[POLL] Best MCAT 2015 Prep Material?

[FauxBlue]

[POLL]

1) What's the best MCAT 2015 prep material to use as a foundation for content review?
(I wish I could make multiple polls in one thread, but sadly I can't)

2) Which is the best prep material in terms of supplementing specific areas (i.e. bio/biochem, cars, etc)?

3) Best MCAT 2015 prep course (if you had to recommend one)?

Hopefully there will be a consensus from the poll, but of course it's a new MCAT and there is little information on it, but maybe there will be some interesting insight on this!

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[slow twitch]

This poll would only be useful if only those who have taken the 2015 MCAT and received a score voted.

 

[mcatjelly]

Compilation of Commentary on the New Exam

 

[Dreamstoo]

Compilation of Commentary on the New Exam

Right now I'm using solely TPR and those comments bother me... Their CARS is really good IMO. Physics is decent (book is OK but our in class instructor is very solid). The orgo TPR is very solid. General Chemistry is decent. The biology is great but I do agree it needs a Biochem supplement once you read through it once. I do have the TBR bio book 2 and plan to use that. I might buy Biochem KP.

 

[mcatjelly]

Right now I'm using solely TPR and those comments bother me... Their CARS is really good IMO. Physics is decent (book is OK but our in class instructor is very solid). The orgo TPR is very solid. General Chemistry is decent. The biology is great but I do agree it needs a Biochem supplement once you read through it once. I do have the TBR bio book 2 and plan to use that. I might buy Biochem KP.

Eh, take this stuff with a grain of salt. It's more how you study vs. what you study with.

 

[FauxBlue]

Eh, take this stuff with a grain of salt. It's more how you study vs. what you study with.

I do agree with the idea that it's more important on how you study, but it's interesting to see what most people favor in terms of prep material.

 

[FauxBlue]

This poll would only be useful if only those who have taken the 2015 MCAT and received a score voted.

I can only dream of a poll that would be able to filter the voters and verify their attempt at the 2015 MCAT, my friend. A man can only dream...

 

[mr.mkitty]

This poll would only be useful if only those who have taken the 2015 MCAT and received a score voted.

Used EK, thought it was great. scored a balanced 517

 

[DesitnationMD]

Used Khan videos for content, NextStep for passages and full length exams (should add them to the poll). I scored a psych-weak 516 on the June exam. Lots of changes I expect this winter as far as books, tests from the big companies. IMO EK will likely have to change the least as they waited months after everyone else to release their exams.

Kaplan books were meh, EK books were too simple for some of the science and was lacking lots of psych. NextStep books were bland and had too much non-testable info in them. I liked TPR content books best.

For practice tests it was EK followed closely by NextStep. TPR and Kaplan did not resemble the AAMC material that well. Never used any Berkley stuff. Again I expect a bunch of work to be done by these companies over winter.

 

[mr.mkitty]

Used Khan videos for content, NextStep for passages and full length exams (should add them to the poll). I scored a psych-weak 516 on the June exam. Lots of changes I expect this winter as far as books, tests from the big companies. IMO EK will likely have to change the least as they waited months after everyone else to release their exams.

Kaplan books were meh, EK books were too simple for some of the science and was lacking lots of psych. NextStep books were bland and had too much non-testable info in them. I liked TPR content books best.

For practice tests it was EK followed closely by NextStep. TPR and Kaplan did not resemble the AAMC material that well. Never used any Berkley stuff. Again I expect a bunch of work to be done by these companies over winter.

Definitely agree with your practice test analysis. I really liked EKs tests, and then also found NSs to be helpful.

 

[xerxesc]

Eh, take this stuff with a grain of salt. It's more how you study vs. what you study with.

So True! You have got to do tons of passages, tons! and then go over them...

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Eh, take this stuff with a grain of salt. It's more how you study vs. what you study with.

When I read this comment, I usually just scroll on by, but I want to add my $0.02 here. With all due respect, there is no way I could disagree more. What you study should depend 100% on how you study. Using the right materials for you is critical. Having done this for many, many years, I can tell you with 100% confidence that when a student matches with the style of their materials, they are more enthusiastic, retain more, and are able to make connections they failed to make in the past. The right materials are absolutely essential in this process.

For the people who recommend our materials, they no doubt connect with the style of integrating different sciences and appreciate the shortcuts and detailed explanations. That is what we do best. There must be a reason that our materials are far more popular than you'd expect from the amount of advertising and posting you see for the different materials. The fact that 25% recommend our materials for the new exam, despite us not promoting them, speaks volumes as to what a great resource they are. I am sure there are many people at SDN who have no idea our books exist, and had they used our books as their main resource would have been better prepared.

The point is, if you look at it realistically, even taking a classroom course will have you working form the study materials more than anything else (in terms of hours). So matching with your materials and choosing the best is probably the most important decision you make.

 

[learner01]

Used EK, thought it was great. scored a balanced 517

How did you deal with Biochem section! I didt feel EK helped me at all!

 

[mr.mkitty]

How did you deal with Biochem section! I didt feel EK helped me at all!

Well I started by paying very close attention in my undergrad biochem classes. Obviously this will help.
When I worked through the Biology books, I continously took notes in one notebook, and in another, I wrote down information/questions that I felt I weak on.
I also suggest getting the EK audio osmosis. A lot of the biology content is still pertinent to the new MCAT. The audio osmosis really helps to instill concepts.
You just need to make sure you are continually reinforcing the biochem concepts. Especially since most students haven't had a toonn of background like in basic biology.
Just my two-cents!

 

[learner01]

Well I started by paying very close attention in my undergrad biochem classes. Obviously this will help.
When I worked through the Biology books, I continously took notes in one notebook, and in another, I wrote down information/questions that I felt I weak on.
I also suggest getting the EK audio osmosis. A lot of the biology content is still pertinent to the new MCAT. The audio osmosis really helps to instill concepts.
You just need to make sure you are continually reinforcing the biochem concepts. Especially since most students haven't had a toonn of background like in basic biology.
Just my two-cents!

Thank you, my only fall is in Biochem since on my test there was hardly any biology , mostly biochem.. Appreciate the feed back, although how did you deal with the loooong articles they use for questions!

 

[ieatshrimp24]

Thank you, my only fall is in Biochem since on my test there was hardly any biology , mostly biochem.. Appreciate the feed back, although how did you deal with the loooong articles they use for questions!

I suggest to read the passage but do not analyze all the graphs/tables/charts they give you until a question specifically asks you about them. The current MCAT has long passages but they're really only long due to the graphs. Honestly, if a passage gave me three graphs, they would only test on one of them. You basically didn't need to know what the other graphs were talking about. Plus, sometimes there would be paragraphs outlining what the graphs mean. SKIP those. You'll save yourself a lot of time on really hard questions.

 

[learner01]

I suggest to read the passage but do not analyze all the graphs/tables/charts they give you until a question specifically asks you about them. The current MCAT has long passages but they're really only long due to the graphs. Honestly, if a passage gave me three graphs, they would only test on one of them. You basically didn't need to know what the other graphs were talking about. Plus, sometimes there would be paragraphs outlining what the graphs mean. SKIP those. You'll save yourself a lot of time on really hard questions.

Thank you , great point!