I hate Berkeley Review

[student1799]

---

Members don't see this ad.

A few months ago, I decided to take the MCAT for the third time, because the first 2 times I got very low PS scores. (This was mostly a timing issue: I was taking too long on certain passages and running out of time without finishing all of the questions.) Since I'd already done Kaplan and ExamKrackers and taken all the AAMC practice tests, I had to do something different this time around. I went with Berkeley Review, since they have such a good reputation around SDN.

I should point out right away that I live on the East Coast, where BR has no classroom courses, so my only option was to send away for the books. As soon as I went to their website, I was struck by their arrogant and superior attitude. This is what they say about themselves: "The Berkeley Review helps students prepare for the MCAT and the MCAT only. We do not provide assistance in preparing for the ACT, DAT, OAT, SAT, GMAT, LSAT, PCAT, TOEFL, USMLE, or the dog catcher's licensing exam. Maybe that is why we have such an excellent reputation in California for helping students achieve their maximum potential score on the MCAT." Wow, I'm suitably awed.

Apparently, the company is so impressed with itself that they don't feel the need to provided even minimal modern technology to their customers. You can't order the books online, but must print out a paper order form and send them a check. (BTW, they won't even ship your order until the check clears, so that adds a whole week to the transaction time.) And the shipping costs are quite hefty, since they will ONLY ship by overnight or 2-day Fedex, not parcel post or UPS. (Probably because it's the easiest way for THEM to handle it.) I ended up shelling out $220 for the physics books, chem books and 3 online CBTs ($100).

When the books finally arrived, I ground through them all, doing every single problem. I thought the content review parts were nothing special, because unlike EK (and like Kaplan), they merely presented formulas and equations and never suggested shortcuts or problem-solving strategies. But I did find the paper practice tests in the books to be useful.

When it came to the CBTs, though, I really lost all patience with this ****ing company. First of all, they're not even scored automatically--they say you're going to get your score by email (!), but of course this never happens. (I took all of the tests days ago and I'm still waiting ...) Instead, you end up having to score them yourself by hand, using the tables they email you along with your password. And when I did this, I found a couple of questions where I had what BR said on the test screen was the right answer, but on the result screen it was marked as wrong.

Even worse, I found that the test timer didn't work properly. When I took the first CBT, I had to pause the PS section several times due to interruptions, but noticed when I'd finished all of the questions that I supposedly still had 45 minutes left on the clock. This clearly was not right, but I had no idea what had happened, and I also had no idea how much time I'd actually spend doing the section. Naturally, I was pretty upset, considering that timing on PS was the whole reason I was retaking the MCAT. I tried to use the "help" function on the test, and found that it didn't work. Then I tried the "Contact Us" link on the main test screen, and that didn't work either.

Finally, I went back to my password email and called the customer service number they had given there. All I got was recorded messages, even though it was only 4:45 pm California time. Finally, I emailed BR ("you can contact us at this email address"), marked urgent and explaining that I was taking the MCAT in 2 days, and got NO answer of any kind.

I ended up discovering on my own what was happening: if you pause a section in progress, when you return to the test the timing clock RESTARTS at 59 minutes 59 seconds, regardless of how much time you really had left when you paused! I took the remaining sections without pausing them to avoid this problem, but I'm pissed that it existed in the first place, and that BR made absolutely NO effort to help me or even acknowledge my email.

I really don't give a **** whether BR is--or thinks it is--the greatest thing since sliced bread. This company needs a major attitude adjustment. I worked in the business world for 20 years before doing this, and in business school we read numerous case studies that all led to the same conclusion: If you **** on your customers it will ALWAYS come back to haunt you.

 

[229141]

Whoa, that sucks man. I also think that BR needs to change...who the hell doesn't take credit cards...its 2009. Also you get the practice tests for only 45 days even if you buy all seven..so you HAVE to take them quickly. Good materials and all but **** for customer service. They ignored 3-4 of my emails.


When I called I got a nice guy on the phone, that was good.

Oh lol they also wanted to charge me 70 dollars shipping to Alaska...really worth it for 100 dollars of books : \

 

[marele86]

Yeah, somebody high up in the company is definitely bringing it down with lousy business practices. I bought a bunch of the BR books used, but only AFTER going to the BR website and *wanting* to buy it from them.

But why would most people take the time to get a money order/write a check, address an envelope, find a stamp, put it in the mail, and wait over 2 weeks to get books - when you can spend all of 20 seconds going to amazon marketplace and buying it used, getting it within the week?

