MCAT...Which one is the best one?

[desi_scientist]

Hi Everybody...
Well I'm kinda screwed over ...I've been doing some research to see what book would be good to help me review for the MCAT Exam...And I still haven't found a good one...

I tried Princeton Review but I got alot of 'that book sux' remarks ...

Can any of you guys tell me which book would be good to use to prepare for the test?

I would really appreciate if you could give me some advice to prepare for this...

Thanx...

-Sonia M.

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[RobbingReality]

I have found a combination of two (EK and Kaplan) worked the best for me. E.K. is good because it waters everything down and gives you what you have to know, and their test are similar to MCAT. Kaplan, however , drills the information into you by constantly making you do practice test and allowing you to get use to real test scenerios.

hope this helps

 

[the Undergrad]

Hey Sonia!!!!!

Its soo good to see you post again! So, how are things? How did your April MCAT go? Best of luck for August.

PM me if you wanna talk.


Btw, when did we break up?

 

[Wrigleyville]

I used a Kaplan book; it worked well for me. I recommend taking a knife or pair of scissors are carving the book up into the individual subject sections. That way you don't have to haul a gigantic book around with you when you go to study, since most people focus on one or two subjects per study session.

Wrigley

 

[desi_scientist]

Hey Sonia!!!!!

Its soo good to see you post again! So, how are things? How did your April MCAT go? Best of luck for August.

PM me if you wanna talk.


Btw, when did we break up?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


lol, we met before ? and no I havent taken the April MCAT I'm starting to review for it so I can take it in the summer session...

 

[Sonya]

Berkeley review and exam kracker seem to produce accurate and consistent scores. (they are still slightly difficult).

Sonya

 

[woolie]

Hey Wriggleyville, I thought I was the only one ripping the Kaplan's into individual parts or at least I never saw the piecemeal books but most people lugging these huge "War and Peace" volumes with them. Makes sense to me ...

I second the EK and Kaplan material; EK has got to be one of the best things around and these guys deserve a gold medal for their intelligence and hard work.

Plus, whatever other supplemental textbooks, review books you can stack up.

 

[deleted9493]

I used Berkeley Review and Examkrackers in preparation for April's test and was quite satisfied with this combo. Examkrackers is pretty brief and just chucked full of helpful factoids and tidbits. They give just enough information for understanding the subject matter...no more...no less. Berkeley Review, on the other hand, really goes into much more depth and is best suited for those students who really need to re-learn the basic science presented in undergraduate premed.
I used examkrackers as my primary source of knowledge and then practiced on passages found in Berkeley Review's package. I feel that examkrackers prepared me the best for the physical sciences and the verbal but that the biological sciences would have been best studied for with my Berkeley Review books. Given the changing nature of the biological sciences of the exam this april...I should have gotten a more thorough understanding of some of the science and I think a thorough reading of Berkeley's stuff would have done just that.
I did take a Kaplan practice exam and worked through one of their workbooks. As a result, I wouldn't recommend their material to anybody. What they have to offer seems much more indicative of AAMC practice exams I and II (way too easy)....rather than the more present exams.

 

[loomis]

I did a combo of TPR science books and textbooks (for parts I really didn't get) at first. This took about a month plus. after that, i moved onto mostly passages, coupled with another round of more learning material from EK. I found that EK was really helpful once I got the basics down; as a primary source, EK is a bit too light. The TPR science workbook was pretty good overall, though some of the passages didn't seem especially MCAT like (too nit-picky). Finally, I ended things by taking AAMC practice tests every week until the exam
hope this helps!

 

[spumoni620]

I haven't gotten my scores from the Apr MCAT back yet...and it's my first time taking it...so I can't tell you for sure that this is the best method YET.
But this is what I did: used Princeton Review for Physics, Kaplan for Bio, and read on my own for Verbal. O-chem and Physics were my weak spots so I used Examkrackers and Nova Physics for Ochem and Physics respectively. Then I also used my textbooks--Chen for G-chem, Wade for O-chem, a Genetics text and a Physiology text. I used Kaplan's flashcards...I bought a molecular model set (which really, really helped w/stereochemistry)...and oh yeah, toward the last month after I'd gone over everything, I listened to Audio Osmosis to reinforce the material. Audio Osmosis is VERY CHEESY and irritating but it did help. I'd listen to it while working out, driving, etc.

Good luck!

P.S. If anyone is interested in any of the above items, I will be selling massive amounts of prep material that I've accumulated in the next month if my scores are okay. Details to come, but PM me if you're interested!