Current consensus on materials

[Medgrant]

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It's been a few months since I bought my materials for the new MCAT and I have been trying to read through more up to date threads and study methods on SDN/reddit to get a better idea of what has changed since I bought my books.

I bought:
TPR 2015 MCAT book set (printed 2014)
Kaplan 2015 7-book set (printed 2015)
2015 AAMC official guide (4th edition)
EK 1001 books - don't have 101 verbal passages yet


When I was looking into buying everything, I made a list of which books were better for sections of the exam, but the USB drive I saved the document on is toast. At the time, EK was working on publishing their new material. From what I remember:
TPR - was good for psychology/sociology, biology
Kaplan - biology, biochem., physics , orgo./gen. chemistry

From what I've read, EK seems to be good for CARS and possibly a one stop shop?
I intended on reading a chapter a day from both TPR and Kaplan sets and completing the end of chapter question. After finishing all content review, I wanted to start working through the EK 1001 books, AAMC question packs, Khan passages and watching Khan academy/reviewing books for any stubborn topics. Then, spending the rest of my money and time on FL exams and exam strategies/mild review.

It seems to me that there is a more up to date concept of which book sets/FLs/supplementation to use since there have been more test takers. If I were to end up having to decide what to focus on, would someone give me a rundown of what the consensus is on the best material? I'm reading a lot of conflicting information on the newer guides and summaries of peoples study methods. Should I invest in the EK set? Also, is the Kaplan note-card set any good (any recommendations on anything better)?


TL;DR

I bought TPR and Kaplan sets when they first came out and am having a hard time piecing together which material is best for each section of the exam considering people have conflicting opinions in recent threads.

1) Would someone give me a rundown or what material and supplemental questions are understood as being best at this time?
2) Should I buy the EK set? - Answer seems to be yes, but a lot of posts saying EK simplifies topics too much and regretted using EK for Psyc./soc. ..
3) Recommend any notecard sets? Anki? Waste of time?
4) The AAMC question packs are still very useful, correct?
5)Best FLs in order? Still AAMC>TPR>NS?

All in all, from EK, Kaplan, and TPR books sets, which are best for each section and are there any I should avoid altogether?

I apologize if this seems like half of the other 2015 MCAT threads on SDN, but I've become very indecisive since I've read a lot of conflicting opinions. The few hours I spent researching newer SDN threads and Reddit proved to be counter productive.

I have been eyeing a lot of methods, including:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-i-studied-for-a-526.1162745/

Thank you for your time!

 

[aldol16]

In my opinion, it doesn't matter which books you use for content review. They all cover the same material at vary levels of difficulty and from what I've seen, they're all sufficient for content knowledge for the MCAT. No need to waste money or time trying to figure out how to study - your time is better spent actually studying. So with that said, the determining factor will be your FL practice. FLs are invaluable and will be the true determinant of your success on the MCAT. The only FLs out there that are representative of the real thing are the two AAMC FLs plus whatever is on the official guide. The Section Bank is also a very good resource for data-driven passages. QPacks are good to check if you have adequate content knowledge for the exam - don't expect to see questions like these on the real thing - their real purpose is just to see if you have enough content knowledge from which to begin reasoning. The actual exam will based on reasoning from this kind of content knowledge.

And then from there on out, it's basically a crapshoot in terms of test prep company FLs. I would recommend trying several FLs from different companies and not just sticking with one. Don't worry about your score too much - they're known to be pretty deflated. Use them to get good practice under timed conditions.

Finally, the best resource of all (save the AAMC material) is Khan Academy. It's the best because it's free. The passage-based questions for Bio and P/S are pretty good in terms of getting you exposure to data interpretation, which many pre-meds seem to have trouble with.

 

[Terror Billy]

I agree, after spending months trying to find the "best" materials, it honestly DOES NOT MATTER. people totally annihilate their MCAT with the use of library materials + the internet, wasting $$$ on different companies logos on the same material is pointless.

If I could do it all over, in addition to an MCAT course (not everyone needs these) go print the AAMC outline and use Khan Academy to follow along the content categories. If you needed have one companies prep books and use that to read more into topics you need more help on!

 

[AnotherLawyer]

It's been a few months since I bought my materials for the new MCAT and I have been trying to read through more up to date threads and study methods on SDN/reddit to get a better idea of what has changed since I bought my books.

I bought:
TPR 2015 MCAT book set (printed 2014)
Kaplan 2015 7-book set (printed 2015)
2015 AAMC official guide (4th edition)
EK 1001 books - don't have 101 verbal passages yet


When I was looking into buying everything, I made a list of which books were better for sections of the exam, but the USB drive I saved the document on is toast. At the time, EK was working on publishing their new material. From what I remember:
TPR - was good for psychology/sociology, biology
Kaplan - biology, biochem., physics , orgo./gen. chemistry

From what I've read, EK seems to be good for CARS and possibly a one stop shop?
I intended on reading a chapter a day from both TPR and Kaplan sets and completing the end of chapter question. After finishing all content review, I wanted to start working through the EK 1001 books, AAMC question packs, Khan passages and watching Khan academy/reviewing books for any stubborn topics. Then, spending the rest of my money and time on FL exams and exam strategies/mild review.

