examkrackers

[igotodavis]

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this has probably been beaten to death but from searching through old posts it seems most people have a rather high opinion of examcrackers stuff.

the thing is i bought the 16 mini mcats and i think its awful!!!!! none of the questions seem like an accurate representation of the mcat...in fact the physics seemed like it was alot of match and equations....and the verbal...i am just like what the hell??? when i read it.

so i am confused whether i should get the examcrackers package and the 1001 books...right now i am using the big kaplan review book but it seems like its pretty crappy. they list a million equations and little details in the bio section (do we have to remember all that???)

is the examcracker review books more helpful than the kaplan book and do the 1001 problems actually help? because i am not liking this 16 mini mcat book very much 😡

 

[metastasis]

EK 1001s are really good if you are lacking in your basics. I was having trouble with torque, but after doing those questions I am pretty down with it. I think their questions are amazing. They are very tricky, and most of them are conceptual. I haven't done any AAMCs so can't really say if they are too hard, too easy, etc. I did give some of their questions to a friend who was getting around 11 on Physical sciences section, and he had trouble with it.


If you are weak in a certain area, than get the books. If you just want practice, than I think its better to do more passage based questions.

BTW I am taking the MCAT in April. Not sure about you. Also these questions take up quite some time.

 

[deleted106503]

I looked only at Amazon.com reviews of the MCAT review materials and the mini-MCAT was said to be non-representative so I didn't buy it.

 

[MyInitialsAreJC]

The Examkrackers review set (the big box w/ 5 books in it) is the best - hands down. It's written to be bite size (big bites - but still) and makes clear what's testable knowledge and what might end up being passage information.

There's a 10 week schedule for working through the examkrackers curriculum circulating somewhere around on the internet. i would start it 15 weeks out to allow for difficulties, breaks, and a week or two at the end to tie everything up.

The 16 mini-mcats are meant to go along with the 10 week schedule. The topics that they test each mini-mcat correlate w/ the material that was covered that week. The questions are more difficult than most on the real mcat - which can be demoralizing, but can also be helpful.

I bought two of the 1001 question books (Physics and Chemistry) while panicking about my PS times. havent touched them so i cant really say.

 

[xcgirl]

I absolutely loved examkrackers, I just used their books plus the aamc tests and
I went from 8PS 11VR 10BS
to a high of 11PS 13VR 12BS
I would absolutely recommend it to anyone taking the MCAT. I did the 10 week study schedule (with some reviewing beforehand) and I bought the 1001 books for physics, chem, orgo, and verbal, plus the mini mcats book. the mini mcats book isn't hugely helpful, only really good if you're following the 10 week schedule. the 1001 books are amazing...I haven't had physics in college and haven't had gen chem since jr year of hs (I took AP Chem) and I got a 12 on one of my PS practice tests.

 

[dr.kicia]

here is the 10 week schedule http://www.its.caltech.edu/~jordanb/ek-schedule.doc
I have simply downladed it on my comp and edited it so it will fit my schedule in college, work etc (i just have spread it out over the 7 months period, with exact dates, which will give me 3 days a week of studying for few hours and then whole bunch of practice at the very end)...i think that having this schedule and sticking to it... having a copy on your fridge door will really be like taking a prep course (with a difference of 1000+ bucks)

 

[gujuDoc]

this has probably been beaten to death but from searching through old posts it seems most people have a rather high opinion of examcrackers stuff.

the thing is i bought the 16 mini mcats and i think its awful!!!!! none of the questions seem like an accurate representation of the mcat...in fact the physics seemed like it was alot of match and equations....and the verbal...i am just like what the hell??? when i read it.

so i am confused whether i should get the examcrackers package and the 1001 books...right now i am using the big kaplan review book but it seems like its pretty crappy. they list a million equations and little details in the bio section (do we have to remember all that???)

is the examcracker review books more helpful than the kaplan book and do the 1001 problems actually help? because i am not liking this 16 mini mcat book very much 😡

I didn't really use their 16 minis. I however did use their review books in the last 2 weeks and thought hte REVIEW BOOKS were awesome. There were questions from their review books and content review that they went over which was on the AAMC exams but not in things you'd see in TPR stuff or the very very minimal Kaplan things I looked at.

They went over things such as other representations of the phase change graphs which you wouldn't see in other MCAT review books but did pop up in EK as well as 3R. They went over things like negative and positive heats of solution and how they affect vapor pressure in a non ideal situation which was the first passage of the TPR diag but not shown in any of their review books but directly presented in EK's gchm book. they went over things like acetoacetic ester synthesis which was presented in one of the other AAMC tests but never seen in any of my other MCAT books.

