ExamKrackers for review?

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Seldon

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I've been reading through all of the kaplan books and condensing them into note packets, but I'm starting to waste away from the boredom. I also have the ExamKracker set of books. Are these good for review or should I stay away from them?

I know from experience that I can learn all of the information on the MCAT quickly (1-2 weeks) if I have it in an easily digestible form (quick descriptions and bullet points). If anyone knows where I can find this kind of review info, I would appreciate it.
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ExamKrackers was all I used to study for the old mcat. I thought it was pretty sufficient. I'm not sure if the quality of their material is any different for the new exam.


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I also bought the Kaplan set and ExamKracker set. I haven't taken the MCAT but I've taken (3) full length practice tests (1 from Kaplan, 1 from TPR and NextStep1). The Kaplan set was great for me because I am a nontrad and I also won't have biochem yet when I take the MCAT. The Kaplan books teach the material as if you have never taken the prereqs before and it went over everything I have seen on the practice tests. ExamKracker was much less in depth and you really needed to know a bit of the material before reading the books. ExamKracker also does not cover everything that is on the test so I would not use them as your only source. The way EK was written almost reads like a kids book so it's very easy to read and is really great for a refresher.

For someone who has a decent foundation of the material, I would read EK and mix in a practice test (either Next Step or EK FL tests) every week. As you go through your tests, write down topics that you did not know enough about to confidently answer a question (for me is was redox reactions, mirrors/lenses and various psych/sociology terms) and then use the Kaplan set to study up on those topics. Kaplan reads much more like a text book so it's very hard to cover lots of material in a short time without getting drained. I could read an entire EK book in a single day as they were much easier to read.
 
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Mclovin0351 said:
Stop reviewing and start taking practice exams. Review your practice exams then look up whatever content you need.
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Exactly this. Half of my practice test questions test your ability to derive info from the passage with minimal prior knowledge and half of the questions will require you to use content than you learned from your MCAT study books. If you have already had all the prereqs, do practice tests and study what you didn't know on that test. Then take another test and repeat. This is especially helpful on the C/P & P/S section but it really does not apply to the CARS section.
 
Seldon said:
That might work for some people, but for me, I need to fully understand everything. before I start practicing.
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That may be true for a test that is very specific but the MCAT covers many many topics. Taking a practice test will tell you which areas you are lacking in the most. You would be surprised at what you will be sufficient/lacking in. I took the test with my B.S. in mechanical engineering and no knowledge of Biochem. I actually scored decent in the biochem (123 which I would say is great for not taking biochem or even reading the Kaplan section yet) and rather poorly on the C/P which I thought was my strong area from my undergrad. The test is more about reading something brand new and pulling information from the article with minimal use of previous content.
 
ExamKrackers is pretty solid for targeted review + filling in any knowledge gaps you may have after taking practice tests. For a more comprehensive content review, Khan Academy videos are pretty great although they can take a long time to watch every video. Making outlines and note packets is pretty inefficient and often a total waste of time; use Anki instead.
 
Seldon said:
I've been reading through all of the kaplan books and condensing them into note packets, but I'm starting to waste away from the boredom. I also have the ExamKracker set of books. Are these good for review or should I stay away from them?

I know from experience that I can learn all of the information on the MCAT quickly (1-2 weeks) if I have it in an easily digestible form (quick descriptions and bullet points). If anyone knows where I can find this kind of review info, I would appreciate it.
Click to expand...
EK> Kaplan IMO.
 
Lawper said:
ExamKrackers is pretty solid for targeted review + filling in any knowledge gaps you may have after taking practice tests. For a more comprehensive content review, Khan Academy videos are pretty great although they can take a long time to watch every video. Making outlines and note packets is pretty inefficient and often a total waste of time; use Anki instead.
Click to expand...
what's Anki?
 
Seldon said:
That might work for some people, but for me, I need to fully understand everything. before I start practicing.
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You expect to review 2 years worth of material before practicing it, and retain it? Myself and everyone else I know who has scored 95+ percentile has studied like this, just saying.
 
Lawper said:
Anki is a flashcard program used to aid in memorization. More information below:

mehc012's Anki Central (use this to learn how to make flashcards for effective studying)
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How did you go about assembling your Anki card deck? Is there an established set that many people use or did they each build one themselves?
 
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Mclovin0351 said:
You expect to review 2 years worth of material before practicing it, and retain it? Myself and everyone else I know who has scored 95+ percentile has studied like this, just saying.
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I'm pretty confident in my ability to do this. I also not overly far behind. I got a 504 on Kaplan's diagnostic before studying.
 