Obviously some people do - but BR has to be missing out on a ton of easy profit. I would have gladly ordered those books new from them from their website, but I didn't have weeks to waste waiting.

That said, I think their books are GOLD. I love the huge numbers of practice passages and great techniques for quickly estimating answers. And, of course, everything BerkReviewTech has posted on this site has been ridiculously helpful and awesome. 👍

 

[flip26]

Sounds like a case of "you get what you pay for." If I understood your post correctly, you paid $200 for the books, and then $100 for 3 CBTs? If so, then BR costs significantly less than Kaplan Online, but I can say that I was perfectly happy with Kaplan, so it was worth it to me.

Are you sure that BR is highly recommended on SDN? I never got that impression...Kaplan seems to get the highest marks around here...my Kaplan was included in my post bacc fees, but if I had had to go out and arrange and pay for my own MCAT prep, I would have chosen Kaplan based on everything I read on SDN.

I also supplemented the Kaplan stuff with EK books - now EK gets very high praise here, and I think it is deserved.

 

[student1799]

Sounds like a case of "you get what you pay for." If I understood your post correctly, you paid $200 for the books, and then $100 for 3 CBTs? If so, then BR costs significantly less than Kaplan Online, but I can say that I was perfectly happy with Kaplan, so it was worth it to me.

Are you sure that BR is highly recommended on SDN? I never got that impression...Kaplan seems to get the highest marks around here...my Kaplan was included in my post bacc fees, but if I had had to go out and arrange and pay for my own MCAT prep, I would have chosen Kaplan based on everything I read on SDN.

I also supplemented the Kaplan stuff with EK books - now EK gets very high praise here, and I think it is deserved.

I don't think you really understood my post. Here it is again:

A few months ago, I decided to take the MCAT for the third time, because the first 2 times I got very low PS scores. [...] Since I'd already done Kaplan and ExamKrackers and taken all the AAMC practice tests, I had to do something different this time around.

I spent over 500 hours studying with Kaplan (online course) and the EK books for the first two MCATs, but didn't get good results. I'm not blaming Kaplan or EK for that, but given those results, it wouldn't have made a lot of sense to use them again for the third round.

 

[flip26]

I don't think you really understood my post ...I spent over 500 hours studying with Kaplan (online course) and the EK books for the first two MCATs, but didn't get good results. I'm not blaming Kaplan or EK for that, but given those results, it wouldn't have made a lot of sense to use them again for the third round.

I was really questioning your statement that there is high praise on SDN for Berk Review - I have seen Kaplan and EK widely praised, but the others get mixed reviews at best.

Your post was long and I did miss that detail that you had already done Kaplan and EK...not sure that I wouldn't have done the exact same thing that you did. Did you look at Princeton Review?

When you prepped with Kaplan before, did you do all the AAMC tests? Ultimately these are the most beneficial tests and they come for "free" with Kaplan, or you can pay for them separately.

 

[student1799]

I was really questioning your statement that there is high praise on SDN for Berk Review

BR does get high praise around here for PS, which is the area I needed to work on.

Your post was long and I did miss that detail that you had already done Kaplan and EK

You attention span is short. The part I quoted contained the first and third sentences of the post.

When you prepped with Kaplan before, did you do all the AAMC tests?

Hate to repeat myself, but:

Originally Posted by student1799:
Since I'd already done Kaplan and ExamKrackers and taken all the AAMC practice tests, I had to do something different this time around.

BTW, how did you do on the verbal section? I thought Kaplan's VR materials were horrendous, so I completely ignored them--and got a 13.

 

[Quicky]

I've heard great things about BR's books and I wish I could've bought them; unfortunately, they think it's still the 90s. The ordering process is pretty ridiculous.

 

[TheBoondocks]

Sounds like a case of "you get what you pay for." If I understood your post correctly, you paid $200 for the books, and then $100 for 3 CBTs? If so, then BR costs significantly less than Kaplan Online, but I can say that I was perfectly happy with Kaplan, so it was worth it to me.

Are you sure that BR is highly recommended on SDN? I never got that impression...Kaplan seems to get the highest marks around here...my Kaplan was included in my post bacc fees, but if I had had to go out and arrange and pay for my own MCAT prep, I would have chosen Kaplan based on everything I read on SDN.

