I need a good book for Biology

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Prepharm0425

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Okay, so I need a great book that reviews all the material on the Biology section of the PCAT. I have Kaplan but its too much info crammed into 250 pages. Also, does Kaplan even cover microbiology, I don't remember seeing a section that covers it. I heard about the Collins book, does anyone know where I can get it for cheap? I'm a little short on cash,Thanks

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Okay, so I need a great book that reviews all the material on the Biology section of the PCAT. I have Kaplan but its too much info crammed into 250 pages. Also, does Kaplan even cover microbiology, I don't remember seeing a section that covers it. I heard about the Collins book, does anyone know where I can get it for cheap? I'm a little short on cash,Thanks

The book that I HIGHLY recommend is Cliffs AP Biology study guide. I used it to score at the 96th percentile in Biology, with a VERY weak Biology background. I remember that a few other students used said text and it served them very well also. The material is concise, presented clearly, and the diagrams are top notch. IMO, the end of chapter quizzes are a smidge more difficult than what you may see on the PCAT, but if you can handle those, you can handle anything that will be on the PCAT.
 
The book that I HIGHLY recommend is Cliffs AP Biology study guide. I used it to score at the 96th percentile in Biology, with a VERY weak Biology background. I remember that a few other students used said text and it served them very well also. The material is concise, presented clearly, and the diagrams are top notch. IMO, the end of chapter quizzes are a smidge more difficult than what you may see on the PCAT, but if you can handle those, you can handle anything that will be on the PCAT.

Thanks, I'll have to check it out
 
mcgraw hills pcat study guide is actually very good for bio. It mainly focuses on gen bio and anatomy, as well as a little micro. Bio in my opinion is the easiest part of the pcat along with VA. Bio is memorization and VA is common language.
 
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I agree McGraw Hill is pretty good with the breakdown in bio because it targets each of the three topics : anatomy, gen bio and microbio pretty well. It also has a good chemistry section too.
 
Okay, so I spent a little time studying the cell structure chapter of the Cliff notes AP bio book and I find it overwhelming because of all the condensed information. Anyways I'm taking Anatomy right now and Physiology in a couple weeks. I heard physio covers the bulk of the bio section on the PCAT based on a couple sources. Is this true? Cause I need a better way to prepare for this, my biology skills are lacking. I have math and chem down. I found it a lot easier to study for those two sections but the biology section is going to be the end of me 🙁
 
All the Anatomy and physio u need to know can be found in McGraw HIll, i lovedddd that book. It was amazing for the bio section. There is only like a small portion of anatomy and physio. I totally recommend that book, i felt kaplan went to far into the details in the anatomy sections and they were not concisely placed in the book.
 
All the Anatomy and physio u need to know can be found in McGraw HIll, i lovedddd that book. It was amazing for the bio section. There is only like a small portion of anatomy and physio. I totally recommend that book, i felt kaplan went to far into the details in the anatomy sections and they were not concisely placed in the book.

I am taking Anatomy and Physio right now. I need help for General Biology as I have never taken them before. I plan on taking Gen bio in the fall, but my PCAT is in July. So Anatomy and Physio is taken care of, I just need a good book for Gen Bio. I looked at the McGraw hill PCAT book at Barnes and Noble and saw that they covered Gen Bio in approximately 50 pages which is a lot less that your typical PCAT book. I would be willing to buy it, if you guys are certain that these 50 pages are enough. I do notice that all these PCAT books contain excessive details that the actual test won't even cover.

One more question. Does physiology actually cover the bulk of General Biology? cause I heard that it does, but I am still relatively early in the class
 
Well General bio is a majority of the exam (60%) which covers topics like ecology and evolution as well as cell biology. I don't think any ONE book would useful, I think you will need to reference several books because every book is missing some information. You should use Kaplan and McGraw because kaplan is lacking in the evolution section and McGraw doesnt have an ecology section. The bulk of the entire bio portion is not physiology, remember that only 20% is anatomy and physio and some questions will be about the structure BUT the bulk of the questions derived for the anatomy and physio portion is physio, which both of those books can help you with since they simplify the organ systems. idk its ultimately your choice, but I would get both.
 
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