They went over deeper understanding of things related to quantum mechanics by briefing about heisenberg uncertainty principle which i found helpful a little bit.

they went over the waves chapter of physics better too because they went over things that I have seen come up on the MCAT in various forms such as the graph of discharging a battery vs. charging a battery, or the wave equation and how velocity relates to bulks modulus and density for sound waves and things such as thermal expansion of solids. None of these things were reviewed by other books I looked at. I don't know about Kaplan, but TPR didnt cover any of these things and they helped me a great deal in understanding these topics.

EK does a good job with their review books. Their 16 mini's are just additional practice much like Kaplan and TPR. I think any practice will help so long as you can understand why you are getting it wrong. Although I didn't like their 16 mini verbals on the first 3 exams ( the only part of the EK books I actually did) as much as I liked their 101 book.

 

[go lakers]

I absolutely loved examkrackers, I just used their books plus the aamc tests and
I went from 8PS 11VR 10BS
to a high of 11PS 13VR 12BS
I would absolutely recommend it to anyone taking the MCAT. I did the 10 week study schedule (with some reviewing beforehand) and I bought the 1001 books for physics, chem, orgo, and verbal, plus the mini mcats book. the mini mcats book isn't hugely helpful, only really good if you're following the 10 week schedule. the 1001 books are amazing...I haven't had physics in college and haven't had gen chem since jr year of hs (I took AP Chem) and I got a 12 on one of my PS practice tests.

that's very encouraging. i took PR and didnt do great in april so i'm re-taking with EK as my bible. i sure hope it works out 😍

 

[r_mojo1]

that's very encouraging. i took PR and didnt do great in april so i'm re-taking with EK as my bible. i sure hope it works out 😍

Go Lakers, did you take the test again in August? How do you think you did? I plan to take the test in Apr 07

 

[yenisha]

this has probably been beaten to death but from searching through old posts it seems most people have a rather high opinion of examcrackers stuff.

the thing is i bought the 16 mini mcats and i think its awful!!!!! none of the questions seem like an accurate representation of the mcat...in fact the physics seemed like it was alot of match and equations....and the verbal...i am just like what the hell??? when i read it.

so i am confused whether i should get the examcrackers package and the 1001 books...right now i am using the big kaplan review book but it seems like its pretty crappy. they list a million equations and little details in the bio section (do we have to remember all that???)

is the examcracker review books more helpful than the kaplan book and do the 1001 problems actually help? because i am not liking this 16 mini mcat book very much 😡

Here's my two cents on the Examcrackers series:

Practice Question-wise, the books are a joke. However, the content in the chapters, the way it is organized, and the diagrams are TOP NOTCH. Here is how I prepared:

Examcrackers Biology: This book is WAY better than the Biology portion of the Biological Sciences book by KAPLAN. I found the KAPLAN book to be way too dry.

Examcrackers Physics, Chemistry: Again, I have the same opinion as stated above for biology.

However, for Verbal reasoning, I would try to get my hands on the latest KAPLAN/Princeton Review Verbal Reasoning workbook. Same goes for O-chem---I feel that Kaplan organized it better than EC

 

[gujuDoc]

Idisage with using Kaplan or TPR verbal strategy EK is the way to go for Verbal. Biology in EK is good too but I'd do some ore in depth studying of mlecular bio and genetics a bit if you can.

Ochem the big Kaplan MCAT book would be more thn enough. Although, I'd look at acetoacetic ester synthesis in EK's ochem cuz that is not covered well elsewhere and is on the topic lists and on 4R.

physics and chem: Agreed that I like EK's way of explaining things except the way they explained collisions.

 

[smuwillobrien]

The ExamKrackers review books were far better than the Kaplan review book I read.

Get them, read them, and know them inside out. If you have any week areas get the 1001 EK books to brush up on those areas. Get the 101 EK Verbal book. Study. Do practice tests.

Good luck.

 

[Beau Geste]

So far I'm using EK and Kaplan big book and EK is a much more detailed reaview. Kaplan chapters tend to just summarize but you don't really get the complete background.

 

[xTinaBna]

the 16 mini mcats are more to test your conceptual knowledge of the topics rather than simulate an mcat...so i can see how the name is misleading. I bought a kaplan premier program review book, the 1001 questions for bio, chem, and physics, the 101 verbal passages, and the 16 mini mcats. i think for me, this system worked best. i did all my reviewing and studing form the kaplan books, the practiced that knowledge hard core witht the 1001 and verbal boks. and then tested it with teh mini mcats. the kaplan premier program book has 2 half-length tests and 2 full-length tests and has subject tests. i did not buy an EK orgo book because i felt i could test all my orgo in the kaplan book since orgo is such a small part of the mcat (usually only 2 bio passages). anyways..for people looking to save alot of money and can't afford the prepcourse..these books gave me a more than thorough review of the materials. And i'd say overall i spent about $200 (EK books are cheaper through Amazon.com). I also recommend getting alot of those AAMC tests..especially tests 6,7,8,9...i think those are better predictors of your score. 🙂