I also supplemented the Kaplan stuff with EK books - now EK gets very high praise here, and I think it is deserved.

No, Kaplan is just the largest and most available. Kaplan is available at the school I am at and nearly everyone takes them. It has the best resources and BS material; however it isn't regarded as the best. If anything, that title belongs to EK. The BR is by far the best for PS. I have all the old Kaplan stuff and it's great practice but content review from PS is average at best. This isn't my opinion, it's what you see if you search. Finally, this is overcome by the shear practice available which is where you really learn. BR, teaches you how to attack problems.

 

[Nasrudin]

Well sure. Hate the **** out of them. Their business style resembles a homespun swamp ridden airboat rental outfit. somewhere down in the Okeefenokee. Your receipt comes handwritten, splattered with tobacco juice, and covered with poopy fingerprints....and so what.

It's good ****. Gritty. A real hard look at passages and scenarios, with long well-thought out solutions. What do I care how many teeth they have, or if they sleep with their sisters. They make good shine. And I'll take me some of it.

But thats just the way I see Bubba. You do your own thing to it.

 

[The Bearded One]

well sure. Hate the **** out of them. Their business style resembles a homespun swamp ridden airboat rental outfit. Somewhere down in the okeefenokee. Your receipt comes handwritten, splattered with tobacco juice, and covered with poopy fingerprints....and so what.

It's good ****. Gritty. A real hard look at passages and scenarios, with long well-thought out solutions. What do i care how many teeth they have, or if they sleep with their sisters. They make good shine. And i'll take me some of it.

But thats just the way i see bubba. You do your own thing to it.

rofl!

 

[Malayna]

Personally, I LOVE Berkeley Review. Now my experience is very different than yours, because I'm taking the live class.

You couldn't be more wrong about arrogance. I've met both owners (Todd who teaches and writes chemistry and physics and Dale who teaches and writes biology). They are the nicest guys who stay after class until every last question is answered. They genuinely care about everyone. Todd learns everyone's name the first day of class and seems to be aware of how each student is doing. He actually drives students who live on campus and have no car to and from the MCAT if they need a ride. You mention being in business for twenty years and how much you learned in school about customers. Well if the way they treat those of us in the class means anything, then they should be the biggest company by far. I just don't think they want to be a big corporation (Berkeley hippy thing probably).

They are a little sarcastic, which is probably what you sense in their website message. You would have to be in the class to see how important humor is to their lectures. I laugh in class while learning more conceptually than I've ever learned in school. I really like the laughter, because it makes the entire study experience less stressful. I've gotten to know students in this class who I've had plenty of classes with but would have never met without such a supportive environment.

Their website does suck. One student was joking that they should sell Native American art and jewelry rather than an MCAT course.

But when it comes to the books, if you didn't get any test tips and strategies, you probably didn't read them at all. The books, especially the chemistry and physics books, have tricks and strategies on nearly every page. Look at the first physics chapter on translational motion and you have a range estimation trick, a free fall time/distance trick, the wind resistance short cut, and all of the math tricks. They are the best tricks I've ever seen, and I've read through three different books on this particular subject. BR specifically label their tricks with that funky-haired character in the margins. You can hate the company if you wish, but it's just not right to lie about them not having all sorts of test tricks. That's one of the main reasons I prefer their books over the EK and PR books I have (and no longer use).

I haven't taken a full CBT yet, so I can't say anything about the scoring or the clock. So far though, I haven't heard anyone complain like you about any of that stuff. They did warn us in class that if you don't take the exam under EXACT conditions, then it wouldn't use your score in their data pool. They were a bit zealous about encouraging us to take the exam under the best possible conditions and following the timing exactly.

I don't mean to be mean or anything, but if you lightened up a bit and attacked the material with a smile, you might just find it is actually fun (like a puzzle). That's the basic idea behind their course, so that perspective might help you enjoy the books more.

 

[student1799]

Personally, I LOVE Berkeley Review. Now my experience is very different than yours, because I'm taking the live class.

I'm sure the live class is wonderful, but I don't understand how they can be so considerate of their classroom customers and treat everyone else like ****. I don't care what great guys they are, that's just not right.

If you sell practice test software, it should actually work right, and the customer should have access to customer service to resolve any problems. Neither of these was true in my case, so I don't think I got what I paid for.

But when it comes to the books, if you didn't get any test tips and strategies, you probably didn't read them at all. [...] You can hate the company if you wish, but it's just not right to lie about them not having all sorts of test tricks.

