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Has anybody used these books? if so can i have feedback. Thanks
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How good are the berkeley review books?
- Thread starter MedQuest
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Wow..slow down. Don't you all reply all at once now...lol.
Medquest,
You can do a serach and type in "berkeley review" under mcat discussions and see what comes up. I have seen some posts about it but just a few.
Medquest,
You can do a serach and type in "berkeley review" under mcat discussions and see what comes up. I have seen some posts about it but just a few.
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I found the berk stuff to be more detailed then necessary, and there practice test harder then the real thing which might be a good thing. I found princeton review/hyperlearning to be more coprehensive and the practice test closer to the real thing, but just a little bit harder.
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I have found the exact opposite of qac DO, and I have worked with materials from both companies. As I've mentioned in the past, I have been a Hyperlearning teacher and a BR tutor.
The BR Gen Chem, Physics, and Orgo books are the best out there when you consider text AND passages. PR text materials are very good, but many of their passages are too math-heavy and don't reflect the MCAT (IMO). PR verbal passages seem pretty strong though.
As for being too detailed, BR exams have passages on an EKG, the lac operon, and atypical nuclear emissions. These are the exact things that people here on SDN complained about not being prepared for right after the August MCAT. I will agree that BR materials address more topics than PR materials, but "too detailed" does not describe them. I think "thorough" describes books that cover every possible topic that could show up.
Personally, I'd rather have exams and prep books that expose me to everything, challenge me to think, and present well-thought, thorough answer explanations than books that present a whole bunch of equations and definitions I already know. It's a preference issue I guess, and I just happen to prefer being challenged.
Both companies put out solid materials that do a good job in preparing students. If you want to practice on the fundamentals, PR will get you there. If you feel you know fundamentals well, and you want to be challenged and exposed to many concepts, BR is the way to go. It's all up to you.
The BR Gen Chem, Physics, and Orgo books are the best out there when you consider text AND passages. PR text materials are very good, but many of their passages are too math-heavy and don't reflect the MCAT (IMO). PR verbal passages seem pretty strong though.
As for being too detailed, BR exams have passages on an EKG, the lac operon, and atypical nuclear emissions. These are the exact things that people here on SDN complained about not being prepared for right after the August MCAT. I will agree that BR materials address more topics than PR materials, but "too detailed" does not describe them. I think "thorough" describes books that cover every possible topic that could show up.
Personally, I'd rather have exams and prep books that expose me to everything, challenge me to think, and present well-thought, thorough answer explanations than books that present a whole bunch of equations and definitions I already know. It's a preference issue I guess, and I just happen to prefer being challenged.
Both companies put out solid materials that do a good job in preparing students. If you want to practice on the fundamentals, PR will get you there. If you feel you know fundamentals well, and you want to be challenged and exposed to many concepts, BR is the way to go. It's all up to you.
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I totally agree with mudd, to learn the basics I used PR and then after I mastered it I used BR. When I did it the other way around I found the BR to be too dificult for me because my basic understanding wasn't there. Actually I got a hold of some Kaplan stuff did that first then BR and then PR stuff and started in Oct. and studied until April, this worked great for me I scored 15BS and for my other results you can check my profile. Again if you can master the BR stuff you'll be in better shaped then I was. Oh and wouldn't recommend taking all these prep course, do what I did pay for one course find someone in the other courses and exchange materials.
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MedQuest
I used BR when studying for this past april mcat, and I found them to be very good. I needed help on gen. chem and physics. I mean BIG help, and the books really gave me all the edge I needed. I also used PR books and found them to be good with the basics when I needed to do a quick review at the end, but BR was good for the imformation and the practice tests. BR is also really good for bio, I was very suprized to get a 13, and I think it was because the practice tests really make you think.
hope it goes well
I used BR when studying for this past april mcat, and I found them to be very good. I needed help on gen. chem and physics. I mean BIG help, and the books really gave me all the edge I needed. I also used PR books and found them to be good with the basics when I needed to do a quick review at the end, but BR was good for the imformation and the practice tests. BR is also really good for bio, I was very suprized to get a 13, and I think it was because the practice tests really make you think.
hope it goes well
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