Gold Standard

[JPAF]

Is anybody using this Gold Standard at home course to study? I took the MCAT in august and decided to retake it in april. I got the home course and am loving the DVDs...however it is not as detailed as the kaplan stuff i studied before. Theses DVDs go over the basic fundamental knowledge for the test, which i think is great since it filters much of the details I didn't even need for the MCAT I took in August. Any opinions or anyone in the same boat as me? I plan on having the stuff on the DVDs down cold and just looking at EK books for concepts that might need more emphasis. I know a lot of you are doing a junk load of studying but my military academy obligations don't afford me much free time at all...even to study.

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[IckeyShuffle]

the gold standard is terrible. their practice tests are some of the worst that i saw when studying for the mcat. Stick with kaplan and EK practice tests. they are far superior to anything gold standard puts out there.

 

[meds2008]

whoa! Now I agree that there are not alot of reviews about the Gold Standard on SDN. But I looked around before using their stuff and got alot of good review particularly about their exams. So, here are a few places where you can read what other students think:

1) on SDN, one student felt that the content resembled the real August 2006 exam (more so than Kaplan) but the buttons on the MCAT CBT seemed confusing: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=348937

2) Ian Wong (medical student) in his geocities website: " In my opinion, The Gold Standard is a must-have . . . the sample questions tended to be of a slightly higher caliber than the actual MCAT, which means you study to a higher level than is really necessary. I believe this to be ideal, as you are less likely to encounter a "just where the heck did that come from?" curveball-type question." - http://www.geocities.com/hotsprings/oasis/8998/frames.html, click on "MCAT"; older site but MCAT content has not changed.

3) reviews on Amazon.com are funny. There is one bad review (1/5 stars) from a student who hated the book but says that the only good thing is that the practice tests are just like the AAMC's: http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Standard..._bbs_sr_2/102-7242115-1861704?ie=UTF8&s=books

4) review on eBay about a guy who only sells Gold Standard MCAT stuff: over 750 student reviews (now that's alot and the reviews are up to yesterday), 99.9% positive (some reviews just talk about shipping and others talk about the materials): http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=md-4-me

Soooooo, make your own judgement and then contribute to the board !

 

[IckeyShuffle]

whoa! Now I agree that there are not alot of reviews about the Gold Standard on SDN. But I looked around before using their stuff and got alot of good review particularly about their exams. So, here are a few places where you can read what other students think:

1) on SDN, one student felt that the content resembled the real August 2006 exam (more so than Kaplan) but the buttons on the MCAT CBT seemed confusing: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=348937

2) Ian Wong (medical student) in his geocities website: " In my opinion, The Gold Standard is a must-have . . . the sample questions tended to be of a slightly higher caliber than the actual MCAT, which means you study to a higher level than is really necessary. I believe this to be ideal, as you are less likely to encounter a "just where the heck did that come from?" curveball-type question." - http://www.geocities.com/hotsprings/oasis/8998/frames.html, click on "MCAT"; older site but MCAT content has not changed.

3) reviews on Amazon.com are funny. There is one bad review (1/5 stars) from a student who hated the book but says that the only good thing is that the practice tests are just like the AAMC's: http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Standard..._bbs_sr_2/102-7242115-1861704?ie=UTF8&s=books

4) review on eBay about a guy who only sells Gold Standard MCAT stuff: over 750 student reviews (now that's alot and the reviews are up to yesterday), 99.9% positive (some reviews just talk about shipping and others talk about the materials): http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=md-4-me

Soooooo, make your own judgement and then contribute to the board !

i stand by my statement. When i used the gold standard, i hated it.