EK Physics...too bare bones? Help!

[mrmatt]

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As someone who did well (A's) in both semesters of my Fundamental Physics courses and labs, I'm struggling while going through the MCAT Physics EK book. I've been making anywhere from 6-9 on the Lecture exams. 😡

To me, the lecture readings seem too brief and don't provide enough examples, so I end up having trouble applying the learned concept to the specific situation in the questions.

Does anyone have an alternative for Physics studying that provides a more detailed, thorough review of the material? Perhaps Wiki-Premed? Or just doing tons of 1001 Qs? Thanks.

 

[Mazdave]

I used mostly EK books while studying but I used Nova for physics. Might be more what you're looking for.

 

[ridethecliche]

I hate EK physics.

I would not recommend their physics book. Their bio is good and the gen chem is fine if you were good at it, but their physics is not optimal at all unless you were great in the class and need a small refresher.

I'm switching to nova physics next week.

TBR is very highly regarded on this forum as well.

 

[DoItToIt]

I'd highly recommend Nova Physics also. I was/am in the same situation. Did fine and made As in GenPhys 1&2, but we never had to memorize formulas or anything like that. Therefore, none of it stuck. I got the Nova physics books and it has helped a huge amount in explaining things and helping me understand them more conceptually as opposed to memorizing a formula. TBR Physics is also supposed to be great- I just had faster access to the Nova book.

 

[Cinclus]

I used EK for everything but physics. I used Nova for physics, and I think it's improved my understanding immensely. I bought a digital edition from Borders for about $13.

 

[flodhi1]

As someone who did well (A's) in both semesters of my Fundamental Physics courses and labs, I'm struggling while going through the MCAT Physics EK book. I've been making anywhere from 6-9 on the Lecture exams. 😡

To me, the lecture readings seem too brief and don't provide enough examples, so I end up having trouble applying the learned concept to the specific situation in the questions.

Does anyone have an alternative for Physics studying that provides a more detailed, thorough review of the material? Perhaps Wiki-Premed? Or just doing tons of 1001 Qs? Thanks.

Unless you're trying to totally bomb the Physical Sciences section (PS) I would stay the hell away from EK PS it's a total waste of time. Like you I Aced both Physics and I actually also Aced my Gen chem and Orgo classes but other than Biology EK seemed like a huge waste of time to me. Stick with Berkley or Nova

 

[Morzh]

EK physics is not quite as in depth as some other books, but in my opinion they are still one of the best. They teach you what you need to know, but don't overwhelm you with all sorts of stuff that will be of absolutely no benefit on the MCAT itself. They focus on the equations you must know cold and the concepts you need to be able to apply, but if you read the intro material to the book they clearly state that their book is not a textbook.. if you want to study from a textbook, buy a textbook, but if you want to spend your study time maximizing your PS score, they lack nothing.

 

[stefspets]

+1 for Nova physics. It has been a while since I've taken physics, and I found Nova to include enough information for me to relearn it (without digging out a physics text book).

I like EK for their conciseness but it was too concise for physics, imo.

 

[SN2ed]

Currently, BR offers the best physics prep by far make sure you get the newest book since they made some major revisions. Nova Physics is also pretty good.

 

[mrmatt]

+1 for Nova physics. It has been a while since I've taken physics, and I found Nova to include enough information for me to relearn it (without digging out a physics text book).

I like EK for their conciseness but it was too concise for physics, imo.

That's what I'm experiencing too. I knew everything great then, but simply because of time (2 years) I'm having trouble applying the concept to each problem specifically.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm gonna check out Nova!

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

...don't provide enough examples

That's the key right there to choosing what book will work best. It comes down to passages, questions, and explanations.

I'm going to sound like a homer, but my honest $0.02 whether I worked for BR or not would be that the new BR physics is the best physics book out there. It not only has great review and tricks you won't find anywhere else, but between the 77 questions (which come with passages) at the end of each chapter and the 200 and something questions within the reading, you'll get about a 1000 questions total, all with highly detailed POE-based explanations.

 

[ridethecliche]

Yeah.

EK's 'look at how short our book is' mantra works well for bio, okay for genchem (strong-ish for me), and probably works okay for organic as well.

For physics, where you reallllyyy need to see the application of the content in 5 different ways before you can orient yourself to doing. Then yeahh. Not so much.

The only use my ek physics book is going to have from now on is for the passages in the book. Truth be told, if I had known this from the get go, I would NEVER have even opened the book and would have either used the kaplan book I got for free, or just bought the TBR book (this).

I feel like I wasted time on 3-4 of the physics chapters I studied because I got nothing out of EK. Luckily, I have 2 months left so I can solidfy the concepts that I 'kinda' get now. In addition, I'm now taking a week off work to sit down and finish content review because I feel like I have to do that if I am to feel confident in the material.

Not something I would have needed to do with TBR. Like I said, I'm lucky that I have time left, but I could have spent that doing more important things like not having to take off from work, sleeping, and doing more passages/tests instead of review.

 

[ridethecliche]

And seriously:

There is nothing more frustrating than spending a lot of time and a lot of energy pouring over something that just doesn't click only to find something doesn't do anywhere near as good a job as a different text.

You owe yourself more than that. Don't use EK physics, other than maybe to review after you've used something else first. But still, why bother?

If you were a physics major or maybe if you had an awesome physics class where you completely understood the theory, then yeah maybe it'll work, but if there's something better out there then again, why bother?

 

[Swagster]

For physics, you have to get BR. As SN2 said, the new physics book is great and beats everything else.