Gen. Chemistry

[DrewFromVA]

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What is a good general chemistry review book?

 

[solid snake]

I'd suggest kaplan's Comprehensive review and EK Chem. They look like they do good review of chem IMO.

 

[Mudd]

Neither of them even come close to the best G Chem book out there. By far, and I mean real far, Berkeley Review general chemistry blows Kaplan, PR, Columbia, Barrons, Nova, and EK away.

 

[Dr.Linus]

I agree with Mudd. Berkeley Review has the best Chemistry review in MCAT review market.

 

[mosaic]

I know this has been addressed before, but which other BR books are good. I'm going to order chem, what about their physics and bio? I have EK, which I will use, but I want some additional texts...

 

[Bostonienses]

Hey guys, where can I purchase (or order online) BR review books? I looked at yahoo and it seems that you can only get them if you take the class or are in CA. I looked at amazon and barnes and noble.com and couldn't find a thing. Any clues? Thanks!

 

[Camden772]

You can buy the books new on the Berkeley Review Website.

Go to www.berkeley-review.com

and click on the home study program, then just pick the books you want to order and follow the ordering instructions.

I purchased their verbal book and 8 or 9 practice tests from them before the August MCAT.

 

[Bostonienses]

Many many thanks!

 

[Mudd]

Originally posted by mosaic
I know this has been addressed before, but which other BR books are good. I'm going to order chem, what about their physics and bio? I have EK, which I will use, but I want some additional texts...

Mind you, I am a physical sciences tutor, so the comments I have beyond G chem and physics are second hand from the students I tutor. I pretty much own everything available for physics and general chem, but my exposure to biology is limited.

That said, I hear extreme praise for general chemistry and organic chemistry, strong praise for the physics books, good praise for biology, and no comment on verbal. Apparently the verbal book is useful for passages, but most students say that the classes are more useful for strategies than the books. Princeton Review and EK verbal are pretty strong form what I hear.

For physics, EK has a strong text while BR has very good text and excellent passages. If you need text, go with EK. If you need passages and some text, go with BR.

As far as biology goes, it seems they are all about the same, so it doesn't really matter. The only thing I can say for sure is that Princeton Review material (the stuff from Hyperlearning) has some mistakes in it. I can't even begin to name them, but I've heard comments about genetics and biochemistry having some errors. I hear Kaplan's text is pretty good and that there passages are very good.

Best of luck!

 

[Mudd]

bump for Mistress S

 

[Persistence101]

Originally posted by Mudd
Mind you, I am a physical sciences tutor, so the comments I have beyond G chem and physics are second hand from the students I tutor. I pretty much own everything available for physics and general chem, but my exposure to biology is limited.

That said, I hear extreme praise for general chemistry and organic chemistry, strong praise for the physics books, good praise for biology, and no comment on verbal. Apparently the verbal book is useful for passages, but most students say that the classes are more useful for strategies than the books. Princeton Review and EK verbal are pretty strong form what I hear.

For physics, EK has a strong text while BR has very good text and excellent passages. If you need text, go with EK. If you need passages and some text, go with BR.

As far as biology goes, it seems they are all about the same, so it doesn't really matter. The only thing I can say for sure is that Princeton Review material (the stuff from Hyperlearning) has some mistakes in it. I can't even begin to name them, but I've heard comments about genetics and biochemistry having some errors. I hear Kaplan's text is pretty good and that there passages are very good.

Best of luck!

So you recommend both BR's o-chem and g-chem? I have EK's ochem book, do you think BR's is better? Do you know if their ochem text has been updated? Thanks.

 

[Mudd]

Originally posted by Persistence101
So you recommend both BR's o-chem and g-chem? I have EK's ochem book, do you think BR's is better? Do you know if their ochem text has been updated? Thanks.

I definitely recommend BR's general chemistry book over anything and everything, and I have encountered most everything out there. Admittedly, I have only been asked a few o chem questions from EK materials, so I can't speak from 100% exposure. From what I have seen, and I have skimmed most of the book, EK's stuff is pretty good. I think BR's book is better at giving useful tricks and good examples. Both have hard passages, but the BR questions have better explanations that teach test strategy. I judge materials by their answer explanations, because IMO, that is where the real MCAT learning happens.

As for updating, I have absolutely no idea what they have done. You should ask them. The books I have are from 1999 and I don't plan on buying new ones unless I decide to get hardcore into private tutoring.