Kaplan 2015 vs Kaplan 2018/2019

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snowygirl

Full Member
5+ Year Member
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Thank you in advance for your answers! I was wondering if I would be missing out on a lot of information. I have the 2015 1st edition, not the newest one... I would rather not spend another couple hundred dollars if I don't have to....
 
I had the 2015 edition and did just fine and raised my score 13 points from my initial AAMC full length to the real test. You will need a new psych/soc book however, possibly from a different company. That was my lowest section by 3 points, and I regret it.
 
Thank you! Did you only use Kaplan 2015?
For content review, yes. Total though I also used all of the AAMC full length mock tests, which are a necessity, and a few of their practice question banks as well. Now that UWorld has released an MCAT question bank I would use that too. Content review is only have the battle. The other half is practice tests and questions.
 
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Actually I have both the 2015 and the 2018 version and apart from a slight wording here and there both essentially the same. In all honesty, I would use the 2015 and not spend money on the 2018 book. I would only recommend you buy the 2018 book if you also want to take the 3 free practice test that comes with it.

Hope that helps!

-Sunshine
 
I took the MCAT twice. The first time I used the 2015 books and the second time I used the 2018-19 books. There honestly wasn't that big of a difference between the two. I was actually a bit disappointed they didn't add more p/s terms in the newer versions. You should be fine with the 2015 books for sure. If you're using Kaplan, I wouldn't spend too much time on the CARS book. It'd recommend buying the EK CARS book instead. Much more useful.