Examkrackers 101 passages

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Has anybody used the new Examkrackers 101 biological molecules passages or the physics passages? I checked on amazon, but their isn't any reviews yet.
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I need to hear about this as well.. share your experience if you have
 
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I think the author is talking about their latest edition of different sections (bio I, II and physics) not the old verbal one. They also have a new edition for verbal, but I am not sure how different the passages are. Based on previous feedback, the old 101 Verbal book has different passage styles and the questions are harder to comprehend than the ones on the actual exam.

I am very curious on this as well. I doubt you can go wrong with EK books. Unfortunately, their price is pretty hefty.
 
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That covers bio + biochem, but not ochem. If I remember correctly, molecule I is more based on biochem and molecule II is more for biology.
 
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I have the EK 101 Biology book. It is really good in a way that focuses more on reasoning than straight memorizing facts that you don't know how to use. It has good explanations to things and its really good practice before you start to do the AAMC material. It is very hard though just a little heads up.
 
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aurevoir0711 said:
That covers bio + biochem, but not ochem. If I remember correctly, molecule I is more based on biochem and molecule II is more for biology.
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Ek has two 101 biology passages books. One is called molecules which is on biochemistry (enzymes, biomolecules, metabolism, lab techniques) and genetics. I have done 19 passages from it and I think it's excellent practice. I have bought the biology 2 book on physiology, but haven't opened it yet
 
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the Mannis said:
Ek has two 101 biology passages books. One is called molecules which is on biochemistry (enzymes, biomolecules, metabolism, lab techniques) and genetics. I have done 19 passages from it and I think it's excellent practice. I have bought the biology 2 book on physiology, but haven't opened it yet
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Just out of curiosity how are these books organized?


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akimhaneul said:
Just out of curiosity how are these books organized?


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good question. So in their content review book for biochem (called biology 1 molecules) they have 4 sections. 1 is biological molecules and enzymes, 2 is genetics, 3 is metabolism, and 4 is laboratory techniques. The passages are in the same order. Its broken up into the same sections as the content review book, although there may be some overlap. So each of the 4 sections has 2 Full length section tests, meaning 2 tests composed of 10 passages with 59 questions and some standalones mixed in. Each section has an additional mini test w/5 passages. 2 full tests composed of 10 passages for each section (2*10*4) =80, plus (1*5*4)=20 for the mini tests, giving 100 total (plus 1 as a warm up) to equal 101. So each section has 25 passages. The biology 2 book has 6 chapters to cover, so each chapter has 16-17 passages instead of 25. Right now i do about 2-3 passages a day, depending on how busy I am I sometimes do more or less.
 
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dokte said:
would you recommend the series? are you using the new ones?
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I'm using their new 101 passages for biology(systems) and biochemistry (molecules). I've only done passages from molecules thus far, but they're excellent. Most passages are experimentally based with graphs and require critical thinking/scientific reasoning, which is what the new test is all about according to this forum.
 
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I just took my first mini test for EK Bio 2 in their new 101 Passages book. I'm feeling pretty bummed out that I scored 66% (27 out of 41); however EK is much harder than AAMC. Also, I scored 69% on their 30 min practice tests consistently (16/23). Does these mean I am getting worse? Should I really be getting better on each test that I take?

I do careful post-exam analysis for every test, and I am just wondering how others who are using/have used this resource are doing.
 
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They are tricky!! so tricky! i am taking a EK course and on the 30minute exams I am getting 60-70% as well, usually because I am not paying attention to detail.
I have EK101 biochemistry later on I will buy EK101 bio 2 and CARS. EK 's strategy is based on careful analysis and attention to detail.
 
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markelle said:
They are tricky!! so tricky! i am taking a EK course and on the 30minute exams I am getting 60-70% as well, usually because I am not paying attention to detail.
I have EK101 biochemistry later on I will buy EK101 bio 2 and CARS. EK 's strategy is based on careful analysis and attention to detail.
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I understand and agree 100% with you on EK's trickiness tendency. I haven't used any AAMC materials yet, so its hard to compare to the real thing, but EK's questions are not very straightforward.
 
