Honestly ditch the prep books

[onedirection]

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You are better off using your textbook, school notes and stuff

There's no such thing as "high-yield" topics, they'll test you on whatever

I felt like most of the stuff I was answering were solved with what I was taught in class/was mentioned in class by a professor than stuff I learned specifically from a review book

Keep your science textbooks and annotate them during the school year. Review your annotations when you are prepping for the test and then just do practice problems

 

[egressive]

Honestly, that is bad advice. Sure you can be more cautious about what the prep books think is high yield, but school text books give way too much information. I used TPR books and felt like everything I needed was covered. If something is not entirely understood, then I would recommend reading over specific topics in a school book.

 

[Mr Avante]

 

[BeachBlondie]

You are better off using your textbook, school notes and stuff

There's no such thing as "high-yield" topics, they'll test you on whatever

I felt like most of the stuff I was answering were solved with what I was taught in class/was mentioned in class by a professor than stuff I learned specifically from a review book

Keep your science textbooks and annotate them during the school year. Review your annotations when you are prepping for the test and then just do practice problems

Still lashing out.... Let it go, man. You'll be better off mentally.

 

[athockey7]

You are better off using your textbook, school notes and stuff

There's no such thing as "high-yield" topics, they'll test you on whatever

I felt like most of the stuff I was answering were solved with what I was taught in class/was mentioned in class by a professor than stuff I learned specifically from a review book

Keep your science textbooks and annotate them during the school year. Review your annotations when you are prepping for the test and then just do practice problems

highly emotional response is emotional

 

[texan2414]

I agree with onedirection,

There is no such thing as "high yield" or "low yield"- everything on the content list put out by AAMC is fair game for the MCAT.

High yield and low yield crap is a myth used by prep companies to promote their materials.

 

[survivordo]

You are better off using your textbook, school notes and stuff

There's no such thing as "high-yield" topics, they'll test you on whatever

I felt like most of the stuff I was answering were solved with what I was taught in class/was mentioned in class by a professor than stuff I learned specifically from a review book

Keep your science textbooks and annotate them during the school year. Review your annotations when you are prepping for the test and then just do practice problems

It is true the MCAT along with the USMLE/COMLEX certainly can and will test you on "whatever" and it isn't possible for any prep book to cover it all. What the prep books do is cover all the information that certainly WILL be on the test. If you learn the information in them you won't be missing any of the "easy" points and will most likely get a lot of the more difficult ones as well.

You will also have a number of "wtf are you talking about questions", this is where your background comes into play and will hopefully help you answer these questions. These questions also tend to be the ones you remember most after taking the test.

Survivor DO

 

[testt]

Prep books tell you whats actually going to be on the MCAT and explain it in much simpler terms than a college textbook. There's so much superfluous stuff in the average college textbook and it would be a waste of time to filter out the unnecessary details.

Yes if you read the college textbook it will definitely teach you what you need to know and more, the people who actually need to review dont have TIME to cover 2 semesters worth of topics in great detail though.

 

[gettheleadout]

You are better off using your textbook, school notes and stuff

There's no such thing as "high-yield" topics, they'll test you on whatever

I felt like most of the stuff I was answering were solved with what I was taught in class/was mentioned in class by a professor than stuff I learned specifically from a review book

Keep your science textbooks and annotate them during the school year. Review your annotations when you are prepping for the test and then just do practice problems

I agree with the bolded part of this only. Prep books are immensely helpful for practice passages and concise presentation of material, especially in addition to problem-solving methods not found in typical courses, which can be exceptionally useful on the MCAT (I'm looking at you, TBR). But any book or instructor that claims "this will be on your test" is full of it.

 

[StripedCheetah]

Prep books tell you whats actually going to be on the MCAT and explain it in much simpler terms than a college textbook. There's so much superfluous stuff in the average college textbook and it would be a waste of time to filter out the unnecessary details.

Yes if you read the college textbook it will definitely teach you what you need to know and more, the people who actually need to review dont have TIME to cover 2 semesters worth of topics in great detail though.

I disagree, I find textbooks to be more in-depth and explain topics better than prep books, which are good if you already know the material.

Prep books like the berkeley review:bio has a bunch of superfluous stuff.

 

[gettheleadout]

I disagree, I find textbooks to be more in-depth and explain topics better than prep books, which are good if you already know the material.