Excuse me, but I think it's a bit much to accuse me of "lying" about the BR books. I agree that there was some advice given about problem-solving strategy, but it tended to be buried in the solutions to the problems rather than given in the main content review section. I would have preferred it the other way--hence my comment. I did say that I found the practice tests (the answers to which contained the tips and tricks you referred to) to be useful.

I don't mean to be mean or anything, but if you lightened up a bit and attacked the material with a smile, you might just find it is actually fun (like a puzzle).

If you had to take the MCAT for the third time, I doubt you'd be smiling. And it is absolutely NOT cuddles-and-rainbows time when your test-taking software lets you down right before an important exam, and nobody at the company can be bothered to help you.

 

[tima]

Excuse me, but I think it's a bit much to accuse me of "lying" about the BR books. I agree that there was some advice given about problem-solving strategy, but it tended to be buried in the solutions to the problems rather than given in the main content review section. I would have preferred it the other way--hence my comment. I did say that I found the practice tests (the answers to which contained the tips and tricks you referred to) to be useful.

The biggest weakness of the BR argument is why isn't the 30+ MCAT Study Habits- The CBT Version thread littered with people who have used only the BR books. Most people who have posted there have used EK, Kaplan, PR and have done just fine.

If you read "BR books are the best" a hundred times, you generally believe it, but it ultimately depends on the person.

 

[Will Hunting]

The biggest weakness of the BR argument is why isn't the 30+ MCAT Study Habits- The CBT Version thread littered with people who have used only the BR books. Most people who have posted there have used EK, Kaplan, PR and have done just fine.

If you read "BR books are the best" a hundred times, you generally believe it, but it ultimately depends on the person.

Yes, ultimately YOU decide your score. However, there are many pre-meds who are bad test takers. BR is an excellent choice for them. Finally, of course very few people on SDN use BR, they are a small company. If you look at the 30+ section, you would come to the conclusion that Kaplan is the best since they are the most common method used. I like EK personally. I'm a good test taker and they give you the basics. However, I purchased BR PS books and they rock. I like applying what I learn from EK. I'm a fan of the small companies. EK and BR specialize solely on the MCAT. I think Kaplan gives the Best BS preparation out of anybody. TPR has the best PS out of the major companies. I like TPR verbal.

In conclusion, the reason that people hype TBR is because most premeds suck at math. Sorry to be frank, I tutor at my school and am flabbergasted by most kids chem and physics skills. The verbal, bio, and O-chem don't really matter. However, PS is the one section where test prep companies have separated themselves. I have everything from all the major companies. For those who struggled, TPR and TBR smoke Kaplan and EK as far as PS is concerned.

For those with strong backgrounds, EK is fine. HTH.

 

[greg1184]

No, Kaplan is just the largest and most available. Kaplan is available at the school I am at and nearly everyone takes them. It has the best resources and BS material; however it isn't regarded as the best. If anything, that title belongs to EK. The BR is by far the best for PS. I have all the old Kaplan stuff and it's great practice but content review from PS is average at best. This isn't my opinion, it's what you see if you search. Finally, this is overcome by the shear practice available which is where you really learn. BR, teaches you how to attack problems.

I find EK highly overrated. I used them the first time around studying for the MCAT and their books failed to instill any confidence in me, especially with those 30 minute lecture exams in the back of the book. I did however used quite a bit of my red pen marking things wrong!!! Unfortuantely I started my studies with their General Chem book, which in my opinion was their weakest book. Their so-called intuition on what is (and what is not) on the MCAT has been wrong before (e.g. angular momentum). One thing they are great at, however, is providing all of the formulas at the end of each chapter of their physics book.

Second time I used Kaplan. I liked the way their science review notes were organized better than EK. I found my confidence skyrocketing with their materials. My studies were far more organized with a live class, and the full lengths were curved appropriately to the difficulty of the exams. Their strongest part was their BS section.

Verbal, on the other hand, is another story. EK has by far the best verbal materials. Johnathan Orsay really knows the nature of the verbal section. The strategies, which are quite intuitive, are appropriate to the ambiguous nature of the verbal exam. Their 101 verbal passages is THE second best practice material to the AAMC exams themselves. David Orsay really knows how to write verbal passages, and some of the passages are actually interesting.

I did a combination of Kaplan and EK and improved my MCAT by 6 points.

