Deciding Which MCAT Prep Books to Buy

[Premedstudent149]

I am beginning my preparation for the MCAT, which I am planning to take in the middle of January. I am trying to decide which prep books to buy, and I see many different options from this forum. I was wondering how you settled on which books to use? I was thinking about buying the whole Kaplan set preliminarily. I would really appreciate some feedback on this.

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[Cornfed101]

Check your school library and there is a good chance they have some MCAT review books. That is the best way IMO to test drive some of the books and see what you like. I actually didn't use any prep books, just free internet videos (Khan Academy, Crash Course, AK lectures) and that worked for me. The important thing is that you find what works for you.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Definitely listen to cornfed's advice about taking them for a test drive. I was lucky that my big sib and her friends had most everything there was to use, so I was able to do that. I also scoured Reddit and SDN for how people scored, good and bad, using various books. I eliminated one set right away given that nearly all of the low scores were using them.

After all of that, it ended up that what I concluded after my test drives matched study plans from Koala, Zendabi, Jelly, Nim, and a few others.

For Content Review and Developing Test Skills
Chem and Physics: TBR all the way; nothing else is close (thousands of questions and the best explanations anywhere)
Biology: I used TBR, but there are plenty people who like Kaplan (I needed more review than most having not taken some prereq classes)
P/S: TPR or EK (KA and the 300-page guide are musts no matter what you use)
CARS: TPR or Jack Westin (I used EK and TPR myself, but I wish I knew about JW)

General Practice: AAMC and UWorld (AAMC are the most realistic and UWorld has great explanations)

FLS: 5 AAMC and whichever commercial ones fit your whims

 

[Blueprint Med School]

While review books are definitely not necessary, they can be helpful in organizing your studying and helping you understand what material is most high-yield for the MCAT. If you are weaker in your sciences, you might want to consider more comprehensive books like TBR, but otherwise, EK is very good.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Premedstudent149]

Hello, thanks for all the responses. I’ll definitely check out the books in my library, never really considered this before. I took a practice exam from next step some time ago and received a 503, but this is before taking courses like biochem (which I’m taking this semester) or having any MCAT preparation.