MCAT prep- Examkrackers vs Kaplan vs Princeton

[Joe Jewel]

Hello,

Hope you are staying healthy and well. As a first time test-taker I would appreciate a brief general summary about what people preparing for the test, those who took it, and medical students/tutors think about 3 of the commonly-utilized material sources for the MCAT. Everyone is different, and I am not looking for details, schedules, or nuances; but rather those sources as they have directly related to the exam structure over the past 4-5 years since the advent of the MR5 MCAT. Your feedback and any relevant input are truly appreciated and valued.

Thanks.

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[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

Scored a 522. I used ExamKrackers for content review, all the AAMC material for practice material.

 

[Joe Jewel]

Scored a 522. I used ExamKrackers for content review, all the AAMC material for practice material.

Thank you @AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson for your response and congrats on the impressive achievement.

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

Hello,

Hope you are staying healthy and well. As a first time test-taker I would appreciate a brief general summary about what people preparing for the test, those who took it, and medical students/tutors think about 3 of the commonly-utilized material sources for the MCAT. Everyone is different, and I am not looking for details, schedules, or nuances; but rather those sources as they have directly related to the exam structure over the past 4-5 years since the advent of the MR5 MCAT. Your feedback and any relevant input are truly appreciated and valued.

Thanks.

To go into more depth, I think the Exam Krackers content books were the least in-depth which suited my needs best. I believe it covers the content enough for anyone to score a 515+ and since it's less thick, less room to get caught up on the small details and more room to focus on practice content.

The AAMC material is a must. I wouldn't recommend anyone sitting the exam without going through all the Q banks, section banks, FLs, etc.

 

[Lawpy]

Seconding ExamKrackers. Those books are great for MCAT prep and give useful test taking strategies

 

[happymedicine30]

Scored a 522. I used ExamKrackers for content review, all the AAMC material for practice material.

Did you use examKrackers 9th edition or 10th? I have 9th and wondering if its the same? I will be using kaplan, examKrackers for content and then AAMC material for practice. you think that will suffice? I have 3 months.

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

Did you use examKrackers 9th edition or 10th? I have 9th and wondering if its the same? I will be using kaplan, examKrackers for content and then AAMC material for practice. you think that will suffice? I have 3 months.

3 months should be enough, you have to access yourself with full-length exams along the way to gauge where you are.

I spent 10 weeks preparing, 3 weeks reading through EK and answering discrete questions to solidify the material, and 7 weeks of practice questions and brushing up on weak content, doing a FL every weekend.

 

[happymedicine30]

3 months should be enough, you have to access yourself with full-length exams along the way to gauge where you are.

I spent 10 weeks preparing, 3 weeks reading through EK and answering discrete questions to solidify the material, and 7 weeks of practice questions and brushing up on weak content, doing a FL every weekend.

thanks! I am finishing up an MPH right now, so I feel like I need more than 3 months to brush up on everything. I also only took one semester of organic chem and did not take Biochem in undergrad but we will see how it goes!

 

[JimKimSlim]

I used Kaplan 7-book review, and most people agree that the book is dense. It took me 2 months to go through their biology review book, while enrolled in school full-time. With that being said, you can pace up by focusing only on high-yield sections. Their materials are dense but have the detailed explanation to almost every question you get wrong on AAMC materials. Everything was pretty solid for my taste, except two things: their organic chemistry book is way too dense and their CARS book just sucks.

 

[Joe Jewel]

I used Kaplan 7-book review, and most people agree that the book is dense. It took me 2 months to go through their biology review book, while enrolled in school full-time. With that being said, you can pace up by focusing only on high-yield sections. Their materials are dense but have the detailed explanation to almost every question you get wrong on AAMC materials. Everything was pretty solid for my taste, except two things: their organic chemistry book is way too dense and their CARS book just sucks.

@JimKimSlim thank you for your input. That is kinda of what I am worried about. We live in an uncertain and fast-paced age, and the last thing I wanna do is sift through hundreds of pages of information without knowing what might be useful for high yield material. I will try to focus more on my weaker topics.

 

[JimKimSlim]

@JimKimSlim thank you for your input. That is kinda of what I am worried about. We live in an uncertain and fast-paced age, and the last thing I wanna do is sift through hundreds of pages of information without knowing what might be useful for high yield material. I will try to focus more on my weaker topics.

Don’t make the same mistake as I did, where I focused too much on content review rather than doing practice problems/tests. The best way to find your weak points is through doing practice FL’s. Spend majority of your time doing practice problems and create Anki deck for questions you missed. For content review, just focus on the high-yield sections and skim through the other ones. AAMC always throws in two or three discrete questions that ask very obscure definitions from low yield sections, but losing those won’t affect your final score that much.

 

[happymedicine30]

I used Kaplan 7-book review, and most people agree that the book is dense. It took me 2 months to go through their biology review book, while enrolled in school full-time. With that being said, you can pace up by focusing only on high-yield sections. Their materials are dense but have the detailed explanation to almost every question you get wrong on AAMC materials. Everything was pretty solid for my taste, except two things: their organic chemistry book is way too dense and their CARS book just sucks.

So what are your recommendations for the ochem and CARS? I heard KA videos are pretty good for Ochem?