OP: Never had any experience with BR, but sorry that your experience was horrendus. No business should treat their customers like that. I am curious about one thing, did you use all of your Kaplan materials? If you are going to study for this again, you may want to try to regain access to these materials if you haven't exhaust them yet. Hope you find a resource that works for you.

 

[Excelsius]

The biggest weakness of the BR argument is why isn't the 30+ MCAT Study Habits- The CBT Version thread littered with people who have used only the BR books. Most people who have posted there have used EK, Kaplan, PR and have done just fine.

If you read "BR books are the best" a hundred times, you generally believe it, but it ultimately depends on the person.

After going through some success stories, especially those with 38+, the general theme seems to be about using several materials. Every company has weaknesses and strengths in almost every section (EK verbal and BR chem and physics are supposedly the best). When you use four different companies, mainly EK, BR, Kaplan, and TPR, you basically harness everything. That's why to kill the MCAT, you should probably look at every available book.

Personally, I bought all the old BR books (2003) and paid $50, which includes the shipping. The books barely change from year to year and since I have time, I am just going over the BR and borrowing the more famous brands from the library. This way I can learn my weaknesses and invest only in the specific books that address my weaknesses. I think this is the best way to study efficiently and save money. As for AAMC tests and MCAT lectures, I think many students are able to obtain them for free if they really cannot afford them otherwise.

I am a little surprised that the OP has taken the test two times already and has used several companies with no luck. How bad did you do on you MCATs? Maybe you are not studying right.

 

[TheBoondocks]

I find EK highly overrated.

I agree EK is overrated. My point was that if one goes by the posts on this forum, then one would conclude that EK is the best. I think we can all agree on that. EK is the most preferred because it's short and simplified. I feel it's only good for good test takers.

IMHO, TBR is the best overall because of passages. I think the OP and PAguyana complained about TBR. I understand their pain. It takes time to go through TBR. The whole point of putting the tricks in the answer passages is so after you get something wrong, you will read it and learn how not do make that mistake again. In addition, you'll learn a new way to do it.

Moreover, lets face it, we remember what we miss moreso than what we answer correctly. My plan for the MCAT will entail minimal reading. I'm sure by going through all TBR passages and taking tons of practice tests I'll have all my bases covered. I took AAMC6 and did well. The vast majority of the BS could be done with the passage alone. The PS section was mostly conceptual. I'm convinced people do poorly because they don't practice applying information enough.

For those on the fence, go with TBR for PS for sure. You're doing yourselves a disservice. If you're really weak, get EK chem and read that first and then go to TBR, this is what Bozz did.

I was a dork again and went and looked at the scores of those who used The Berkeley Review, PS section as that is the most important.

Note, I only used people who didn't take the course.


Bozz 14
Nothing123 13
Hifi09 14 Used EK first and only scoring 11-12, Br got him to 13 and 14
RRTCo 14 Out of college a few years
Angli124 11
Student1799 12
Test #1 (7/08) 30S: 7 PS 12 VR 11 BS
Test #2 (8/08) 31S: 7 PS 13 VR 11 BS
Test #3 (1/09) 33R: 12 PS 11 VR 10 BS

As you can see with student, He/she struggled mightily with PS. He/she used kaplan which I think is the worst out of the major companies for PS twice and to no avail. He/she switched to TBR and voila.

I think student1799 illustrates a key point. None of the test prep companies have really separated themselves in verbal or BS. As long as you know your basics and practice you'll be Ok. The PS is where there is a huge difference. I don't mean to bash EK or Kaplan as some kids do well with them. However, you'll notice that many EK users supplemented with Nova physics. In addition, if YOU'RE STRONG in the subjects then it DOESN'T matter what you use as you'll do well.


If you can't get TBR, use TPR. Look at the 30+ forum, on the most recent test, over half the kids used TPR and got 12s and above. Why is this important? The guy who developed most of TPR materials quit TPR to start TBR. So, TPR is still of quality.

In closing, the key to the MCAT is practice. Do as many passages as you can and trust me you'll improve your critical thinking skills which is what will enable you to smoke the test.

Goodluck guys.

 

[TheBoondocks]

I don't think you really understood my post. Here it is again:



I spent over 500 hours studying with Kaplan (online course) and the EK books for the first two MCATs, but didn't get good results. I'm not blaming Kaplan or EK for that, but given those results, it wouldn't have made a lot of sense to use them again for the third round.

