Everyone that has posted above (and especially Zenabi) is really convincing me to go with TBR. But I am still torn between TBR and TPR because of TPRs relative conciseness. My final concern is: is TBR over-detailed? I have read a lot of people saying that TBR goes into deeper detail than needed. I want to know everything I NEED to know to get a great score and do not want to waste my time learning anything more than that. The general consensus seems to be that the MCAT is most concerned with big concepts and not specific details.
What do you TBR advocates say to that? Do the TBR books make you learn unnecessary details? Or are the details actually an aid in getting the big concepts across?
Thanks to everyone so far who has helped me making this tough decision on the books. Hilariously, I feel as though picking these books is more stressful than the actual studying will be.
Maybe I should put my decision in perspective with a more historical post of my experiences with MCAT prep. Put a TLDR at the end.
I, like you, am a non-trad of 5 years. Graduated in 2012, went with TPR for my first go around of the MCAT that I would take in May 2012. I spent 5 months studying for the MCAT while working on a research project while working on classes. No time, no energy, and the way the TPR material was presented made me want to burn it. I always hesitate to call TPR concise, because while there is a certain amount of brevity, it left me with a lot of questions. I ended up having to go back and forth from the review books to my old textbooks which was extremely inefficient, and really defeats the purpose of a "stand-alone" review book. I scored a dismal 27Q, which for those unfamiliar with the old scale, is a 55th percentile, so maybe a 501-502. An okay score, but not really. My girlfriend sprung for the classroom course. In my opinion,that was maybe the worst $5000 (after discount!) I have ever seen spent. She ended up burnt out and hating everything having to do with being a pre-med. We both quit the pre-med path right there and then.
Fast-forward five years, and while she's doing great, and I'm doing great, I find myself constantly thinking about what could have been. So much regret from my academic activities in undergrad. I needed a post-bacc, but to throw in $20-30k in a program that I might not even benefit from if I decide not go in all the way seemed like a bad financial idea. So instead, I opted to re-do the MCAT. Throw 100% of myself into the MCAT, and if I could take it, and I got a good score, I would take it as a sign that I was down the right path again.
I researched all the books. All the study methods, new and old. The MCAT had been revamped in 2015, and in the summer of 2017, I was fortunate to be far enough out that AAMC would have worked out most of the kinks with the new format and content, and the review companies would have caught up with the changes. Looking at my high school and undergrad, I loved physics and biology, struggled with chemistry, and never touched psychology and sociology. I got good grades, but chemistry just never came easily. I decided that between that history and the five intervening years, I had to go for the best, most in-depth resources I could. Of course, I ordered everything the AAMC had to offer. That was a given. But now it was between EK, Kaplan, TPR, and TBR. I knew TBR was very in-depth, but that sounded exactly like what I needed! I went on Amazon and ordered CARS and Org Chem books for EK, Kaplan, and TPR (I was willing to give them a second chance because of so many positive reviews). I compared all of them and I just wasn't happy with any of them. I mean, they were ok if the material was fresh, but I had too many gaps. I returned all of them to Amazon and sprung $400 for the complete TBR set. I also went and got the TPR Psych/Soc book because TBR didn't have a Sociology section yet.
In retrospect, the quality of practice passages provided in their review books alone are worth the price I paid. Every single penny. I cracked open the physics book (to ease into it) and I remember finishing the first chapter and going "I wish these had been my textbooks in college." They were that good. I got to the practice passages and they were great too! And as I continued on and on with the books, I never once regretted my investment into TBR. I had also bought the EK1001 series books for discrete practice, but I felt I didn't even need them after TBR's practice sets and AAMC section banks. I appreciated the no-nonsense black and white style, with myriad of test-taking strategies and time-saving tips.
To throw another interesting wrench into the works, as I started my content review, friends and families all advised me to try to take an MCAT THAT YEAR. I was already a retaker, why not try? Maybe I'll get lucky. I looked, and found a seat in early September. Paid it, booked the hotel room, booked the flight, and then realized that I had 4.5 weeks to prepare. Super strict schedule, notified everyone what I was doing and why I'd be unavailable until after, and hammered TBR and AAMC for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week until two days before the exam. Took my flight, sat for the exam, fast forward a month, and I nearly passed out when I saw my score of 517. I guarantee, my disciplined schedule was responsible for maybe 5 pts of that improvement. The rest I place firmly in the hands of TBR. Life-changing stuff.
Compared with my TPR books of old, TBR was on another level. I even had the old hyperlearning books from my girlfriend, and it was on par with that stuff, if not better.
To this day, I always say: if you need any kind of depth, or taken any kind of multi-year break, TBR is the way to go. There are just too many possible content gaps for someone who isn't fresh off the material. Now, there are better students than me who retained much more despite the kind of break I took, who did just fine with TPR or Kaplan or EK. But being compatible with the presentation and teaching style is at least 50% of the battle when it comes to choosing a review resource. TBR was the one for me, without a doubt. But I can never say for certainty that it will be the same for you.
If you have the money and time, I highly encourage you to get a TBR and TPR gen chem or o chem book and just compare them side by side. That's the best way to make your decision.
Sorry for the long post, but maybe it helps.
TL;DR: I used TPR during undergrad, got 55th percentile. Girlfriend used TPR classroom, she quit on pre-med. Five years later, I used TBR for 5 weeks of full time studying, I got 95th percentile. Picking a review series is highly personal, compare if you can, YMMV.
No. Thanks.