Prep books like the berkeley review:bio has a bunch of superfluous stuff.

Yeah but TBR's Bio is infamous for that haha. That's not so much the general rule, IMO.

 

[inycepoo]

OP indeed has ADHD, or some other type of fancy learning disability that I don't know about.

He thinks SDN is his blog, but doesn't even know how to use that properly. With each senseless and woefully misplaced thread, his online presence only goes in one direction: down. 👎

 

[kmp0410]

Not true. The single biggest fallacy with people who struggle on the Mcat is they think they should be prepared for everything (well maybe not the single biggest). The MCAT is a reasoning test first. It's often about using your knowledge and reading comprehension to answer questions on new topics. You want to know concepts very well, however you know them best is up to you. I felt like I knew more physics and gen Chem for the Mcat then I did for my classes.

 

[IdealGas]

Not true. The single biggest fallacy with people who struggle on the Mcat is they think they should be prepared for everything (well maybe not the single biggest). The MCAT is a reasoning test first. It's often about using your knowledge and reading comprehension to answer questions on new topics. You want to know concepts very well, however you know them best is up to you. I felt like I knew more physics and gen Chem for the Mcat then I did for my classes.

Agree with this. Reading textbooks are a waste of time.

 

[Mr Avante]

I believe it is the person's intention to know everything related to the field of study he chose to pursue; hence, the inclination of the decision. Examinations may come after that...

 

[slopes23]

People that study from text books, or think they did poorly because they didn't know enough science are fooling themselves and moreover are not utilizing the prep books to their full potential. Part of the reason AAMC makes the MCAT so broad is for the very reason to make it virtually impossible to be a master of what they are testing. You need to have a solid fundamental understanding of the science which by reviewing a prep book like EK and proper review you can achieve this. The trick to doing well is mastering your critical thinking. If you notice all the questions have relatively simple answers disguised by complex questions or passages. You need to be sure of what you know and be ready to apply it to completely new situations that you aren't used to seeing. There are many ways to go about solving problems on the MCAT, and typically the answers you get on the practice exams give you the full length detail answer. Most of the time, and I stress most, if you have a really solid understanding of the basics, you can see little shortcuts that the MCAT conveniently puts to take a calculation heavy problem to a 15 second answer if you know what to look for. You will never be able to be know more details than the MCAT can/will test you on. You just need to realize that you don't need to. There are tons of shortcuts that are on EVERY MCAT, you just need to learn to look and see them.

 

[slopes23]

Also might I add that many times for MCAT testing purposes having a more broad understanding of the concepts vs a very detailed understanding is preferable. This because it allows you to notice general trends, and cut through the b.s. because you have less exceptions to things that can cause you to over think a problem.

 

[benjaminl1nus]

Why is everyone ripping on the OP? His advice is solid. Maybe the majority of people disagree with him, but then again, the majority of people won't be getting the score they need/want (check the stats)

 

[velociraptorMD]

OP indeed has ADHD, or some other type of fancy learning disability that I don't know about.

He thinks SDN is his blog, but doesn't even know how to use that properly. With each senseless and woefully misplaced thread, his online presence only goes in one direction: down. 👎

I'm still laughing about OP's Shakespearean-esque meltdown posts on the August 15th MCAT thread.

Why is everyone ripping on the OP? His advice is solid. Maybe the majority of people disagree with him, but then again, the majority of people won't be getting the score they need/want (check the stats)

OP's advice isn't completely off the rocker, but prep books are very good for reviewing things that you absolutely SHOULD know. The most repeated advice for doing well on the MCAT is to do well in the pre-req courses. OP is repeating that, but also adds questionable advice in saying that you don't need prep books. It may or may not be true, but I've personally found that the prep books have been really efficient in refreshing my knowledge on topics from classes that I took a long time ago. It would be really time inefficient for me to have to go through all my old textbooks to learn those topics. Beyond that, the prep books have practice problems, which are more important than anything else with regards to getting prepared for the MCAT.

 

[inycepoo]

Why is everyone ripping on the OP? His advice is solid. Maybe the majority of people disagree with him, but then again, the majority of people won't be getting the score they need/want (check the stats)

lol wut. Reading textbooks for MCAT studying. Sounds awesome.

Here, since you're all for it, you take the solid advice and run with it. The rest of us clueless folk who can't score what we want on the MCAT will do things our way. 🙄