Please Suggest the BEST books to prepare for MCAT

[driventobeadoc]

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Hi... I am planning on taking the August MCAT, my sincere request to the previous MCATers, please tell me some good books (easy o follow and understand) to prepare and also some hepful tips to ACE the MCAT!!!.

 

[j-med]

May I refer people to this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=275933

Keep it going! so that we can generate a list


p.s. Thanks Caboose!

 

[Orthodoc40]

No book could have prepared me for the test I got yesterday! Really.
It was NOT basic biology, that's for sure.

 

[musiclink213]

May I refer people to this thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=275933

Keep it going! so that we can generate a list


p.s. Thanks Caboose!

Just bumped it up, hopefully it's helpful to someone.

 

[MasterMD]

No book could have prepared me for the test I got yesterday! Really.
It was NOT basic biology, that's for sure.

ditto... i knew EK and TPR cover to cover... and the test raped me.

 

[Orthodoc40]

ditto... i knew EK and TPR cover to cover... and the test raped me.

You know - I am sorry you felt that way, but I am so glad you said that because that's pretty much exactly what happened to me. I felt so ready and they still hit me with the SN2... (rear side attack... )

 

[ADeadLois]

Hi... I am planning on taking the August MCAT, my sincere request to the previous MCATers, please tell me some good books (easy o follow and understand) to prepare and also some hepful tips to ACE the MCAT!!!.

If you want books that are easy to follow and understand, go with Exam Krackers. You should refer to the 30+ MCAT tips above for more info.

 

[hangten]

It depends what major you are and what you're familiar with.
I'm a bio major so i liked:

Examkrackers for Bio because it just fine tuned what I already knew and I highly recommend their 1001 Bio passages. That helped me a lot with critical thinking and application problems.

Kaplan book for Chem, Physics, and Orgo. EK books for them are too condensed and they're not simple explanations. They might have nicer pictures, but don't buy it for that because it won't help you if you don't know the basics. Kaplan explanations are simple and to the point.


But what kaplan didn't have was test-taking strategies. So you should buy EK's 20 mini-Mcats.

Also, it's been two years since I took orgo so i bought Orgo for Dummies book, it really helped me.

 

[SeanTaylor #21]

Use the material from all three: Examkrackers, TPR , and Kaplan

 

[jackieMD2007]

🙂 Hey there, I really liked EK's 16 mini-mcats book.
You can order it on Amazon.com.

Also I got a LOT of help from their "1001 questions in MCAT Physics" book.

I took a Kaplan course for the content review since I've been out of college for three years now.

If you are in college you might not need the full blown course.
The EK books were a good supplement.

 

[WhiteHatDoc]

I relied heavily on Exam Krackers, especially for PS. I say it's worth its weight in GOLD since I used to only score 8's on PS (which is the main reason I voided my August score), and after studying EK physics, I started scoring 13's consistently. HOPEFULLY my poor experience during the real thing won't prevent me from scoring that 13

 

[pmcv]

The only thing I used for this writing (my 1st) was "The Gold Standard MCAT" by Ferdinand. Pretty comprehensive coverage, and I found everything tested on Saturday was covered in the book. Now, how well that translated into scores, only time will tell....

 

[sweetstuff25]

You know - I am sorry you felt that way, but I am so glad you said that because that's pretty much exactly what happened to me. I felt so ready and they still hit me with the SN2... (rear side attack... )

that SN2 reaction reminded me of audio osmosis and how the walk in the park can lead to loosing your girlfriend (SN1 reaction). it was soooo weird that it stuck in my mind. jordan and john got a pretty twisted mind! lol.

 

[DF38]

Wow, I could have sworn I already posted in this thread, but I guess I'm going crazy.

I highly recommend the EK books (I used the complete study guide set). I had the Kaplan books (from the course), but once my EK stuff arrived I never touched the Kaplan stuff again. I thought EK did a great job in giving you just the information you needed to know, and presenting it in an easy to follow format, with lots of pictures and color.

 

[j-med]

The only thing I used for this writing (my 1st) was "The Gold Standard MCAT" by Ferdinand. Pretty comprehensive coverage, and I found everything tested on Saturday was covered in the book. Now, how well that translated into scores, only time will tell....

Did they have all those terminologies in tested in the BS section too?
And were there practice questions in passage format?

Wow, I could have sworn I already posted in this thread, but I guess I'm going crazy.

I highly recommend the EK books (I used the complete study guide set). I had the Kaplan books (from the course), but once my EK stuff arrived I never touched the Kaplan stuff again. I thought EK did a great job in giving you just the information you needed to know, and presenting it in an easy to follow format, with lots of pictures and color.

Yeah the colors and pictures really worked for me too

 

[UIC Killa]

Did they have all those terminologies in tested in the BS section too?
And were there practice questions in passage format?
Yeah the colors and pictures really worked for me too

If you want a lot of passage practice and discretes...i suggest Princeton Science Work Book...it has like 90 Bio, Orgo, Chem, and physics (each) passages, with discretes distributed in between. Also has explainations for everything...it helped me a lot...princeton also has a verbal workbook which helps a lot as well...

 

[rgerwin]

Definitely the Verbal and Bio EK books, plus the 1001 questions. They are fabulous. Skip the physics, go with Kaplan/TPR. I found the EK gen Chem 1001 questions helpful, just for extra practice, and the EK orgo was good to have if you need basics, and then get something harder to move on to.

 

[confused-one]

I found the kaplan high yield book extremely helpful. I don't know if you can just purchase the book though or if you have to enroll in the course to get it?

Also, the exam krackers audio osmosis was really helpful for me. A whole lot of practice problems. I found AAMC tests to be more similar to the test I took Saturday, which isn't entirely surprising.

Kaplan seemed to focus much more on scientific knowledge and calculations, whereas the exam itself seemed to focus more on synthesizing new information and being able to make reasonable predictions. Did anyone else feel that way?

I think doing a ton of practice tests is helpful too. I did about 13, all fully proctored, several at the site where I took the exam itself.

Kaplan has the AAMC "practice questions" or some odd things, that are based on specific topics and formatted similarly the MCAT itself. I did most of those and they were quite helpful as well.

Kaplan 45 was somewhat helpful, but eh, I feel like Kaplan's material is pretty much the same in all of their books, so it wasn't much new.

 

[medschool22]

Kaplan seemed to focus much more on scientific knowledge and calculations, whereas the exam itself seemed to focus more on synthesizing new information and being able to make reasonable predictions. Did anyone else feel that way?

Exactly the reason why I don't like Kaplan. I like TPR's "Cracking the MCAT" it's good for brushing up if it's been awhile. Plus, after every new concept (page or so) they give you some practice questions to apply what you just went over. You then get a practice passage over each chapter material so you can see how it would be tested in mcat form. I found the layout very helpful.

 

[twofish]

EK the best!

 

[Radiant_Lily]

I don't know if many people are familiar with Berkeley Review...but they are an excellent source of study materials for the MCAT. Their explanations are very thorough and their passages are tougher than the actual MCAT which I found to be helpful...you can visit their site at
http://www.berkely-review.com

 

[Mardi-Bob]

Read PLAYBOY! I heard it is the best study material for the masturbator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!