Do the MCAT courses really teach you EVERYTHING?

[cluelessMD]

Hi there. I'm considering taking the MCATs in 2011 and applying shortly thereafter. I've been out of school a few years now, but I'd really like to go into medicine. I will definitely be older than most of my peers (if I'm successful), but I have no problem with finishing medical school at 30something.

Anyway, I studied engineering in college and took many, but not all of the prerequisites. As such, I haven't taken some of the advanced orgo or biochem classes that I would have taken had I planned on applying to medical school in college.

So I was wondering whether taking a review course - say Princeton Review - would teach me absolutely EVERYTHING I need to know for the exam, or if I should enroll in some university-level biochem/orgo classes. Also, is there a general consensus as to which is considered the "best" of the review courses?

Thanks a bunch in advance and good luck to all those taking the exam.

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[FollowTheMoney]

Honestly, most review classes don't help that much. What helps the most is studying the material on your own. It appears that The Berkeley Review is the best combination of content and practice for the MCAT in Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physics. I've heard the best for Bio and Verbal is EK, which you should supplement with EK 101 VR and EK 1001 Bio/BR Bio (Practice NOT content). However, in regard to practice tests, AAMC #3-10, TBR #1-7, and Kaplan #1-6 should be your best bet for practice. Hope that helps, good luck!

 

[SN2ed]

Complete your pre-reqs, THEN study for the MCAT. By the way, you don't need advanced organic chemistry, just one year of regular organic chemistry. Also, most schools don't require biochemistry, though some recommend it and a few require it.

So, finish those pre-reqs.

 

[rmaj79]

MCAT courses teach you TOO much. Emphasize critical thinking. In their study guides Kaplan LITERALLY deems every passage as a "favorite" MCAT concept... just tell me what I need to know!

 

[ubuff716]

which course would guys recommend kaplan or the princeton review? im plannin on taking the mcat this august.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

which course would guys recommend kaplan or the princeton review? im plannin on taking the mcat this august.

There are tons of threads on this if you have time to search. The answer always comes back to "where are you at?", because the best course at one location is not necessarily the best course at another location. Also, both of the corporate programs tend to offer their best courses where there is the greatest competition (a string third company in the marketplace).

 

[BenchReserve211]

Take your prereqs and focus on REALLY understanding what you are learning, don't be there for just a grade (my mistake that I had to make up for in my test prep). The prep courses do teach you alot, but they absolutely DO NOT teach you everything. You will most likely run into a few questions on the preactice tests that seem from left field. Take the prep course fresh out of ochem (those reactions are pretty forgetful!) The MCAT is a thinking exam, so dont expect to be regurgitiating facts for the whole test. The idea is learn as much as you can from your prereqs and prep class and aplly that info in a logical way on the passeges on the MCAT. I only took one prep class (Kaplan) and I was happy with it. I cant speak for the other preps.

 

[ubuff716]

thnks guys, looking thru some of the other threads it seems like TPR has more to offer than Kaplan, but it seems like everyone from my school does the Kaplan course instead...im not sure exactly why this is, it might be like BerkReviewTeach said and it all depends on where im from (buffalo by the way)

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

TBR does a very good job attempting to cover every aspect they could possibly test on. There's probably a lot more than you actually need to know in terms of biochem and orgo, but if you want to err on the side of overstudying, TBR is the way to go.