How outdated is the 1998 MCATS?

[watiswati]

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i just came across a TON of mcat books that an older friend of mine who's in the mdphd program at chicago now used back then to prepare for the august 1998 mcats. seriously i have like 20 books now but i'm wondering how out of date they are. sure the mcats have changed in the past 6/7 years but would it be a waste of time to look thru the books or will it be more worthwhile than i think?

 

[liverotcod]

Not much significant change. A couple of topics eliminated in organic, a little bit more genetics, but your review materials should be good enough, so long as you take the online practice tests.

Richmond, eh? I wonder if I know you... Welcome to SDN.

 

[Heidegger]

The format and the information required to know for the MCAT hasn’t changed that much since 1998, so those books that you have from 1998 should be adequate enough to do good on the MCAT. However, newer editions of those books that you have might have corrections that the older versions of the book contained. And also the newer editions of the books probably contain the small changes that the MCAT has gone through structurally and information wise (information wise, the Kaplan books from 1998 look almost exactly the same as the 2004 books). If you’re tight on cash, then stick with the books that you have. If you have some extra money to spend, then I would recommend you buying the newer edition of the MCAT books that you have right now.

 

[Brain]

I think the BIO section recently has become more molecular based.

 

[Khenon]

I think the verbal got harder too. The AAMC practice exam 7 was most like what the real thing was to me. But much of the practice verbals I took were way easier, and I was getting much higher scores. But generally speaking, the more practice exams you have the better, whether they're outdated or not.

 

[masterMood]

is the mcat more a measure of knowledge, iq, or an equal balance of both.


SATs on the other hand were mostly iq i'd say (some knowledge but mostly iq for the above 1300 range)

 

[medstyle]

seriously, just buy some new books. Its a good investment. Old books suck... i took a test prep course and i had some old books, like from 2001, and the materials were worlds apart.

Those 1998 books should go right were you keep your sweet Pentium II computer, your first cell phone, and your "ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH" hoodie...

 

[PhotoMD]

I think the verbal got harder too. The AAMC practice exam 7 was most like what the real thing was to me. But much of the practice verbals I took were way easier, and I was getting much higher scores. But generally speaking, the more practice exams you have the better, whether they're outdated or not.

I thought the real verbal was a bit easier than my practice, but that's me. (I'm an April 2004 MCATer)