I quoted you in my post to refute this thread. I didn't realize you were the OP. Haha too funny. It looks like TBR doesn't suck afterall.

*Please do not ask to buy my BR books. They are not for sale, as I promised them to a friend.

TBR for the win.

 

[bozz]

I remember having a similar issue (in terms of ordering from their website).
They're a small company and not as large scale as Kaplan. They mainly cater to the California people. The books turned out to be a hit and Cali. people started recommending Berkeley Review to others... like on these forums. Most people I know haven't even heard of these books (I'm not from Cali). I'm guessing that while the BR people were very proud of their books, they didn't realize how good they really were. They probably don't plan to go large-scale and still want to cater to the local population. So to them, as long as the locals get these books, it's all good. The extra sales they may get from other places... is just an added bonus.

I understand your frustration... they probably could make more money by revamping the website... but they're fine staying small for the moment. That's their goal. It's not really their fault that we think their books are amazing lol.

I also think the expectations for these books are set very very high, which can be a bad thing sometimes...

 

[JokerMD]

lol, honestly, when I first visited the BR website, I thought I had come to the wrong place. The website looks like it was a huge scam, so I checked the URL. Sure enough......

i don't use BR btw, so i have no idea about the material. the website, though, is complete trash

 

[TheBoondocks]

lol, honestly, when I first visited the BR website, I thought I had come to the wrong place. The website looks like it was a huge scam, so I checked the URL. Sure enough......

i don't use BR btw, so i have no idea about the material. the website, though, is complete trash

Yea, it was high tech in 1996..... but the books are solid. Regardless, the most important is to do practice. As long as you have access to decent material, you'll be OK.

 

[rocketbooster]

if you actually read their website, then you know to pay by money order. it took me 5 days to get all my books from when I dropped the money order in the mail. that's fast.

I agree that TBR doesn't mention some integral info until you miss them and read the answer explanations. however, I already went through EK and Kaplan last year, so I already had an idea what the shortcuts were. for example, with the doppler effect, TBR's method is crap. EK's shorthand of (change in wavelength/source wavelength)=(speed of sound/light/whatever in a vacuum)/v is the best way to work those problems. I used the EK method in all of the TBR passages and it worked flawlessly. it really does help to read multiple sources.

the thing is, if you only have time to do one company, you should do TBR for physics and chem because they have SOOO many practice passages. doing well on the PS section is all about practice. TBR's ochem is really good, too.

it's worth dealing their poor customer service to receive the best books out there. go spend 4x the cost to get weaker materials to study with.

 

[JasoniusUW]

The customer service is absolutely appalling. No responses to email or voicemail. Is this just a 2-3 man show? If they don't want to deal with customers why don't they just sell their books to amazon to distribute or use a credit card system.

 

[JasoniusUW]

They even use Fedex which charges extortionate rates for out of country/non-continental US.

 

[Will Hunting]

They even use Fedex which charges extortionate rates for out of country/non-continental US.

I hope this settles this. I'm sorry Jason. However, TBR owners don't care. They're there to help kids on the MCAT. They stay small to do this. I agree they could do better, but why? The only reason would be for profits. Not to be mean, but we should be happy they even sell their books. You do realize that Kaplan and TPR don't allow the resale of their course books? The people who resell them are breaking copyrights. So, just be a little patient. It'll be worth it in the end.

Rocketbooster has it right. Everyone should have multiple sources. Ek is good for the basics and generalities. Kaplan is solid. TBR is good for hammering the little nuances of problems.

The MCAT evolved. Since they only have 52 questions, they now combine topics. In the past, they had 77 PS questions, so this was less important. You have to be prepared for the two types of PS, some are conceptual in nature and others are calculation intensive. TBR prepares you for both. Note, their O-chem is good too, however, O-chem is less emphasized. Most pre-meds suck at math so thats why it's important to practice with tough material that teaches you how to attack PS problems.

Ex. A lot of people are comfortable with the right hand rule. Well, what happens if you have moving current around a rod. Well, moving current will cause a magnetic field witch will have a force and apply a torque to move the rod. Well, what direction will it go in. TBR has questions such as these. If you do a search, you'll see complaints in May 2007 about such questions. The few kids who used TBR laughed at those complaining.

