Combining EK and BR Bio (not covered in Sn2eD thread)

[dorian baltar]

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I’m a non trad studying for the MCAT around a full-time job. I finished a B.S. in Bio in May while taking my prereqs. My study schedule is a modified version of SN2ED’s 4 month plan that I stretched to five months to make it a little more manageable. I tutored Physics for 2 years and general and organic Chemistry for a year 4 days a week, so I feel pretty good about those subjects. Unfortunately, I had no such tutoring opportunities for Biology so I'm trying to reinforce that a little more.
As many of you know EK and BR cover Biology in different orders (EK – cell first, BR – physiology first).
The schedule recommends following the EK order and using BR passages. However, I haven’t had Physiology for 6 years, so I think it’s probably best for me to hit physiology every week. I am thinking about starting from the beginning of both books and doubling Bio study. I’ll go from cell to physiology in one book and the other way in BR. That will give me two and half month of content review with little time away from any topic. Does anyone have some tips about this? I would like to hear what some MCAT veterans think about the study plan modification.
Thanks!

 

[Jepstein30]

I'm a non trad studying for the MCAT around a full-time job. I finished a B.S. in Bio in May while taking my prereqs. My study schedule is a modified version of SN2ED's 4 month plan that I stretched to five months to make it a little more manageable. I tutored Physics for 2 years and general and organic Chemistry for a year 4 days a week, so I feel pretty good about those subjects. Unfortunately, I had no such tutoring opportunities for Biology so I'm trying to reinforce that a little more.
As many of you know EK and BR cover Biology in different orders (EK – cell first, BR – physiology first).
The schedule recommends following the EK order and using BR passages. However, I haven't had Physiology for 6 years, so I think it's probably best for me to hit physiology every week. I am thinking about starting from the beginning of both books and doubling Bio study. I'll go from cell to physiology in one book and the other way in BR. That will give me two and half month of content review with little time away from any topic. Does anyone have some tips about this? I would like to hear what some MCAT veterans think about the study plan modification.
Thanks!

TBR Bio is fairly good outside of the metabolism chapters.

If you're rusty in Physiology, it's a good idea to focus extra on it. I'd start with EK because it'll give you a more fundamental overview. Then, you can hit TBR that goes more advanced (and includes more material that you don't explicitly need to know for the MCAT but will help you grasp the required info better and improve your critical thinking skills for Bio). Physio on the MCAT isn't too bad, I never took a class and did fine in that area. It's mostly just the basics.

I would just modify his schedule so you get 2 Bio days for every physio chapter.. there's no need to do EVERYTHING in Bio twice. Work in as many practice passages as possible so you can not only test if you're understanding content but also figure out where your weaknesses lie (physio or not).

 

[dorian baltar]

TBR Bio is fairly good outside of the metabolism chapters.

I would just modify his schedule so you get 2 Bio days for every physio chapter.. there's no need to do EVERYTHING in Bio twice. Work in as many practice passages as possible so you can not only test if you're understanding content but also figure out where your weaknesses lie (physio or not).

So you're saying I should just follow the EK order and consult BR for further detail when EK does physiology? That seems significantly less time consuming than what I was planning. 🙂
For the passages, do you think those in BR and EK are enough or are there other sources I should use? Of course, I'll use the full length tests after my review. I have all the Kaplan books from a few years ago, but I heard they're not so great.

 

[Jepstein30]

So you're saying I should just follow the EK order and consult BR for further detail when EK does physiology? That seems significantly less time consuming than what I was planning. 🙂
For the passages, do you think those in BR and EK are enough or are there other sources I should use? Of course, I'll use the full length tests after my review. I have all the Kaplan books from a few years ago, but I heard they're not so great.

or vice versa.. use TBR mainly and use EK for metabolism.. really depends on your background for the other topics in Bio.

My philosophy on studying for the MCAT is that your goal is to get ALL topics to a suitable level and only THEN maximize strengths. So studying is first and foremost identifying weaknesses rather than building strengths.

Kaplan books are good for content review.. just not practice passages. I wrote a whole post up about what I like in a study schedule and the different resources available.. give it a read and let me know if you have any questions.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=14546212&postcount=5

 

[gettheleadout]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1021208

 

[dorian baltar]

or vice versa.. use TBR mainly and use EK for metabolism.. really depends on your background for the other topics in Bio.

My philosophy on studying for the MCAT is that your goal is to get ALL topics to a suitable level and only THEN maximize strengths. So studying is first and foremost identifying weaknesses rather than building strengths.

Kaplan books are good for content review.. just not practice passages. I wrote a whole post up about what I like in a study schedule and the different resources available.. give it a read and let me know if you have any questions.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=14546212&postcount=5

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1021208

Thanks so much both of you. I've been trying to spend my downtime at work (which is most of it) reading about strategy and filling holes in what I've studied in the books so far. Reading and analyzing your posts should keep me occupied with excellent advice for the rest of the week.
The one good thing about studying with a full-time job is that I don't really have to worry about the cost of materials, so I grabbed a TPRH SW. 🙂
I haven't seen a lot of opinions on lengthy MCAT reviews, but I think I might be better off even going to 6 months of review, since at max, I can do 4 hours a day, but 3 is realistic.
Gettheleadout, in your 30+ post, you said that you abandoned EK in physiology review. Did you find it acceptable to good in metabolism and found the physiology lacking, or did you find that EK had consistent poor quality and you finally replaced it?