Book combination

[paradigms]

Can someone give me a breakdown of the best combination of books for the MCAT sections. I will certainly take the recommendations given and buy the recommended combination of guides tomorrow (okay, as soon as I have the money to).

This is a serious question, I hope that I don't get flamed. Its just confusing with the different names being thrown around.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=623898

I was wondering if this is still a good reference for what to buy, because of the date it was posted, solely.

EDIT: I was thinking about BR, as I heard that it was really top notch.

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[jevo]

Can someone give me a breakdown of the best combination of books for the MCAT sections. I will certainly take the recommendations given and buy the recommended combination of guides tomorrow (okay, as soon as I have the money to).

This is a serious question, I hope that I don't get flamed. Its just confusing with the different names being thrown around.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=623898

I was wondering if this is still a good reference for what to buy, because of the date it was posted, solely.

EDIT: I was thinking about BR, as I heard that it was really top notch.

I took my 1st MCAT and received a 10M. But then I found out about J Lo Review and my score went up to a 43T, just in a matter of weeks and using their videos.

J Lo Review brings the heat. Their instructional videos are awesome!!

J Lo Review (also, they are owned by some sexy latin woman who knows how to get down!!)

Notsrs.

Yeah that list is still good. Some people like the different prep companies. TBR if you want an in depth review, TPR if you want a slightly less in-depth review, and EK if you want a concise review with no fluff.

 

[paradigms]

Gotcha, thanks. I have no idea what J Lo is though, is that an abbreviation of a well known review course I'm guessing?

No offense, but how much did you really study for the MCAT? I feel like I could score well without a prep course, hence really looking into the books.

 

[jevo]

hey buddy. The first part of my post was jibberish, please disregard it (was making fun of Jay coh review). But as far as combinations, it really depends on how comfortable you are with the material. I haven't taken the mcat yet, but I can tell you that I first started off with EK and read everything through and still felt empty. After that, I started using TBR (Physics/GenChem) (still am) and I feel a lot more knowledgeable about many of the subjects. When I look in EK now, it seems much easier and understandable.

 

[SN2ed]

Yes, that list is still good. While the thread itself is a little old, I have updated it when needed. Plus, the only company that has released content revisions is BR. They tend to update their books based on student feedback and have improved some sections that they were somewhat weak in. Make sure you order your books months ahead because BR is very slow.

 

[paradigms]

hey buddy. The first part of my post was jibberish, please disregard it (was making fun of Jay coh review). But as far as combinations, it really depends on how comfortable you are with the material. I haven't taken the mcat yet, but I can tell you that I first started off with EK and read everything through and still felt empty. After that, I started using TBR (Physics/GenChem) (still am) and I feel a lot more knowledgeable about many of the subjects. When I look in EK now, it seems much easier and understandable.

Bahaha, okay whew thank goodness, I was like "uhhhh.. is this guy serious or..?"

But yeah gotcha, that seems akin to what a lot of other people have said on here. I actually was looking at the Princeton Review book about an hour ago. its the green book right? I think that I may buy it and review it, even though my MCAT is a year away. I would actually like to bone up on my physics, its really interesting, and definitely relevant stuff to know, so why not.

edit: jeeze, i just saw the notsrs in your post. I'm so sorry lol

Yes, that list is still good. While the thread itself is a little old, I have updated it when needed. Plus, the only company that has released content revisions is BR. They tend to update their books based on student feedback and have improved some sections that they were somewhat weak in. Make sure you order your books months ahead because BR is very slow.

Thank you very much, I would really like to follow this, it seems like a very solid plan to use for prep, and significantly it gives a definitive set of the best books to use for each section.

 

[estradiol9]

I didn't take the MCAT yet but here are my suggestions from my studying experience:

-TPR content review books are meh.. They do a very good job of explaining difficult concepts to you. I like how they word things and the examples they give in the chapters. Each chapter is following by a little test which includes freestanding and passage based questions. The explanations for these questions are good also though the questions themselves do seem a little difficult. What I did NOT like was that it seemed the TPR books didn't update the material in their books accordingly. They included a lot of organic chemistry reactions that turns out we don't have to know and etc. This kind of frustrated me because I am the type of person who does not care to waste time studying things I won't be tested on.

-EK 101 was GREAT! I recommend it highly.

-EK 1001 biology book was also a very good resource. There are both passage based and discretes, lots of material is covered, and the explanations in the back are good as well.

-EK 1001 ochem, physics, and gchem suck. They are filled with only discretes. I regret buying them. There's no way I will be able to finish all the problems and a lot of them test knowledge that again won't be required.

- Official Guide to the MCAT is a must buy as well for obvious reasons. Their example problems are the most relevant.

-AAMC FL #3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, and 11

I also think that mcat-review.org is a good resource. I printed out their outlines (using my school's paper and ink of course) and made a binder. I took notes as I reviewed on their outlines and use this binder as my mcat content review bible basically. I also made flash cards out of index cards on the material I had a hard time memorizing. This website is free to use the outlines and I think they do a good job explaining what you need to know for the mcat and not excessive other information.

I have heard a lot of good things about TBR but 1.) it's expensive IMO, 2.) it takes awhile to physically get, 3.) the fact that each subject takes up 2 books intimidates me but this is a personal preference. A lot of people on this forum would probably prefer really detail oriented in depth review while I prefer to just have outlines of the minimum I need to know.

I have no experience with classes or any other materials. I did look around wikipremed but again, once I saw material on it that is not included in the AAMC outlines, I chose not to continue using it.