MCAT secret book

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jasmine84

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Hello everyone,
I was wondering has anyone tried this book MCAT secret study guide and does it really help??? Please let me know if its a good book to buy?
Also, I'm going to be taking the MCAT's in april, any tips?
 
I have no idea what the isbn # is, I tried to search for it but its not there, its a book or a downloadable book you can buy from this website mcat-secrets.com?????

Fermata said:
"Secret Study Guide"?

Do you have an ISBN number for this book so I can see what you're talking about?
 
jasmine84 said:
I have no idea what the isbn # is, I tried to search for it but its not there, its a book or a downloadable book you can buy from this website mcat-secrets.com?????

Honestly, if I were you I'd save my money and buy something reputable like Kaplan or EK.
 
The secret study guide is totally worthless.
 
VPDcurt said:
The secret study guide is totally worthless.

Yeah, I had it- It tries to teach you a different way to study for the test- It tells you to only study with the old AMCAS MCAT exams (not the princeton or Kaplan exams) (which I do actually concur with), but it tells you odd ways to study- for instance the first test you take should be an open book test with no time limit- then it adds restrictions with each time you take a new test. The dude who sold it to me claimed he achieved a 36 with it. I thought the way it taught was way too risky, so I did it the old fashioned way- plopped down some money for review books then studied 5 hours a day from Jan- April. The book does give you some common sense advice when it comes to the MCAT though- and that part I think is def worth knowing- ie. no penalty for guessing, how to eliminate choices better, and make educated guesses. Hope this helps. Oh yeah, 3/4 of the book is a "vocabulary review" -it just goes over scientific terms.
 
LionKing said:
Yeah, I had it- It tries to teach you a different way to study for the test- It tells you to only study with the old AMCAS MCAT exams (not the princeton or Kaplan exams) (which I do actually concur with), but it tells you odd ways to study- for instance the first test you take should be an open book test with no time limit- then it adds restrictions with each time you take a new test. The dude who sold it to me claimed he achieved a 36 with it. I thought the way it taught was way too risky, so I did it the old fashioned way- plopped down some money for review books then studied 5 hours a day from Jan- April. The book does give you some common sense advice when it comes to the MCAT though- and that part I think is def worth knowing- ie. no penalty for guessing, how to eliminate choices better, and make educated guesses. Hope this helps. Oh yeah, 3/4 of the book is a "vocabulary review" -it just goes over scientific terms.

Actually.. that method of taking open book tests with no time limit REALLY helped me. I didn't buy the "Secrets" book (sounds like a sham anyways), I just came up with this method on my own. If I could do the problem without a book, I would do it without the book and check the answer. If I got stuck on a problem, I'd do it open book. It is THE quickest way to reinforce the information that you don't know, because not only are you finding problems you need help on, but you're learning how to do it RIGHT when you discover you suck at it. I took the MCAT twice... the first time I scored an 8 on the bio section, the second time I scored a 13. A 5 point increase in a section is almost unheard of, and it didn't happen because I'm a genius (that's for sure). I really believe this open book test taking method worked. I used the Kaplan practice tests for the open book ones, because they are usually harder than the AMCAS tests (My scores for Kaplan were 28-32, and my scores on the AMCAS ones were 33-35, my score on the real one was a 33.). If you can score well on the Kaplan tests, you really know your stuff... those tests push you hard. Save the AMCAS tests for your closed book, timed, "official" tests, as they give you a pretty accurate picture of how you will most likely do on the real MCAT.
 
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