EK Bio vs. BR bio which one I should stick with?

[libraryismyhome]

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When I am doing EK 1001 Bio, I usually get 10s and the majority of missed questions are classified as LAK (lack of knowledge) which are part of the passage but require outside knowledge.

I just got BR bio and they are 4x thicker than EK bio. Currently I am almost done with EK bio (on ch 6 and finished all 1001 for previous chapters)

In my situation, should I study with EK bio or BR bio?

 

[azrk]

If you have both just alternate between them imo

 

[J ROD]

I would use BR for the passages....like 10 passages a chapter to get used to seeing harder passages....

 

[erskine]

i used only EK bio and EK bio 1001 and did well on the BS, though for EK 1001 i found my average was ~10 because, like you found out, the questions are often outdated and sometimes rely on outside information (they have a ridiculous amount of anat/physio questions). I did use BR for all the other sciences, though, and have nothing but positive things to say for their passages. Their content review is a different matter, though, since a lot of people have been complaining it is far too detailed for the mcat. But on the other hand, on my MCAT, i found EK Bio had been too lax in certain areas (ecology and evolutionary and developmental bio) and had to rely on the upper div bio classes i had taken, which i luckily still remembered some stuff.

Definitely do the BR passages though, they are almost assured to be better than EK 1001. Content review is a little more tailored to your own familiarity with the BS topics, though I'd probably be a little more inclined to BR because in my opinion knowing too much is a better scenario on mcat day than too little info.

 

[NYR56]

I didn't use the EK 1001 but if you are getting questions wrong due to a lack of knowledge, it simply means you haven't learned the material well enough. Switching to BR which has many more details isn't going to help you if you can't master the shorter EK book. The EK book has everything you need to know though so I would stick to that and really get a hang of the material. BR may help more with passage based interpreting questions but the EK is the best way to learn the material you actually need to know.

 

[apc]

i bookmarked this page, same topic
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=9468047#post9468047

 

[erskine]

I didn't use the EK 1001 but if you are getting questions wrong due to a lack of knowledge, it simply means you haven't learned the material well enough. Switching to BR which has many more details isn't going to help you if you can't master the shorter EK book. The EK book has everything you need to know though so I would stick to that and really get a hang of the material. BR may help more with passage based interpreting questions but the EK is the best way to learn the material you actually need to know.

not really. To my understanding, EK 1001 is written by a different author and hasn't been updated, so while most of the info overlaps, some questions don't. This is most readily explained that EK 1001 bio covers the old edition of EK Bio. If you've done EK 1001 bio, you'll notice that a disproportionate amount of the questions, particularly the discretes, are physio/anatomy questions, which EK tends to gloss over the minute details. I can't remember all the erroneous questions in EK 1001, but i remember doing their passages and thinking somewhat often, "huh. This wasn't in the bio lecture at all."

It's not so much mastering the available material, as getting blindsided by outdated questions about info not covered at all.

 

[NYR56]

I guess I was a little unclear and went too far assuming that the OP was getting things wrong on other tests as well. If the problem is only on the EK 1001 then you're probably right. If they are getting questions wrong on practice tests as well, then what I said applies.

 

[libraryismyhome]

I didn't use the EK 1001 but if you are getting questions wrong due to a lack of knowledge, it simply means you haven't learned the material well enough. Switching to BR which has many more details isn't going to help you if you can't master the shorter EK book. The EK book has everything you need to know though so I would stick to that and really get a hang of the material. BR may help more with passage based interpreting questions but the EK is the best way to learn the material you actually need to know.

The reason that I am complaining about EK 1001 is because they include passage questions about endocrine system (ch 5 material) on their ch4(nervous system) passage questions. Since I didn't look at ch 5 when I was working on ch4 1001, I couldn't answer them from EK book but from my old physiology class. And the passage says nothing about them... I think it's better to do 1001 once I finish the entire review book.

 

[libraryismyhome]

Ok, so let's clarify this.

Is it possible to answer TBR passage questions just by knowing the material from EK bio review book since most answers should be obtainable from passages?