Don't know Gen. Chem. or Physics

[premedk]

I foolishly took Gen. Chem. 1 and 2 the summer after I graduated HS at our small state school. I guess it was partly my fault, but I didn't learn very much about the subject. I kind of knew the information at one point, but not nearly well enough for the MCAT. Are there any good MCAT study materials that cover the subject in detail? The textbook is massive and I want to focus on topics that are going to be on the MCAT. And also, are there any detailed review books for Physics, I really don't that material well enough either.

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[echolalia16]

Look up some Kaplan, Examcrackers, Princeton Review, etc books on MCAT content.

 

[Mzeep]

Coming from someone who also needs a better foundation in the prereqs, I found TPRH amazing. I didn't like EK to much (always felt very brief) but TPR really did it for me.

I'm scoring a lot better now after going through the books 2x. I'll probably use EK after, I think EK requires a better foundation though.

Anyway, hope that helps

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

For Gen Chem there is nothing better than TBR IMO. For physics people say either TBR or Nova.

Not having a very good understanding of the subjects I would steer clear of the EK books, only in the last couple weeks have I used them when going back for understanding after missing something on a practice test.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Are there any good MCAT study materials that cover the subject in detail?

Here is some of what has been posted over the past year or so.

not to be rude, but there is a search function. this question gets asked like every three days. In short, EK series are stripped down with the basics you need to know. Get EK bio, it is by far the best for bio, all the responses on SDN say this. Know this book cold. Personally, you learn the best from passages, If you have time and the cash I highly suggest purchasing Berkeley Review Gen Chem and Ochem. There physics is great too. You will thank me later. You'll probably want EK biology review and EK 101 biology passages and EK verbal 101. PR is good, however, if you want to kill the MCAT you have to be able to integrate material. That's what BR does better than anyone else. Like, be able to answer questions if you see the circulatory system wired in parallel or series.

bio - 1. EK bio and 101 bio passages 2. Kaplan 3. PR/BR however, these don't suck, they're just detailed which turns off many people.

Physics 1. BR/Nova 2. PR 3. Kaplan I really think BR but they're are people who swear by nova on this site

Verbal 1. Ek verbal and 101 passages 2. PR 3. BR 4. Kaplan (read stay from)

Gen Chem 1. BR by far 2. PR 3. Kaplan/EK

O Chem 1. BR by far 2. toss up between Kaplan/PR/Ek

That is a general list of what i have read on SDN for the past 4 years, i came here and lurked throughout highschool. Good luck and hopefully this will help. EK is for people who KNOW the material and want review. If you are weak in something BR is the best since it's the most detailed and PR is detailed too, Kaplan is in the Middle, and EK is the least detailed but that doesn't mean it's bad. Just depends on the person. If you can I would buy the BR Chemistry books and Physics book. If you complete the PR science workbook along with BR science passages and EK bio, you will kill the sciences. Ek Verbal should help you out with verbal.

Biology: 1. EK Bio + EK 1001 Bio, non-detail oriented 1. BR/TPR Hyperlearning, detail oriented 3. Kaplan

Physics: 1. BR 2. Nova 3. TPR Hyperlearning 4. Kaplan

Verbal: 1. EK Verbal + EK 101 Verbal 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. BR 4. Kaplan (Avoid if possible)

Organic Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan

General Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan

I unfortunately have bought almost everything, except Kaplan (although I have the premier book).

My 2 cents.

TBR is the best in PS. They have in depth review and it is conceptually strong. I DON'T like EK much at all, but I will use all of their practice questions (I have all 1001 and the whole set of content books).

TBR is no good for verbal.

After spending a fortune, here is what I use:

TPR Bio
TBR - Physics/Chem/Orgo

TPR/Kaplan - single books with quick topics. These are great to read real quick almost like summaries. The sections are around 100 pages and could be finished in 1 day easily. So you could read all BS in one day. Great review.

1001 - practice makes perfect
TPR science review - same
FL - get as many as you can

TBR is great. Lots of Qs in every content book which is why they are great.