In closing, Kaplan doesn't even covering Capacitance discharge. This is an exponential process. How is that even possible? Finally, the reason I advocate them so much is that so you have practice on EVERYTHING. A lot of people suck at Electrochemistry. What if you get a PS that has 2 such passages. If you blow those, your score drops big time. Lets say you were averaging a 13 and score a 9. Then you start a thread saying how unfair the MCAT is. You see, as Vihsadas said, you have know everything cold. Understand concepts, and don't memorize and you'll be fine.

I'm done hyping TBR, I don't want it to seem like I'm some advertiser. It's just that I like to see people do well. I've been lurking SDN since 2002, I was here when the 30+ thread was started by Confucious in 2002. I've read all the old posts 2002-2006 and other than verbal, PS is the section that gives most students trouble. I then stumbled on TBR, I noticed the few people who used them always did well. So, you guys can come to your own conclusions.

Also, the verbiology has been going on since April 2004. If you don't believe me, go to the search forum and type Form and title only. Then search in MCAT. It's really great because you'll see all the past discussions of the old MCAT. Starting in April 2004 people complained of tons of Mol bio/genetics and it being passage based. Aug 2005 SHH, tfr1 etc was the same, April 2006 was all passage based drosophola, and then you got to Jan 07 and CBT.

In order to kill the BS section you have to practice extrapolating. This will be my final post for awhile as a love one passed away and I need to work on EC's. Good luck to all of you on the MCAT. Have faith. I've stalked this forum for a long time.

Out of the thousands of threads I've read, these factors played a role in success.

1. Emphasis of concepts over memorizing
2. Tons of practice problems, extremely important
3. Practice tests
4. Confidence
5. Taking it when ready Don't rush the MCAT

I should note that with the paper tests, most people took the AAMC 3-8 and a couple others and did well. So, those who think 20 is necessary isn't true.

PS Section
Most high scores read the passages but they skimmed them. You don't read this like verbal or BS. Get a gist and look at any figures, graphs, or formulas so you can refer.

Verbal
In general, read the passages and summarize an idea from each paragraph. With practice this becomes natural. At the end give a summary. Ex. The author thinks that renaissance art was disproportionately affected by the artists relationships with the counts. If you can't do this, you won't do well.

BS

Two schools of thought. A lot of people advise to answer the discretes first. Randomblackmanx did this as did premedIowa, they both scored 15s. Bozz used this too, 13. For those who are nervous this isn't a bad idea to get warmed up.

The other is to do the passages as they come. However, if you're uncomfortable with a passage, SKIP IT. Drizzt3117, Estairella, Will Ferrell 13, 14, 14 respectively skipped any tough looking passages and went through the easy ones. They were then left with plenty of time to attack the passages. I think lrkoehle who got a 35 is a perfect example. He got a 14 PS 10 VR and an 11BS. He said he spent 20 minutes on ONE passage and had to RUSH to finish. He said if he had skipped it and come back he likely would have gotten his 13 average. Remember, the goal is to maximize points not to give in to your pride to make sure you feel 100% on every answer.

I hope this helps, goodluck to all. This Forum is funny because the pre-meds of 2002 are not unlike those of 2009. However, I will say that the current bunch is definitely more neurotic Sorry for any errors, I'm on little sleep and am about to pass out 😛

 

[TheBoondocks]

They even use Fedex which charges extortionate rates for out of country/non-continental US.

This is a legititamate beef. I wonder why this is?

 

[0Complications]

This is a legititamate beef. I wonder why this is?

Probably because they have a convenient drop box and nobody there wants to drive to the post office. 🙂

All I know is that FedEx has my estimated arrival time for my books as tomorrow. 😀 I just hope I'm home when they get here...

 

[TheBoondocks]

Probably because they have a convenient drop box and nobody there wants to drive to the post office. 🙂

All I know is that FedEx has my estimated arrival time for my books as tomorrow. 😀 I just hope I'm home when they get here...

Good point, that makes a lot of sense.

 

[Superman78]

Berkeley in general is a very personal place with a lot of local stores and businesses with people who are incredibly helpful to you when you're there in person. Sorry, but this is the Berkeley charm, and you East-coasters and Stanfurd-ites would never understand it.

 

[JasoniusUW]

Dudes were nice on the phone actually but still. It's a strange way to run a business (or not run one at all), this book selling seems like a side business that they don't really care much about due to a lack of infrastructure. I'm a capitalist, if their products as good as people say they can crank tons more profit if they just made minor changes in their business practices, instead of having frustrated people buying their stuff off secondary markets or not buying their stuff at all. But if they're aren't motivated by profits...meh their call what their values are. I just had different expectations so did everyone else. But they can't screw over clients that have paid.

