POLL: Should I discontinue my Kaplan MCAT books and read the TPR books?

[BrownEMS]

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I just finished Kaplan Chemistry and Organic Chemistry books for content review. I still have to do the Biochemistry, Biology, Physics, CARS, Psychology/sociology.

So I have two options, continue and finish the Kaplan books. Or return them and buy the Princeton Review 7 book series (and read Biology, biochemistry, physics, CARS, psych)-in the TPR I would not read the O-chem or chemistry books as I am in a time constraint.

Money is not an issue, so don't factor this into your decision. I want the best for content review. It seems TPR here is a fan favorite. Should I go there for the rest of my content review?

I can get my hands on the TPR books in 2 days (amazon prime).

 

[BrownEMS]

It would also help if you can provide a comment revealing your rationale!

 

[ScreenName23]

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I just finished Kaplan Chemistry and Organic Chemistry books for content review. I still have to do the Biochemistry, Biology, Physics, CARS, Psychology/sociology.

So I have two options, continue and finish the Kaplan books. Or return them and buy the Princeton Review 7 book series (and read Biology, biochemistry, physics, CARS, psych)-in the TPR I would not read the O-chem or chemistry books as I am in a time constraint.

Money is not an issue, so don't factor this into your decision. I want the best for content review. It seems TPR here is a fan favorite. Should I go there for the rest of my content review?

I can get my hands on the TPR books in 2 days (amazon prime).

It's probably not important. I used TPR myself, but from what I saw when I was looking into it, each book set has strengths and weaknesses. As long as you have a book set and you take the time to learn that content, you'll be fine. So IMO stick with Kaplan, the set of books you use is not as important as how you use them.
Good luck!

 

[ciestar]

It would also help if you can provide a comment revealing your rationale!

Really don't have much of one other than I liked TPR and TBR better for content review but Kaplan was better for practice tests than TPR

 

[TheBiologist]

both have the same content, however TPR review 7 book set has both freestanding questions AND passage questions at the end of each chapter; Kaplan 7-book only has freestanding

imo tpr >Kaplan

 

[Titus Andromedon]

I used only Kaplan. I thought they did a good job of content review.

 

[787593]

both have the same content, however TPR review 7 book set has both freestanding questions AND passage questions at the end of each chapter; Kaplan 7-book only has freestanding

imo tpr >Kaplan

The Kaplan passage questions are accessed online, I think

 

[787593]

I just finished Kaplan Chemistry and Organic Chemistry books for content review. I still have to do the Biochemistry, Biology, Physics, CARS, Psychology/sociology.

So I have two options, continue and finish the Kaplan books. Or return them and buy the Princeton Review 7 book series (and read Biology, biochemistry, physics, CARS, psych)-in the TPR I would not read the O-chem or chemistry books as I am in a time constraint.

Money is not an issue, so don't factor this into your decision. I want the best for content review. It seems TPR here is a fan favorite. Should I go there for the rest of my content review?

I can get my hands on the TPR books in 2 days (amazon prime).

Team Kaplan here!

 

[studentdocftw]

I did Kap for content review --> 514+. I thought Kaplan was solid for foundation..not the best source for practice tho. Get the FLs for that. FWIW, I thought Kap was best for the hard sciences (Bio, Chem, Physics, Biochem, Orgo, etc.) I thought the Psych/Soc and Verbal sections were weak. JMHO.

 

[SwordOfTheMorning]

The Kaplan passage questions are accessed online, I think

Only select chapters from each book. I believe they only let you access practice passages for 2 chapters from each book. The rest only come with the expensive class option.

OP, I personally mixed and matched. My chem and physics knowledge was lacking since I took them a while back, so I used TPR for those two subjects since I thought they did a better job on those subjects than Kaplan. But I used Kaplan for biochem and psych/soc.

Both Kaplan and TPR still include topics in their physics books that are no longer tested on the MCAT though, which I skipped, like AC circuits and momentum.

 

[787593]

Only select chapters from each book. I believe they only let you access practice passages for 2 chapters from each book. The rest only come with the expensive class option.

OP, I personally mixed and matched. My chem and physics knowledge was lacking since I took them a while back, so I used TPR for those two subjects since I thought they were better. But I used Kaplan for biochem and psych/soc.

Both Kaplan and TPR still include topics in their physics books that are no longer tested on the MCAT though, which I skipped, like AC circuits and momentum.

Team expensive class option!

 

[787593]

Team expensive class option!

Team I spent all my money and the class wasn't super helpful!

Team the content review was still amazing!
Team the practice exams were super hard!

 

[7331poas]

People who dont realize EK is better than both of them

 

[787593]

People who dont realize EK is better than both of them

#TeamKaplan

 

[pioneer22]

opinions on The Berkeley Review content books?

 

[redsox93]

I used kaplan and supplemented with berkley for stuff I felt weak on. TBR has a ton of really good passage based questions so I would go with that instead of buying another set of review books which are more or less the same. You could also go with Khan academy which is free and covers the info really well. But honestly practice problems >>>>> content review in my opinion.

 

[mistafab]

Doesn't matter.

 

[ifnotnowwren]

Is there a reason you are thinking of jumping ship? When I was studying, the internet consensus seemed to be that TBR was the way to go, so I went out and bought the whole set and HATED the way it was written, I didn't find it intuitive, I found myself getting bored, bogged down in the details, and unable to focus. I borrowed a friend's TPR review and found that it on the other hand did not have enough context for me. I found that a mix of Exam Krackers and Kaplan were the perfect fit for what I wanted to be getting out of my content review. No one can tell you what book set will work for you. They theoretically all contain the same content, you are going to get the most out of the book set YOU like the best. Don't jump ship purely because one is a "fan favorite", if the one you are using is working well for you. If it's not working well for you, then look into other options.