Need Advice

[hansen44]

I have been SEARCHING for over an hour now trying to answer my questions, reading all the posts, but I am still clueless.

1) I am taking Kaplan right now, what other material are best to supplement with that are most similar to the real MCAT passages?

BS: EK 1001?
VR: EK 101
PS: ?

2) Besides Kaplan and AAMC, what other practice FL are most similar overall to the real MCAT? I have taken all the AAMC and Kaplan and now I need to buy some new ones online.

1) Princeton Review? (most accurate?)
2) Berkley Review?
3) EK
4) Gold Standard

3) For those of you that used or know someone who used a tutor. Which company do you recommend for tutors?

Kaplan?
TPR?
BR?

I would really appreciate your guys opinion, I know these questions are common but I have been searching and I just need straight forward answers. I voided my exam yesterday, and I want to begin studying but I don't want to aimlessly buy material online without knowing how accurate it is. thanks

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[BloodySurgeon]

For my opinion, I would tell you to go to my sticky called: "Don't Know Where to Start? Click Here!" (or just click on my signature link). However it does not answer your last question on tutoring. IMO tutor is overpriced and unnecessary. All your questions can be addressed here on SDN and those tutors sometimes don't tell you much of what you already can't figure out on your own. But that is my opinion and it does well for my self-studying style.

Also, I am sorry to hear that you voided your exam yesterday. It is quite common for pre-meds to take the mcat twice and most of us do much better the second time around. I see your enthusiasm to start again and that is great! That kind of attitude will get you to where you want in life. If you need to vent or ask more question, don't hesitate to post here or PM me. Take care and best of luck!

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I have been SEARCHING for over an hour now trying to answer my questions, reading all the posts, but I am still clueless.

1) What other material are best to supplement with that are most similar to the real MCAT passages?

BS: EK 1001?
VR: EK 101
PS: ?

2) Besides Kaplan and AAMC, what other practice FL are most similar overall to the real MCAT? I have taken all the AAMC and Kaplan and now I need to buy some new ones online.

1) Princeton Review? (most accurate?)
2) Berkley Review?
3) EK
4) Gold Standard

3) For those of you that used or know someone who used a tutor. Which company do you recommend for tutors?

Kaplan?
TPR?
BR?

I would really appreciate your guys opinion, I know these questions are common but I have been searching and I just need straight forward answers. I voided my exam yesterday, and I want to begin studying but I don't want to aimlessly buy material online without knowing how accurate it is. thanks

I'm reposting a response from a thread two below this one:

________________________________________________________________
A few months ago, Boondocks took the time to summarize the comments on materials from various threads (such as the 30+ thread). Here is what he posted. It's a good idea to search for such threads.

This question gets asked like every three days. In short, EK series are stripped down with the basics you need to know. Get EK bio, it is by far the best for bio, all the responses on SDN say this. Know this book cold. If you don't believe me, type in EK bio in the search function. Personally, you learn the best from passages, If you have time and the cash I highly suggest purchasing Berkeley Review Gen Chem and Ochem. There physics is good too, but with PR it may be redundant. You will thank me later. You'll probably want EK biology review and EK 101 biology passages and EK verbal 101. PR is good, however, if you want to kill the MCAT you have to be able to integrate material. That's what BR does better than anyone else. Like, be able to answer questions if you see the circulatory system wired in parallel series.

bio - 1. EK bio and 101 bio passages 2. Kaplan 3. PR/BR however, these don't suck, they're just detailed which turns off many people.

Physics 1. BR/Nova 2. PR 3. Kaplan I really think BR but they're are a lot of people who swear by Nova on this site

Verbal 1. Ek verbal and 101 passages 2. PR 3. BR 4. Kaplan (read stay from)

Gen Chem 1. BR by far 2. PR 3. Kaplan/EK

O Chem 1. BR by far 2. toss up between Kaplan/PR/Ek

That is a general list of what i have read on SDN for the past 4 years, i came here and lurked throughout highschool. Good luck and hopefully this will help. EK is for people who KNOW the material and want review. If you are weak in something BR is the best since it's the most detailed and PR is detailed too, Kaplan is in the Middle, and EK is the least detailed but that doesn't mean it's bad. Just depends on the person. If you can I would buy the BR Chemistry books and Physics book. If you complete the PR science workbook along with BR passages and EK bio, you will kill the sciences. Ek Verbal should help you out with verbal.

I think has has summed up the consensus pretty well.
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As for tutoring, I agree completely with BloodySurgeon. It is UNGODLY overpriced. Over $100/hour is craziness. There is a good chance you don't need it and as BS pointed out, the Q&A forum here is pretty solid when it comes to answer most questions.

If you really want to hire a tutor, do it independent of a company. You might consider hiring one of their teachers outside of their program, which would save money and hopefully put more money in the tutor's pocket. If you happen to be in the LA area, you can PM for a list of three tutors I know students have used in the past. But those people are all hired privately and prices/service/etc... are negotiated between the tutor and tutee.

 

[hansen44]

thanks for you help, what do you guys think about buying more FL's though. I read your post BS thanks, but I still find myself confused. I mean TPR is hard, AAMC is good, Kaplan is decent. But I have taken AAMC and Kaplan so now what? Is it a good idea to buy TPR even know they are harder than the real thing?