Old MCAT books for MCAT in Spring 2016?

[petitechouette]

Hi Everyone,
I'm going to take the MCAT in Spring 2016 but I have some old MCAT books that my friend have given me for free and some that I bought when I thought I was going to take the old version of MCAT.
Here's what I have:
TPR (2010) Biology, Physics, Organic Chemistry
Kaplan (2012) Biology and Organic Chemistry
BR (2010) Biology I, II
BR (2011) Physics I, II and Chemistry I,II
BR (2012) Organic Chemistry I, II

Do you think these old MCAT books will still be good for preparing for the new MCAT?

*Note: I'm considering buying NextStep's Verbal, TPR Psychology, and Kaplan Biochemistry. But please let me know if you have any other suggestions for which books would be best to buy for Psy/Soc, CARS, and Biochem.

Thank you in advance! I appreciate it!

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[Gurby]

My unqualified opinion is that you're out of your mind for even considering this. Pony up $200 for materials that aren't 6 years old. You can probably find for even cheaper if you ask around your school's premed club and see if anybody who has recently taken the MCAT is selling their stuff.

 

[fallingclouds]

The TBR books may be useful (I'm not sure how much the book has changed over the years) for content review, but as @Gurby mentioned, it might be best to get updated versions since the test has changed a lot since 2010. The list you have so far for new books sounds great! If you want more verbal practice, getting the EK 101 and TPR hyperlearning verbal book (older versions ok) are good too!

 

[chasingtides]

Get the new books. I personally used the new Kaplan books and thought they were great. You will be glad you did.

 

[nomdeplume1234]

I doubt your older books would be much different than the new versions. Did the MCAT change any from 2010-2014? It's not like there is some magical new way of teaching physics and none of the companies (that I know of) teach it specifically in terms of medically-related physics or chemistry. The only real new stuff is the Biochemistry and the psychology + sociology. If you were to get a new set then you might consider which set's writing style suits you best.

 

[chasingtides]

I doubt your older books would be much different than the new versions. Did the MCAT change any from 2010-2014? It's not like there is some magical new way of teaching physics and none of the companies (that I know of) teach it specifically in terms of medically-related physics or chemistry. The only real new stuff is the Biochemistry and the psychology + sociology. If you were to get a new set then you might consider which set's writing style suits you best.

Believe it or not, they are different. There are different topics that are highlighted on the new MCAT compared to the old one and they all tie in together. The focus of the 2015 MCAT is to look at things as a big picture and the human body as a ONE living system. So, I do think the biology/physics/chemistry are different on the new exam. Not by a ton, but enough to where you definitely want the new books.

 

[Ad2b]

I have 2008 EK books, 2014 Kaplan and now, 2015 Kaplan v1 and v2.

I use the EK books for discrete questions (content review and solidification)

I threw my 2014 Kaplan books and will use the v2 Kaplan 2015 books for presumed 1/23/16 test date.

If you're going to use the old books solely and only for the exam, you will NOT be doing yourself any favors; and for this particular exam, why would you short change yourself?

 

[petitechouette]

Thanks for your responses!
I'm now thinking of buying either the 2015 TPR set or 2015 Kaplan set from Amazon/Ebay/student doctor sale forum. Does anyone know how they may be different?
I'm getting mixed opinions about them. Or actually is the new EK book set better?

 

[Ad2b]

Kaplan and TPR are going to be pretty similar. Pick one, and then read to find out which test prep company did something better.

I have all Kaplan but bought TPR for psych/soc (and the 3 extra FL practice exams); some buy TPR and then buy Kaplan Biochem.

 

[mcatfever]

i think the books are good for cars minus the science section which is taken off. the new mcat is heavenly biochem focus. so i would focus more new material that has a lot of biochem emphasis. as for general bio, old content is still good for review, but the new mcat is mix heavy of experiment based passages.

 

[Gibbward]

I honestly think the old Bio, Physics, and Gen Chem books are still very useful. I used a 2012 TPR set for my gen chem and physics prep, and I think they were still effective. It's just a matter of figuring out which topics are high yield, and practicing enough to understand the style and tone of the questions/passages.

I actually used the 2015 kaplan prep book for bio and biochem. The biochem book was essential imho. One the other band, the 2015 bio was still very similar to the 2012 TPR bio prep book that I had, so you definitely don't need a new bio prep book if you have an old one.

So really, I you could definitely get away with just purchasing the 2015 kaplan biochem, and your choice of P/S (I used the 2015 TPR, it wasn't as detailed as I would've liked, but I got by). This way you can save enough money on books and focus your spending on practice tests and practice passages.