Can I use the Old TBR Books for the new MCAT?

[kj8210]

Hey I have the old TBR books and I was wondering if I should buy the new 2015 TBR books. Was there alot more content added? Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[tony101]

Hey I have the old TBR books and I was wondering if I should buy the new 2015 TBR books. Was there alot more content added? Thanks!

The old mcat I heard was FAR different then the new Mcat. The old one I believe had a physics section and no psych section.
This one focuses far more on the biochemistry side of science and also has physics mixed in(not many problems) with the chem section. The psych section is also completely new. I would recommend buying the new books, the old Mcat was far different, or so I have heard.

 

[kj8210]

The old mcat I heard was FAR different then the new Mcat. The old one I believe had a physics section and no psych section.
This one focuses far more on the biochemistry side of science and also has physics mixed in(not many problems) with the chem section. The psych section is also completely new. I would recommend buying the new books, the old Mcat was far different, or so I have heard.

Oh yea I knew that there was a new psych section added so I'm going to use Kaplan for pysch and physics. I wanted to use the TBR books for organic chemistry, biology (since I heard it was heavily biochem based) and gen. chem.

 

[tony101]

Oh yea I knew that there was a new psych section added so I'm going to use Kaplan for pysch and physics. I wanted to use the TBR books for organic chemistry, biology (since I heard it was heavily biochem based) and gen. chem.

I'm really not familiar with the old Mcat in terms of material from it. I'm sorry, I'm just going off of what people have told me D:

 

[ZT_530]

You can use them, most of the content that is in them will be required. However, the 2015 MCAT has far essentially 3 new content sources that you will need to know as well. They are psychology, sociology, and biochemistry. I doubt that the old TBR books have anywhere near the level of detail that you will need for the biochem. I was an MCAT tutor this last year and I focused on Biochem heavily with my students. In my opinion it is the most important section of the test. My students averaged a 512 so I think it worked out pretty well. You can use the old TBR books. They should be fine for bio, gen chem, physics (even though a few topics were removed for the 2015 MCAT), and orgo. Just understand you will need other resources for the other sections. So I would just buy the new ones to get it all covered. There are free resources online though that are pretty good, especially if you buy the stuff from AAMC, which you should. And don't forget about CAR! Many of my students lowest section was CAR, because they "thought" that it was just simple reading comprehension.

 

[kj8210]

You can use them, most of the content that is in them will be required. However, the 2015 MCAT has far essentially 3 new content sources that you will need to know as well. They are psychology, sociology, and biochemistry. I doubt that the old TBR books have anywhere near the level of detail that you will need for the biochem. I was an MCAT tutor this last year and I focused on Biochem heavily with my students. In my opinion it is the most important section of the test. My students averaged a 512 so I think it worked out pretty well. You can use the old TBR books. They should be fine for bio, gen chem, physics (even though a few topics were removed for the 2015 MCAT), and orgo. Just understand you will need other resources for the other sections. So I would just buy the new ones to get it all covered. There are free resources online though that are pretty good, especially if you buy the stuff from AAMC, which you should. And don't forget about CAR! Many of my students lowest section was CAR, because they "thought" that it was just simple reading comprehension.

Thanks ZT! What would you recommend as the best source for Biochem?

 

[DeezNutzonUrChin]

NO. The old MCAT was a joke compared to this one. and the one before the old MCAT was even easier and so on.

This MCAT is definitely one of the hardest exams for grad school admissions in its current state.

The old MCAT you could get by with AP biology, AP chemistry, AP physics in highschool. and an Ochem course and a little practice in verbal

The new MCAT asks stuff from upper divs like histology biochemistry etc.

 

[lnguyen1412]

I use TBR for reviewing foundation, and it does have many tips that good for using. However, i would not rely too much on it beside concept reviews.

After all, it gives me a strong science foundations. Mine was 2013 version

 

[Electron_flow]

I heard that they didn't add much material to the old sections (bio, ochem, physics, gen chem, verbal). Maybe just buy the biochem and psychology books instead of the whole set.

 

[putmynameinbold]

I took the old and the new MCAT, and used my old TBR books to study for the new MCAT. The only thing I suggest which helped me immensely was having the Kaplan e-books. I used them to compare material (it was mostly the same in my opinion), but then studied using TBR.

 

[kj8210]

I took the old and the new MCAT, and used my old TBR books to study for the new MCAT. The only thing I suggest which helped me immensely was having the Kaplan e-books. I used them to compare material (it was mostly the same in my opinion), but then studied using TBR.

Glad to hear that man! I love the TBR books and I learn so much better from them. Yea I also have the physical Kaplan books for the new MCAT so I'm going to use those to supplement some of the sections that I think the old TBR books might be lacking in (Psych, Biochem)

 

[putmynameinbold]

Glad to hear that man! I love the TBR books and I learn so much better from them. Yea I also have the physical Kaplan books for the new MCAT so I'm going to use those to supplement some of the sections that I think the old TBR books might be lacking in (Psych, Biochem)

Yeah, definitely pick something up for psych. I was a psych major, which I think really helped my case, b/c I didn't study much for that section. A lot of the biochem is actually split between the O Chem and Microbio books, but if you can supplement, I think you'll be good.

 

[DeezNutzonUrChin]

Yeah, definitely pick something up for psych. I was a psych major, which I think really helped my case, b/c I didn't study much for that section. A lot of the biochem is actually split between the O Chem and Microbio books, but if you can supplement, I think you'll be good.

For Psych this has been extremely helpful https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/4b2h3u/khan_academy_psychology_sociology_psychsociology/

 

[putmynameinbold]

For Psych this has been extremely helpful https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/4b2h3u/khan_academy_psychology_sociology_psychsociology/

Amen, I used KA to study sociology. Forgot to mention that. Also if you need extra help with Physics, I HIGHLY recommend the Nova Physics book - it's very math based, but I found it to be really useful.

 

[kj8210]

For Psych this has been extremely helpful https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/4b2h3u/khan_academy_psychology_sociology_psychsociology/

Amen, I used KA to study sociology. Forgot to mention that. Also if you need extra help with Physics, I HIGHLY recommend the Nova Physics book - it's very math based, but I found it to be really useful.

Do you guys think that KA is good enough for Sociology and Psych alone or should I also use a review book?

 

[DeezNutzonUrChin]

Do you guys think that KA is good enough for Sociology and Psych alone or should I also use a review book?

The notes I listed covered 80% of the MCAT material. I did not actually watch the video.

 

[putmynameinbold]

Do you guys think that KA is good enough for Sociology and Psych alone or should I also use a review book?

Tbh, I only used the videos for concepts that I didn't know at all. They're really helpful, it's just a time commitment, haha.