 

[JimKimSlim]

The best resource for CARS is obviously the AAMC QPack. For third party resources, you have to pick your poison, since each company has their own logic that differs from AAMC. Personally, I only used KA and JW to practice mainly timing rather than understanding their logic. For AAMC materials, I thoroughly reviewed my mistakes and tried to prime my brain into thinking their logic,

For organic chemistry, KA is pretty good, but I did notice that C/P is now adding more convoluted synthesis passages (there was a whole passage dedicated to synthesis of a drug on the test when I took it). Taking notes from KA should be sufficient, but it wouldn’t hurt to study with the dense Kaplan book, considering the trend of increasing synthesis problems.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

I used Princeton Review for the subjects I needed a total review on (i.e. from scratch), and then used Examkrackers for every subject to tighten up my performance. Loved them both, think they are both really good at what they are trying to accomplish (PR is very comprehensive, EK is very efficent) and they complimented each other well.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

I think you need to add "none of the above" as an option to your question. I was crazy anal about choosing materials going so far as to borrow copies of the various options from my big sib and her friends and reading every post here and at Reddit. I went overboard and don't recommend doing as much as I did. However, I am one hundred percent sure that the combination of material I used was the best, except for maybe CARS, where there really isn't a best.

I used the SDN 100-day study plan materials and took advice from KoalaT and Zendabi as to what materials to use. I completely recommend you use the books in those plans. I got 132 in C/P twice and 132 and 131 in B/B because of the materials. I had to take the exam again because I facepalmed my CARS the first time I took the MCAT.

Keep in mind, no one company is best for all four sections.

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

I think you need to add "none of the above" as an option to your question. I was crazy anal about choosing materials going so far as to borrow copies of the various options from my big sib and her friends and reading every post here and at Reddit. I went overboard and don't recommend doing as much as I did. However, I am one hundred percent sure that the combination of material I used was the best, except for maybe CARS, where there really isn't a best.

I used the SDN 100-day study plan materials and took advice from KoalaT and Zendabi as to what materials to use. I completely recommend you use the books in those plans. I got 132 in C/P twice and 132 and 131 in B/B because of the materials. I had to take the exam again because I facepalmed my CARS the first time I took the MCAT.

Keep in mind, no one company is best for all four sections.

Seems like we were in the same boat, 132/126/132/132 here, and CARS was clearly where I was lacking. However I will say I do think EK has enough content-wise to get 132 on any section (besides CARS, which def requires consistent practice passages). Any content 'gaps' can be filled when going through q banks and FLs. But again, I think EK covers everything enough to ascertain the correct answers on the exam when used together with the passage information.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Seems like we were in the same boat, 132/126/132/132 here, and CARS was clearly where I was lacking. However I will say I do think EK has enough content-wise to get 132 on any section (besides CARS, which def requires consistent practice passages). Any content 'gaps' can be filled when going through q banks and FLs. But again, I think EK covers everything enough to ascertain the correct answers on the exam when used together with the passage information.

Great score! Had I gotten your CARS score, I would have never wasted another three months taking it again. I have no idea how I did as bad as I did the first time, but applying with a 122 in CARS was a huge mistake.

I liked EK as a supplement, especially nearing the end of my studies. But I personally got more out of the TBR explanations than anywhere. I felt EK came up way short in their explanations, and my problem is that I didn't really know my stuff well enough to use them at first. If you know your stuff really well, they are great. If you are an average student who doesn't instantly grasp things, then I think TBR is better suited for you (and people like me.)

 

[Joe Jewel]

I think you need to add "none of the above" as an option to your question. I was crazy anal about choosing materials going so far as to borrow copies of the various options from my big sib and her friends and reading every post here and at Reddit. I went overboard and don't recommend doing as much as I did. However, I am one hundred percent sure that the combination of material I used was the best, except for maybe CARS, where there really isn't a best.

I used the SDN 100-day study plan materials and took advice from KoalaT and Zendabi as to what materials to use. I completely recommend you use the books in those plans. I got 132 in C/P twice and 132 and 131 in B/B because of the materials. I had to take the exam again because I facepalmed my CARS the first time I took the MCAT.

Keep in mind, no one company is best for all four sections.

Thank you @PlsLetMeIn21 for your informative post. I contemplated adding an option of "none of the above" to give a chance for people who used AAMC material, Khan Academy, The Berkeley Review, or even college textbooks. However, I did a little bit of research and was wanting to include the study bundle packages that are most used, updated, and obtained from accessible commercial sources. The majority of the websites I saw listed the MCAT book series of Kaplan, Princeton, and Examkrackers.

 

[happymedicine30]

Thanks everyone! you have all been helpful! Does anyone know if the fourth edition of the official guide to the mcat exam is the same as the fifth edition? I just want to know so I know if it is the same content.

 

[skeptastic]

I really love the exchange between @PlsLetMeIn21 and @AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson. Solid example of "different strokes for different folks." Knowing where you're at prior to starting a MCAT study plan has got to be large percentage of the battle. I so desperately want to go the EK route, but I know that in spite of my solid GPA, I don't have a solid foundation upon which to quickly dive into passages and the like. I am dreading the TBR route, but this is a one-shot deal, in my mind. I do not want to take this exam twice. Fingers crossed and effort ready for a great course of study, as well as the highest blessing from the CARS gods, haha!

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Thank you @PlsLetMeIn21 for your informative post. I contemplated adding an option of "none of the above" to give a chance for people who used AAMC material, Khan Academy, The Berkeley Review, or even college textbooks. However, I did a little bit of research and was wanting to include the study bundle packages that are most used, updated, and obtained from accessible commercial sources. The majority of the websites I saw listed the MCAT book series of Kaplan, Princeton, and Examkrackers.

TBR is a "study bundle package that is most used, updated, and obtained from accessible commercial source.' Maybe it's regional bias, but way more people I know use TBR over TPR or EK. I just figured with the 100-day SDN plan recommending TBR it would have been included it. Now I'm curious how much regional bias there is in what people use.