Is it worth it to keep textbooks for MCAT review?

[orthomyxo]

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I have a bunch of pre-req textbooks collecting dust under my bed, and I'm just wondering if I'll ever use them again. Are review books enough to help you re-learn concepts you've forgotten? For some reason I just don't feel right parting with them. Especially my organic book. We've been through some stuff, man. *sniff*

If not, I'm going to sell them (Skyrim fund 😀).

 

[NickNaylor]

Hells naw. I gave away my ~$400 in MCAT books (complete EK set + the Kaplan review book) to a friend.

I definitely support selling those guys for Skyrim. Good use of money.

 

[Celerity]

Not worth keeping em.
I glanced at them once when studying for the MCAT.
I'd sell em to get skyrim.
Good luck

 

[Noah Capurso]

I actually used mine for MCAT review and I was glad to have them. Review books keep things minimal and I used texts to review general concepts. They are not worth keeping for med school. If I were you, I'd hang on to the them and then sell them after the MCAT. A few more months of keeping them shouldn't make a big difference in how much you will sell them for. So unless you've got to make rent or something, keep 'em.

 

[NickNaylor]

Oops... didn't realize you were talking about the textbooks. Regardless, I'd still sell them. IMO they're too dense for effective MCAT review.

 

[Knocked Up]

Sell em off. The MCAT is more about reading comprehension and intuitive guessing (reading jargon and taking guesses that match what the authors are thinking that particular day) than actually knowing your science. I suggest you sell them and use your funds to buy a good book on making (un)educated guesses.

 

[redhaireddeamon]

I saved all of mine and never used them. You can use the review books which will be more than enough to study from.

 

[wanderer]

I used my textbooks for MCAT review, but I was in the minority. You can sell your books now and buy old versions later on for dirt cheap; that's what I should have done.

 

[kpcrew]

Hells naw. I gave away my ~$400 in MCAT books (complete EK set + the Kaplan review book) to a friend.

I definitely support selling those guys for Skyrim. Good use of money.

i did the same thing with the same books.

 

[ponyo]

I saved all of mine. It turned out to be pointless as I didn't so much as glance at them during MCAT prep.

 

[jesse120]

I gave away my ochem book to a friend, kept my Molecular Biology of the Cell 5th ed (might be handy in med school? my prof spoke highly of the book) and sold the rest. Textbooks are practically useless for MCAT prep.

 

[Amemus]

You might want to save some of them. I have been using some of my old upper-level bio textbooks in med school. A lot of people at my school didn't buy anything for the micro/cell bio courses we take here because we already had plenty of resources from undergrad.

 

[rbnsafsadgf]

No. I've never opened up a text book or review book after a class.

 

[Cinclus]

I referred to them a few times for some concepts I didn't feel the review books explained very well. You could probably get by without then pretty easily, though. If you get stuck, well, that's what the internet is for!

 

[kkuhn]

My opinion is: No. The MCAT doesn't cover all of Orgo, or Intro Bio, or Gen Chem -- it covers specific topics. I feel like in using textbooks to review, you'd waste a lot of time figuring out which parts of the book you really need. I'd just use specialized MCAT review books -- I used a mix of Princeton Review, Kaplan, and ExamKrackers and it turned out pretty well for me.

But, then again, different strokes for different folks, I suppose.