Seldon said:
How did you go about assembling your Anki card deck? Is there an established set that many people use or did they each build one themselves?
Click to expand...

it's recommended to build your own card decks. there are other decks made by users that are available but making your own cards is a key part in learning.
 
Mclovin0351 said:
You expect to review 2 years worth of material before practicing it, and retain it? Myself and everyone else I know who has scored 95+ percentile has studied like this, just saying.
Click to expand...
Meh I think it's beneficial to go over everything once before you start doing practice exams. Or else you will feel like you're wasting the exam and your time when you get questions on content you haven't reviewed yet. I think the best approach is to read through all the content once, start doing practice exams and re-reviewing holes in content and then maybe re review everything again just for good measure while doing all the exams you can get your hands on. I did not start doing exams until after I finished my first pass through the EK content books.
 
I used EK and I liked it a lot. Used Khan Academy as a supplement.

One thing for EK though, at least my books, is it didn't have the amino acid 1 letter codes, which led to some panicked studying two weeks before the test.
 
Mclovin0351 said:
You expect to review 2 years worth of material before practicing it, and retain it? Myself and everyone else I know who has scored 95+ percentile has studied like this, just saying.
Click to expand...
I scored in that range and used EK to review first. It's really not much material that EK covers, it's just a refresher with bolded terms and silly memorization tools. Ultimately I think it really helped me make connections from concept to concept and solidify my understanding. I just did a full read through and did the practice quizzes as I went, then did the book tests, then the FL's.
 
freak7 said:
I scored in that range and used EK to review first. It's really not much material that EK covers, it's just a refresher with bolded terms and silly memorization tools. Ultimately I think it really helped me make connections from concept to concept and solidify my understanding. I just did a full read through and did the practice quizzes as I went, then did the book tests, then the FL's.
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That's pretty much what I'm planning. For exams, I usually memorize all of the testable material (not really feasible for this exam) and then I spend a day just thinking about connections between every concept. This has served me well in the past (I've had a professor use me as an answer key during an exam).
 
Used EK and Khan. EK was great, and I found it provided an appropriate amount of information for studying. The practice questions were also really well done and felt the exact same as the actual test. That being said, I feel like Khan is more approachable due to its serialized video segments. Just be careful that you don't fall into the rabbit hole of Khan and end up watching more videos than necessary. Make a plan on what to watch, and stick to it.
 
Hey guys,

I'm starting to study for MCAT and Iwas wondering where can I find the full length practice tests?

Thanks for the help!
 
Mclovin0351 said:
Stop reviewing and start taking practice exams. Review your practice exams then look up whatever content you need.
Click to expand...

What was your MCAT score? What was the MCAT score of others who used this method? No offense, but one person who recommended this method got a 505 and that's not really a ringing endorsement.
 
PreMedMissteps said:
What was your MCAT score? What was the MCAT score of others who used this method? No offense, but one person who recommended this method got a 505 and that's not really a ringing endorsement.
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The best way to study is through practice test. Its hard to tell how well you understand the material from just reading and reviewing the content. It helps you identify areas you need to improve, and the thought process behind the correct answers. I had around a 501 with my first practice exam, 507 on my last practice exam, and 511 for my actual score.


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Mclovin0351 said:
You expect to review 2 years worth of material before practicing it, and retain it? Myself and everyone else I know who has scored 95+ percentile has studied like this, just saying.
Click to expand...

I scored 99th percentile and reviewed *everything* in TBR in 2 months before starting practice exams. I had only one year of classes under my belt and my prereqs were 15 years old, so I absolutely had to review everything. People have different study methods and what works for one person may not work for everyone.
 
partypantss said:
Meh I think it's beneficial to go over everything once before you start doing practice exams. Or else you will feel like you're wasting the exam and your time when you get questions on content you haven't reviewed yet. I think the best approach is to read through all the content once, start doing practice exams and re-reviewing holes in content and then maybe re review everything again just for good measure while doing all the exams you can get your hands on. I did not start doing exams until after I finished my first pass through the EK content books.
Click to expand...

This is how I reviewed. I used The Berkeley Review and went through all of the material in about 8 weeks. I think started practice exams and went through the material I felt particularly weak in based on my practice exams. Keep in mind that I'm non-trad and had been out of school well over 10 years before I started studying. I really had to review some concepts - especially physics and chemistry.

I think EK is a good set - I especially like their Verbal book - but I found TBR to be better for how I learned. They have a chapter followed by a lot of practice passages, which helps reinforce what you learn and gets you used to the passage based questions. EK is more targeted and will be fantastic if you have a solid content background and just need to know the high yield concepts and review testing strategy. I'm not a fan of Kaplan, but I know some people who liked it.
 
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