you college campus, or browse around you undergraduate library/public library...untapped gold mines man!!!

 

[poc91nc]

Hey lonely, you really feel like it's possible to raise your bio score? If I recall correctly your bio score kicked ass...what more can you do to raise your score?

 

[poc91nc]

Anatomy and Physiology by Elaine Marieb 2nd Edition. This is a good book that I'm using to supplement Destroyer Bio and get a more in depth look at some stuff. I don't have a lot of other books to compare it to, but it seems pretty solid.

Just out of curiosity...how did you manage to retain all the info in schuams? Man you're a machine. I can only memorize biology stuff with note cards...and if I did that for schuams, I'd be buried in note cards. Pretty insane

 

[cdmOMR]

I have Schaums and if you have time it looks like it would be a great read to get a deeper understanding. But I use it mostly for a quick reference.

 

[tuan209]

Exam Kracker, DAT Achiever, and Destroyer should be enough. I just studied with those 3 and I was able to get a 24 on the bio section 😀.

 

[ficha]

Exam Kracker, DAT Achiever, and Destroyer should be enough. I just studied with those 3 and I was able to get a 24 on the bio section 😀.

I have a question.. I searched for Examkrackers and there are two versions.. one with a lot of problems and others with review stuff.. which one did you use?

 

[Lonely Sol]

Anatomy and Physiology by Elaine Marieb 2nd Edition. This is a good book that I'm using to supplement Destroyer Bio and get a more in depth look at some stuff. I don't have a lot of other books to compare it to, but it seems pretty solid.

Just out of curiosity...how did you manage to retain all the info in schuams? Man you're a machine. I can only memorize biology stuff with note cards...and if I did that for schuams, I'd be buried in note cards. Pretty insane

Thanks for the tip, will definately check that one out! I was happy with my bio score but its just that I dont want to forget anything; I just want to add more stuff in memory bank rather than replacing it to make better score than what i have!!

I just studied schaums religiously, and it helped me!! Yea, you can't make notecards for it, because everything in it (mostly) is notecard worthy!

-Good luck with your studying poc91, u seem to know ur stuff!

 

[tuan209]

I have a question.. I searched for Examkrackers and there are two versions.. one with a lot of problems and others with review stuff.. which one did you use?

I used the one with the review stuff. If you like, give me a PM. I rewrote or summarized all of ExamKraker and Kaplan stuff into my own sets of notes. I thought it was pretty handy to be honest. There were some sections that I did have to look into the Schaum's though as they were not covered very throughly in Kaplan or EK. For the most part, if you spend the time on EK, Achiever, and Destroyer you should be OK. Kaplan IMO is very vague, what helps with Kaplan is their practice tests.

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

I bought schaum's outline for biology....and i am using it right now...it will definitely take you a long time to read all the chapters, but they are really explanatory & covers all the biology concepts. it has 33 chapters so i would say that it will take you ~ 15 days to finish the book. I really like it!

i already read biology chapters for Kaplan (blue book ) during my winter break....now i am going to finish reading the whole book by highlighting the important points (so that i dont have to make note cards because that will take forever!). then i am going to hit biology questions on Destroyer & review all the concepts through the explanations of the answer (i heard it has really good explanations of the answers; not just the right answer but also why it is wrong). At last i am going to use topscore pro for practice tests for biology section ONLY.

sorry if i boered you guys but this is how i am going to prepare for my BIO section ...thought it might help some people. So overall it will take about 25 days to prepare ONLY for biology. Overall i have given myself 2 & half months to prepare for DAT ...i am taking it in first week of August.

using schuam, kaplan, DAT destroyer, & topscore pro for DAT prep

Goodluck to you all!👍

 

[dentaldentist]

Hi I'm new and I'm overwhelmed with all this prep stuff. Where can I buy the exam craker and the destroyer? They both sound pretty good so far.

Examkracker's Biology
DAT Destroyer

I personally did not use either of these, but did use Schaum's. Schaum's was very helpful, but it is a ton of stuff to go over - its like a condensed textbook so I used it more to clarify areas I felt I needed work on. Also note that the examkracer's book is MCAT focused and I believe there are some areas of biology that are tested on the DAT but not on the MCAT like ecology. However, I have heard it is good anyway. Good luck.

Schaum's outline of biology

 

[kyleene06]

How does the Kaplan class prepare you for the Bio section? Do you think it's necessary to use these extra books along with the $1300 course?

 

[kyleene06]

Is there much of a difference between Shaum's Outline Of General, Organic and Biological Chemistry and Schaum's Outline of College Chemistry?

 

[lor]

all you need is the kaplan blue book...nothing else
it worked for me and i was out of school for a looooong time...focus on Kaplan blue book
good luck to you

 

[poc91nc]

No offense, but the Kaplan book is pretty weak in biology. This probably the area where most people have to learn (for the first time) certain areas of biology, since the subject is so broad. I found Kaplan to be too sketchy...also, the subject tests were a joke. Way too easy in my opinion.

People learn differently, but I think when new material is sketchy...it makes it difficult to have build a good conceptual framework...which will be essential to applying the relevant information in a novel situation.

Biology is probably the subject where you should use the most amount of sources.