 

[MCAT guy]

The customer service is absolutely appalling. No responses to email or voicemail. Is this just a 2-3 man show? If they don't want to deal with customers why don't they just sell their books to amazon to distribute or use a credit card system.

I actually had a lot of problems with BR also. Customer service didn't get back to me for ~2 months despite around 8 emails spaced a week apart, I had to put on my calendar "email Berkeley Review"

 

[Parthenon89]

BR, PR, Kaplan and EK all suck

just use a magic 8 ball for each answer choice, and it won't lead you astray.

"is mitochondria dna passed to the offspring through maternal dna?"
:::shake shake shake::::

"doubtful"

 

[BlitzSleep]

BR, PR, Kaplan and EK all suck

just use a magic 8 ball for each answer choice, and it won't lead you astray.

"is mitochondria dna passed to the offspring through maternal dna?"
:::shake shake shake::::

"doubtful"

Vouch

 

[ilovemcat]

br, pr, kaplan and ek all suck

just use a magic 8 ball for each answer choice, and it won't lead you astray.

"is mitochondria dna passed to the offspring through maternal dna?"
:::shake shake shake::::

"doubtful"

loool!

 

[MCAT guy]

BR, PR, Kaplan and EK all suck

just use a magic 8 ball for each answer choice, and it won't lead you astray.

"is mitochondria dna passed to the offspring through maternal dna?"
:::shake shake shake::::

"doubtful"

I think BR is overrated on this site.

I've actually taken all 7 BR full lengths and used all the books except for bio.

Is the material good? Well, yeah. But is it economical? I.e. do they go over twice as much stuff as necessary and therefore waste prep time? Yeah.

Now that I've taken a lot of BR tests and AAMC tests, I would say that going through EK wouldn't be that bad. The problem with BR is you read 40 pages in a chapter and only like 10 of the pages are necessary. So it'd be better to just go through EK in half the time, then do more practice tests.

I guess prep companies come down to preference. But if time is any factor at all, then BR is probably not your choice (unless you just use the Physics/Chem passages and disregard the long ass chapters).

EK or Kaplan are probably the best prep companies. BR is the most thorough, but it ends up being a waste of time.

 

[MCAT guy]

I would have liked to see someone do an honest critique of all the books, instead of just random ranking.

I posted this in another thread about BR:

Do other prep companies do stuff like this?

I'm taking a full length and this is in the answer solutions:

Insulin is an eighty-six amino acid protein hormone that has three regions responsible for the activity of the compound. The A unit is composed of amino acids 66 through 86, the B unit is composed of amino acids 1 through 30, and the C unit is composed of amino acids 33 through 63. Amino acids 31 (Arg), 32 (Arg), 64 (Lys), and 65 (Arg) serve connectivity and folding purposes only.

why in the world would you need to know any of this for the MCAT?

My degree is in Micro, I've never run into explanations on Insulin's structure nor do I see any relevance to this info for the MCAT...

BR is so weird sometimes.

I also liked this question (lol):

What makes DNA more stable than RNA?

I. DNA lacks a hydroxyl group at the 2' carbon atom, making the polymer less susceptible to hydrolysis.
II. DNA is a double-stranded molecule, while RNA is found primarily as a single-stranded species.
III. DNA uses thymine instead of uracil as a nitrogenous base.

I only, II and III, I and II, or I, II and III

Obviously II, likely I also but III? Who would know III off the top of their head? You would need to have nitrogenous base structures memorized?

and then this also was a quote from someone, and after doing the AAMCs, I tend to agree...

i would not suggest buying the BR CBTs, i would just buy all of the aamc practice tests and take them very seriously.

i took the BR class and did the CBTs, i wouldnt say its a complete waste, but chances are you'll get rocked hard (in other words, they aren't very good at predicting your score), and a lot of the questions correlate with the questions asked in their review books.

Unless you do the BR review books, don't even bother taking the BR CBTs. too many people on this forum think that they can just keep take a lot practice tests, thats completely the wrong way to approach this test.

In the end, you'll have wasted your money and only learned the material that you missed on the practice tests, which are usually very difficult, can be covered by other practice tests, and are most of the time, beyond the scope of the MCAT.

Just an honest critique of BR instead of saying that "I hate them" or something.