EK 101/1001 books....are they helpful?

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confewshz

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Hello all,

I just got the 5th edition of EK's complete study package. I am thinking about getting the EK 1001 series books for practice. Is anyone using these books? If so, how are you using them in your study plan? What are the pros and cons of these books?Thanks,

confewshz

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Hello all,

Forgive me for being lazy, but I did not search this topic before I posted. Since no one has answered my question, I decided to search this topic. I found many interesting responses. Based on this information and knowing that I have not seen some of these topics since 1991, I am going to fork over the money to get all EK 1001 books. The results of my search is shown below:

1001 General
============
-discrete questions that help you get the science down cold
-the questions are actually all very good and make you think about stuff very dynamically. Moreover, my no-calculator skills are getting better with all the practice.
-The questions aren't like the MCAT, but they are designed (I think) to be a drill so that you get the important concepts into your head. Also, they set up some questions so that you don't really know the answer, but you are forced to use process of elimination, or other strategies to get at the right answer.
-I bought all the 1001 books. They were really helpful to drill in concepts that I needed more practice with.
-Ek has the 1001 question series for the physics and chem, which I have found very helpful for identifying weak areas in my knowledge base. I find that sometimes I think I have a firm grasp on a concept, then when i go and start answering questions from the 1001 book, I find that my grasp was not as good as i had thought. Usually after answering many questions from the book I have a very strong understanding of the concepts.
-The 1001 book was indispensible for me.
-I have found out that the 1001 book especially the Physics and Gchem have helped me pinpoint my weakness in each chapter.
-Examkrackers 1001 questions: there are way too many questions and they arent' even similar to the mcat style.. they are kind of nit picky and the explanations only give maybe 2 lines of text. I think these questions provide only unnecessary stress and it actually takes time away from solidifying concepts that are definitely going to be on the mcat.
-I used the 1001 books from EK. I found it somewhat lacking. It prepare me well for the discrete questions, but I didn't find it helping me at all on the passage based questions. It'll help understand the basic principles, but you'll need just as much passage based problems to prepare.
-I especially liked the 1001 Questions books because I learned by doing, rather than passive memorization.
-The 1001 books are designed to help you learn the science cold. You still need tests to practice passages.
-I thought the 1001 books were great for reinforcing the facts that you need to know. Rather than memorzing facts from a review book, these questions give you an opportunity to test yourself to be sure that you understand every concept that could appear on the test. The 1001 books should be used in conjunction with review books -- kind of like a self-test on the concepts. The full length practice tests prepare you for the exam format. First, however, you must understand each and every concept that could appear on the test. Then, you have to put this knowledge to use in the exam format.
-Yes, 1001 Examkrackers are all fantastic. I used organic, general chem, and physics (verbal and bio were not available last april). They are great review because you can practice what you study. Instead of memorizing and hoping that you've learned the material, the 1001 Question books let you actually study, review, and test yourself. The questions really reinforce what you study and digs it into your brain. Those books were a great investment for me because I learn by doing rather than simply by memorizing.
-The 1001 books are meant to drill on the basics of the lectures. They serve to stomp the formulae into your mind and to teach you how to think about the mcat style problems. They don't seem like they were meant to be practice mcat problems.
- I tried using just about every study material out there and found Examkrackers to be far superior to the competition. Using the Examkracker study guides and 1001 series I was able to get a 31 (PS-11 VR-10 BS-10) after two months of studying. Nothing spectacular...but descent considering I hadn't touched a book for the past 5 years until 2 months ago.
-I have been using the 1001 books, and I think they are really helping me. Once going through each EK chapter, I thought I had a firm grasp on the material. The 1001 Q's, although sometimes easy and not passage based, helped me realize that there were some simple concepts that I did not truly understand or know how to apply to a question. I think it will help on the actual exams (practice and real) where I will not be stumped (and wasting valuable time) by an easy question about a topic I thought I knew.

1001 O-Chem
===========
-not that good because it was not written by the founders of Examkrackers
-repetion really helped me alot
-made my wekest subject into my strongest subject
-isn't good enough
-I just finished the 1001 questions in Organic, and i am 100 questions into the physics book. I thought i was pretty strong in organic, but i am finding i am making alot of really simple mistakes. That is a good thing, because i couldn't understand why my MCAT score isn't bumping up after all of this studying!
-It has plenty of practice problems, but the solutions aren't that detailed. You'll have to do some of the "Grunt work" yourself. But still, a good investment for the mcat.

1001 G-Chem
===========
-The Examkracker books with 1001 physics and 1001 GenChemistry questions helped to raise my score

1001 Physics
============
-useful in nailing down concepts
-great
-awesome
-The Examkracker books with 1001 physics and 1001 GenChemistry questions helped to raise my score
-What the 1001 book does is give examples for every situation possible involving physics concepts that you have learned and lead to a better understanding of the concepts.


I hope this helps someone as much as it helped me in making my decision to buy these books :)

confewshz
 
confewshz,

Great job!

I like the way you put all you post in one.
Your post usually contains very helpful information.
Keep up the good work
:clap:
 
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I used the ek 1001 series for awhile, but soon dropped it since the questions are all dicrete based. I think that the ek material is good, and will help you, BUT please dont's rely soely on the 1001 stuff. You may want to make sure you do some passage based questions like the ones found in the kaplan workbook.

This is just my 0.002 thought:) Good luck!!!
 
Originally posted by vegangirl
I used the ek 1001 series for awhile, but soon dropped it since the questions are all dicrete based. I think that the ek material is good, and will help you, BUT please dont's rely soely on the 1001 stuff. You may want to make sure you do some passage based questions like the ones found in the kaplan workbook.

This is just my 0.002 thought:) Good luck!!!

Thanks for the advice, vegangirl. I dont plan on using the 1001 questions as my sole practice. I am mainly using the 1001 questions to hone my basic science skills before I tackle the passages, since its been awhile since I had some of my prereqs. I posted my prep plan in a different thread and I have reposted it here. Let me know what you think.

"I recently received the 5th edition complete EK study guides in the mail. I already had audio osmosis. I have just ordered the 1001 science books and 101 verbal passages. I also pre-ordered the 1001 bio book. My plan is as follows:

1) Listen to AO while following along in the EK book
2) Read EK book thoroughly while taking notes (I plan on reading one chapter from each subject per week).
3) Go over problems in 1001 books corresponding to the current chapter im reading.
4) Do EK 30 minute passages for the current chapter im reading.
5) Then fill-in with any TPR, Kaplan and AAMC practice passages I may have.
6) Once ive gone through all subjects at least once, I will begin taking diagnostic and full length tests from EK, TPR, Kaplan, AAMC (1,2 and 3R), and Berkeley Review. I plan on saving AAMC 4R, 5R, and 6R for a time closer to the exam. After each full length, I will study my weak areas in depth, glance over the other areas, then take another full length until I am finished with full length exams (or time is up :))

Hopefully, this will work for me. I will begin studying on Monday of next week, if everything goes well. I plan on taking the August MCAT. Does anyone have a similar MCAT prep plan or suggestions? Thanks,"
 
I think the wise thing to do with those 30 min chapter problems (#4 on your list), is to take them after you have read the whole book. This way, you will not be cheating yourself having just read the chapter, and having all the information in your short term memory. Just a thought....
 
Originally posted by primerz
I think the wise thing to do with those 30 min chapter problems (#4 on your list), is to take them after you have read the whole book. This way, you will not be cheating yourself having just read the chapter, and having all the information in your short term memory. Just a thought....

Thanks for the advice, primerz :)
 
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