Is EK as good as everyone says it is?

[belljar]

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I just haven't heard a single bad thing about EK. It seems a little strange to me that everyone I have spoken to has done strangely well using their material. I took the mcat already twice with TPR and blew the verbal. But, i wouldn't mind higher scores on my sciences either. Those of you that have used their material in the past, what do you think about them? Do you think it is a bad idea to focus on their material? And, are their verbal strategies helpful??

~Thanks

 

[EarlyEditionDude]

I didn't use EK books for the MCAT but I did use their AO, which IMO a must have for anyone preparing for this exam. I used EK's Audio Osmosis, Kaplan 5th edition MCAT Book, AAMC exams (1-6), and Kaplan Exams. I scored a 28K on April 2003 MCAT and a 30M on August 2003 MCAT. I applied to DO schools only and recieved an acceptance to UHS and DMU, but decided to go to pharmacy school instead.

 

[SteveUTexas]

Their verbal strategy is helpful insofar as it tells you to completely ignore everything you learned with TPR which obviously is not working for you. Basically they tell you to practice as much as possible with the 101 Verbal Passages book without annotating or skipping passages.

 

[belljar]

well, what kind of strategy is that? Forget everything and just try to answer questions... I read on their website that you are supposed to read the passages and answer the questions a week later or something? i don't know. I guess i'll find out!

 

[snapdad]

I thought the EK materials were excellent. What I liked was their emphasis on useful material for the test and test-taking strategies, rather than just dumping every single thing that could possibly be on the test onto their pages. It had been a few years since I'd seen any of the material, so the books from the other companies were too much to wade through for me. I ended up getting a 30 on the April 2003 exam.

 

[bigdan]

B-
EK is very good. I don't think it's perfect, but what the hell, it's only one man's opinion.
I did get the Kaplan 2004 (Green colored stripe on the binding). That's actually my skeleton structure for the outlines/flashcards that I'm using for my review. I did break down and get the EK 5th ed. to follow up - and that is the true beauty of EK. They give a review of the science in understandable terms, and seem to be very confident in saying what is important to know and not to know for the MCAT. BUT EK does include A LOT of fluff...I just finished a section in Bio review that said something to the effect of "you don't need to know any of the next few pages of material"...although reading and understanding it will give a deeper understanding of the sciences.
I also got AO...I spend a lot of time in the car - I travel to play hockey every weekend and do some good distances for work too - and I can listen and learn as I drive.

dc

 

[LoneCoyote]

I took the MCAT last April. I really liked EK for biology and o-chem and I used their materials while I was doing the TPR class. I found EK really told you what you needed to focus on, whereas TPR just had way too much info. I also liked the EK 101 Verbal Passages book. I found their passages to be the most similar to the real MCAT and ended up getting the same score on the verbal section as I had been consistently getting in the EK practice book. I did not like any of the strategies I saw for verbal, either EK or TPR, but it was my strogest section going in so I did not have to worry about it much. As for the Chem and Physics, those were my weak areas and I felt like EK again gave me a good sense of what was absolutely necessary to memorize, but did not really help me as much with explanations, or re-learning the concepts. My TPR class was a bit better with that. Overall, I think EK has a good set of materials that is definitely worth a look while you are prepping. Good luck 🙂

 

[JohnHolmes]

Originally posted by belljar
I just haven't heard a single bad thing about EK. It seems a little strange to me that everyone I have spoken to has done strangely well using their material. I took the mcat already twice with TPR and blew the verbal. But, i wouldn't mind higher scores on my sciences either. Those of you that have used their material in the past, what do you think about them? Do you think it is a bad idea to focus on their material? And, are their verbal strategies helpful??

~Thanks

Ive heard some great things about Exam Krakers too, but I have not used them myself. I did Kaplan and am pretty happy: 43R in April 2003 with my score. Good luck though!

Coops