It seems to me that there is a more up to date concept of which book sets/FLs/supplementation to use since there have been more test takers. If I were to end up having to decide what to focus on, would someone give me a rundown of what the consensus is on the best material? I'm reading a lot of conflicting information on the newer guides and summaries of peoples study methods. Should I invest in the EK set? Also, is the Kaplan note-card set any good (any recommendations on anything better)?


TL;DR

I bought TPR and Kaplan sets when they first came out and am having a hard time piecing together which material is best for each section of the exam considering people have conflicting opinions in recent threads.

1) Would someone give me a rundown or what material and supplemental questions are understood as being best at this time?
2) Should I buy the EK set? - Answer seems to be yes, but a lot of posts saying EK simplifies topics too much and regretted using EK for Psyc./soc. ..
3) Recommend any notecard sets? Anki? Waste of time?
4) The AAMC question packs are still very useful, correct?
5)Best FLs in order? Still AAMC>TPR>NS?

All in all, from EK, Kaplan, and TPR books sets, which are best for each section and are there any I should avoid altogether?

I apologize if this seems like half of the other 2015 MCAT threads on SDN, but I've become very indecisive since I've read a lot of conflicting opinions. The few hours I spent researching newer SDN threads and Reddit proved to be counter productive.

I have been eyeing a lot of methods, including:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-i-studied-for-a-526.1162745/

Thank you for your time!

As far as full lengths go, the consensus that I see is that AAMC is the best followed by EK, especially EK 3 and 4. Nextstep and Altius get mixed reviews, leaning toward favorable. Both offer free sample tests so you can see for yourself after looking at some AAMC material. TPR and Kaplan get generally unfavorable reviews.

 

[Medgrant]

See post below:

 

[Medgrant]

Final thoughts before I make a study schedule:

Study order: - Temporal order not necessarily set in stone, especially early CARS practice.

1) TPR Main content review and end of chapter questions - supplemented with Kaplan, Khan videos, Reddit study material
2) EK 1001 practice
3) Khan passages
4) AAMC Q - Packs
5) AAMC Section bank
6) AAMC Guide practice questions
7) Non-AAMC FLs
8) AAMC sample test + Exam 1 (not too long before exam day)

Unless there are any suggestions made, I've decided to use the plan I above. I may supplement the EK CARS book for strategy and TPR verbal workbook for extra practice, but the AAMC CARS seems to be enough. For Psych/soc Ill be sure to supplement my review with KA videos. Other than that, I'm sticking to the above..

I do still need a better idea of how many/which FLs to focus on. Too many options/opinions, I cant decide!

 

[NextStepTutor_2]

Final thoughts before I make a study schedule:

Study order: - Temporal order not necessarily set in stone, especially early CARS practice.

1) TPR Main content review and end of chapter questions - supplemented with Kaplan, Khan videos, Reddit study material
2) EK 1001 practice
3) Khan passages
4) AAMC Q - Packs
5) AAMC Section bank
6) AAMC Guide practice questions
7) Non-AAMC FLs
8) AAMC sample test + Exam 1 (not too long before exam day)

Unless there are any suggestions made, I've decided to use the plan I above. I may supplement the EK CARS book for strategy and TPR verbal workbook for extra practice, but the AAMC CARS seems to be enough. For Psych/soc Ill be sure to supplement my review with KA videos. Other than that, I'm sticking to the above..

I do still need a better idea of how many/which FLs to focus on. Too many options/opinions, I cant decide!

When it comes to the MCAT, quality >>>>>>> quantity. As many have stated in this thread, HOW you use your materials matters so much more than WHAT materials you use. Just like the difficulty of the MCAT lies in HOW it tests the science, not WHAT the science is.

A good set of materials for any successful MCAT should include the following:

AAMC full lengths (2), the section packs and the OG 1/2 test
5-10 practice exams
A good set of MCAT science books (books with practice content questions are better, books with practice passages AND content Qs are best)

That is really all you need to score well. More resources will not necessarily help you and the important thing is to use your resources to their fullest potential and to be efficient.

If you have TPR materials, you should not need to also slog through Kaplan content. In lieu of buying the designed-for-the-old-MCAT EK 1001 books, pick up some additional FL exams (5 is usually enough for FL practice, any extras can be split up for smaller practice chunks) and the AAMC Q packs. The EK and NextStep exams are consistently the top rated non-AAMC exams and you have up to 14 of them to pick from.

Khan Academy is useful as a supplement, not a primary resource IMO. Several mistakes, extraneous non-MCAT material of the videos, minimal explanations and the decidedly non-AAMC format of their passages make them best used to spot check content understanding in an MCAT context or figure analysis practice.

Take the AAMC sample test about 3-4 weeks out from your test date, and then take the AAMC scored test as your last practice exam.

hope this helps, good luck!

 

[Medgrant]

hope this helps, good luck!

Sent you a PM!