POLL: Prep company or college-course textbook for MCAT content review?

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

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Back when I was studying for my MCAT, I realized that many prep companies that offer a condensed content review for MCAT subjects are not so great at doing so. I feel that if a student is weak in a subject area they should just crack open an old college textbook to really learn the fundamentals and carry them throughout.

 

[partypantss]

Don't use a normal textbook for general content review, that's way too much detail. You're going to read a textbook for each subject? That's at least 1 bio textbook, gen chem, o chem, physics, psych.... Just buy the prep company's set.

If you have some undergrad texts that you really like, just use them for clarification/ a bit more detail when you struggle with a topic.

 

[Lawpy]

Khan Academy is very good at covering content well (especially psych/soc). It's also free. Accompanying passages for each section are also valuable.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Don't use a normal textbook for general content review, that's way too much detail. You're going to read a textbook for each subject? That's at least 1 bio textbook, gen chem, o chem, physics, psych.... Just buy the prep company's set.

If you have some undergrad texts that you really like, just use them for clarification/ a bit more detail when you struggle with a topic.

I only said that students should study a topic (not an entire subject, let alone all of them for each subject). If a student has to read that much because they struggle with content for each subject, then they aren't ready to even think about the MCAT.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Never use a college textbook as MCAT study. Just use Khan academy. Covers the necessary topics very succinctly and efficiently

 

[@Hazel-rah]

I used textbooks. I had a bio, chem, o chem, biochem, physics, sociology, and genetics textbook. It was a very heavy stack!
I went through the "What's in the MCAT" document line by line, reading relevant chapters/sections using the index and watching Kahn if I needed reinforcement... My Kaplan books had really crappy pictures, no examples, or diagrams. I like textbooks, but I'm obviously in the minority.

 

[RunawayGrape]

Buy review books from a test prep company and use Khan Academy's free online videos to supplement your studying. You could also use textbooks to fill in the gaps, but I found that to be pretty inefficient. No need to enroll in a course of any kind as long as you're able to maintain your focus and motivation.

Check out The Berkeley Review. They have arguably the best MCAT review books.

 

[lpp06]

College Textbooks are too dense for the MCAT - the test, though partially driven by knowledge of content, focuses on the application of fundamental ideas. For instance - to use a biochem text book because you are struggling with Glycolysis is going to give you way too much detail about the mechanism of action and structure at each enzyme's active site and is overkill.

 

[begoood95]

I second the Berkeley Review. They're the "most detailed" of all the third party MCAT prep companies, but I thought it was perfect. I definitely owe my high score to their books and test strategies sprinkled throughout each section.

That and Examkracker's full length tests. Best combo ever: AAMC practice exams/section banks + BR content + EK FL's = happy pre-med with high MCAT score.

 

[popholdinitdown]

Hardwork, dedication, prep company book, Khan academy and practice tests are all you need to score 515+.

Source: Got a 520

 

[bannie22]

There is no debate. I cant even fancy this being a question.

You can open a college textbook if you were looking to specialize in that field though... ie PhD

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I think the reason I feel this way is because the prep company I used offered content review books that were extremely oversimplified and didn't contain about 30% of material That was supposed to be covered

 

[aldol16]

There's nothing wrong with using textbooks but it'll take you forever to go through content review. I would suggest using the prep books and then on subjects you are still shaky/not comfortable with after that, consult the relevant section in the textbook. You shouldn't have to do that too much because content review should be just that - review, not learning the material from scratch.