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I am struggling with their passages. Using the molecule biochem book right now and I'm hitting around nothing past 50% :(
Started physics passages yesterday and barely reached 40%....I find them to be really difficult compared to other materials. But I like that they're experimental heavy and so many detail from tough passages. This is my first time using EK.
 
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Can anyone compare the EK 101 series to the 1001 stand-alone question books? I always get confused between the two. I don't have any of the books, would like to know if any of these books are worthy to invest time in, and which subjects.
 
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markelle said:
They are tricky!! so tricky! i am taking a EK course and on the 30minute exams I am getting 60-70% as well, usually because I am not paying attention to detail.
I have EK101 biochemistry later on I will buy EK101 bio 2 and CARS. EK 's strategy is based on careful analysis and attention to detail.
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I struggled with EK's 30-min exams when I studied last year. Barely pass the 50% mark. The passages were ok but the I felt I spent more time reading the questions
 
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DameJulie said:
Can anyone compare the EK 101 series to the 1001 stand-alone question books? I always get confused between the two. I don't have any of the books, would like to know if any of these books are worthy to invest time in, and which subjects.
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Very tricky and heavy experiment based questions. Almost harder than the SB in my opinion.
 
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SB = AAMC Section Bank (a must do, if nothing else.) In fact, be sure to do everything AAMC (Section Bank, Question Packs, Full Lengths...etc.--everything AAMC.
 
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I definitely wanna hear from those who used this and took the exam and what they think about it. I'm learning alot from them, they're difficult, but I actually like them. But when I took the MCAT last year, I barely had passages like that. Some was SB style but was not to this extent....
 
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DoctorCrush said:
I definitely wanna hear from those who used this and took the exam and what they think about it. I'm learning alot from them, they're difficult, but I actually like them. But when I took the MCAT last year, I barely had passages like that. Some was SB style but was not to this extent....
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what about the EK 101 biochem passages makes you say they're harder than real test and/or the section bank?
 
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the Mannis said:
what about the EK 101 biochem passages makes you say they're harder than real test and/or the section bank?
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Just the presentation of the passage and questions. It's hard to pin point because I don't have the passage example right in front of me. But if you think back on the AAMC practice FL and some of the SB, the passage present something so obnoxious with multiple genes, proteins, interferon etc and weird pathways / inhibitions but the question would be simple along the line of, "What's the point of phosphorylating something etc?" where you don't truly need to go back to the small details of the passage, while the EK books sometimes makes you do that and more. I do like the way EK ask and present their statistical reason questions, though. A lot of their passages can be found for free from PLoS.
 
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markelle said:
So by doing the EK questions, you'll be over prepared? especially if EK is longer that is a good thing right?
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hahaha, hopefully!

I have to say, overall, EK does a really close job to AAMC, coming in second is NS, Kaplan and TPR. I've dipped into all of them mainly their FL and content stuff, not the actual course. I can't speak about TBR because I only have their pre-2015 materials.

What I have to say though is that after doing so many EK passages from their 101 books, I'm not so intimidated when faced with those intense molecular / pathway / gene type of passage and questions.
 
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DoctorCrush said:
hahaha, hopefully!

I have to say, overall, EK does a really close job to AAMC, coming in second is NS, Kaplan and TPR. I've dipped into all of them mainly their FL and content stuff, not the actual course. I can't speak about TBR because I only have their pre-2015 materials.

What I have to say though is that after doing so many EK passages from their 101 books, I'm not so intimidated when faced with those intense molecular / pathway / gene type of passage and questions.
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Okay great thank you for the feedback!! Im hoping the same!
Im starting on my EK 101 this week!!! Im going to go through it twice! By June 10th.
I need a 130+ on BIO, bc I think CARS will be the worst of me :(
 
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