Khan Academy Videos and TBR

[MahoganySmoothC]

I've recently began my study schedule for the April 20th MCAT and have been using the TBR books for every subject besides Psych/Soc for which I've been using Kaplan. I feel that the material in TBR is way too dense and I'm wasting much of my time. I feel that I'm grasping concept much more effectively by watching the Khan Academy videos that correspond to the TBR chapter then doing the TBR passage questions. My question is, is using only the Khan Videos with the TBR passages sufficient or am I missing out on important material that TBR or Kaplan Subject books might possess.

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[nomdeplume1234]

I've recently began my study schedule for the April 20th MCAT and have been using the TBR books for every subject besides Psych/Soc for which I've been using Kaplan. I feel that the material in TBR is way too dense and I'm wasting much of my time. I feel that I'm grasping concept much more effectively by watching the Khan Academy videos that correspond to the TBR chapter then doing the TBR passage questions. My question is, is using only the Khan Videos with the TBR passages sufficient or am I missing out on important material that TBR or Kaplan Subject books might possess.

I get what you are saying. I would say doing test problems is more important than reading walls of text. If you are happy with the ratio of right/wrong questions then I don't see why you would spend too much time reading about something in detail. On the other hand, if you have no idea how the renal system works or no clue about a physics concept, like pressure, then I would consider brushing up on it. There is no way to know exactly what you will be tested on and I think you can get more bang for the buck by simulating the test.

 

[MahoganySmoothC]

I get what you are saying. I would say doing test problems is more important than reading walls of text. If you are happy with the ratio of right/wrong questions then I don't see why you would spend too much time reading about something in detail. On the other hand, if you have no idea how the renal system works or no clue about a physics concept, like pressure, then I would consider brushing up on it. There is no way to know exactly what you will be tested on and I think you can get more bang for the buck by simulating the test.

Im not too sure I would say I'm satisfied.. I'm averaging about 50-70% on most of the TBR passages, although I've heard that's not as bad as I thought it was.

 

[nomdeplume1234]

Im not too sure I would say I'm satisfied.. I'm averaging about 50-70% on most of the TBR passages, although I've heard that's not as bad as I thought it was.

50-70% right under timed conditions or using as much time as you need?

 

[MahoganySmoothC]

50-70% right under timed conditions or using as much time as you need?

I'm scoring in this range both untimed and in the timed phase 2 and phase 3 sections.

 

[Swagster]

If you skip or skim the reading portion and just focus on passages, you'll get all of their tricks. The passages and explanations are what really matters. Substituting Khan videos, if you can stay focused and awake for them, is a reasonable substitute for the text.

 

[ThetisAntithesis]

Just started MCAT studying and I'm running into same issue as OP... Using TBR and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the walls of text... I feel like I learn better with someone speaking and me seeing things done.
Think of doing the same: Watch Khan videos corresponding to TBR chapter and then do TBR passages.
Hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot for this.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

The bio books can feel like a wall of text at times, which for me is helpful for stuff I know already because I skim but stressful when I don't grasp it. The chemistry, organic, and physics books are much better, with less writing and they are filled with tips and strategies. They have questions embedded in the reading portion, so you shouldn't skip the reading section in those. I usually skim the text and do all of those questions, going back and reading topics where I struggled on the questions. I prefer this over KA videos, which feel like wasted time that I could be doing passages and questions. This worked really well for the first half of my review, before switching to AAMC for the second half.

I read somewhere that BerkeleyTeacher said that Phase 1 averages are 56%, Phase 2 are 62%, and Phase 3 are 66% If you are 50 to 70%, it seems you are doing fine. I was getting around 70% on TBR sciences and then got 95% on AAMC Q packs and 80% on AAMC SBs. The combination of TBR sciences with the AAMC practice has been gold.