Here's the "least" material version I can give:

Bio - EK (PR, Kaplan, or BR for more detailed)

Ochem - BR

Physics - BR (NOVA for explanations)

Gchem - BR

Verbal - EK verbal 101, AAMCs, (PR or BR for extra practice)

Practice tests - AAMCs, Kaplan FL (1-6, 9), BR CBTs


Here's my "new" recommendation for those needing a review plus extras if you need it. I tried to get it down to a book for each subject.

Get a good base but don’t forget to practice. I suggest getting in 10-15 practice tests. Study why you get questions right and wrong and start to learn the MCAT style.

Both content and practice are equally important. Start 2-3 months out too so burnout will not happen. Maybe 20-30hrs/wk...depending on what you need.

BR for Gchem, Physics, and Ochem. EK and EK 1001 for Bio. EK 101 for verbal.

Practice passages definitely help to develop your test-taking skills like the ability to think under stress, time management, not being freaked out by weird questions, and wise guessing. Background knowledge is only part of getting a good score. I highly recommend BR- their passages really helped me. BR science questions are probably a good estimate of what the actual mcat will have (maybe BR is a little harder) and EK 101 verbal passages are about the same difficulty (maybe EK is a little harder) but the actual MCAT will have longer verbal passages (EACH passage 1-2 paragraphs longer).

Dude BR is the best, hands down. They are legit and will probably help you improve the most. I can tell you from experience that Kaplan sucks and EK is good if you just need a slight refresher because you are "the 3.9 GPA kid who sets the curve in all of your classes" and doesn't need that much practice aside from a few AAMC tests. I'm a beast in Orgo and I still bought BR Orgo and I can tell you it just helps soldify everything, and their practice is amazing. It takes a while to get the books but they'll be worth every penny in comparison to the others. Also, use EK only if you are short on time, but their Bio and VR are the best, bar none. BR is good for practice in Bio though.👍

 

[tbh4]

for bio, i had EK and TBR. i thought EK was way too basic, and i thought TBR was way too detailed. i'd look for something in between if you don't want to get both.

for gen chem, i used TBR and thought it was great, very detailed, but maybe a little too specific. i also don't like the fact it focused very heavily on calculations with numbers that don't easily work with one another, considering the MCAT i just took had numbers that were so easily divisible with one another you could do all the math in your head.

for physics, absolutely use TBR.

for orgo, i used berkeley review and thought the huge level of detail was pointless. i wish i would've used something else, especially since all the orgo questions i had were really, really basic. i felt like i learned a lot of pointless stuff from TBR and wasted a lot of time going through their orgo books. seriously, it could probably take about 40 pages to sum up everything you should know for the orgo part of the MCAT nowadays.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

for bio, i had EK and TBR. i thought EK was way too basic, and i thought TBR was way too detailed. i'd look for something in between if you don't want to get both.

for gen chem, i used TBR and thought it was great, very detailed, but maybe a little too specific. i also don't like the fact it focused very heavily on calculations with numbers that don't easily work with one another, considering the MCAT i just took had numbers that were so easily divisible with one another you could do all the math in your head.

for physics, absolutely use TBR.

for orgo, i used berkeley review and thought the huge level of detail was pointless. i wish i would've used something else, especially since all the orgo questions i had were really, really basic. i felt like i learned a lot of pointless stuff from TBR and wasted a lot of time going through their orgo books. seriously, it could probably take about 40 pages to sum up everything you should know for the orgo part of the MCAT nowadays.

Your point about the calculations is a good one for probably 90% of the people who take the MCAT. Calculations generally involve reasonable numbers. But for the ten percent who get that psycho tenth MCAT, they get beaten to a pulp with crazy numbers. Same thing with organic chemistry. Ninety percent of test takers will tell you they completely over studied for that topic and like you say, fourty pages would be plenty. But if you look at some of the "official MCAT" threads, you read every now and then how they had three organic passages and they were hard.

This test is just so damn inconsistent, that everyone ends up over preparing. They should at least try to make it more uniform in terms of how many questions you get from each subject area.

 

[TriagePreMed]

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