preparing for psychology/sociology and good MCAT practice exams

[MyOdyssey]

I'm interested in those who have taken the MCAT especially recently how best to prepare for the psychology/sociology sections of the new MCAT (including test prep companies with the best psychology/sociology preparation) and those test prep companies that put out the best sample MCAT practice questions (for all sections).

Which test prep companies put out really poor psychology/sociology prep materials or poor MCAT practice questions (for all sections)?

Are there any good textbooks in psychology/sociology that are useful for the MCAT?

Thanks!

@SnicknameU
@Sophist
@Lucca
@zerothirtyfive
@thirdfiddle
@dodolol21
@medappnervousomg

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[dodolol21]

I'm interested in those who have taken the MCAT especially recently how best to prepare for the psychology/sociology sections of the new MCAT (including test prep companies with the best psychology/sociology preparation) and those test prep companies that put out the best sample MCAT practice questions (for all sections).

Which test prep companies put out really poor psychology/sociology prep materials or poor MCAT practice questions (for all sections)?

Are there any good textbooks in psychology/sociology that are useful for the MCAT?

Thanks!

@SnicknameU
@Sophist
@Lucca
@zerothirtyfive
@thirdfiddle
@dodolol21
@medappnervousomg

r/MCAT on reddit has the Khan Academy P/S 300 page doc and Anki deck by premed95. Those are all you need for a 131/132

 

[deleted938090]

The best MCAT questions are the section banks and the full lengths, IMO. I read an introductory psych book and a sociology textbook online 2 months before the exam, and supplemented the reading with KA 300 page. Try barron's AP psych - it contains a good set of practice questions though not necessarily those you'd see on mcat.

 

[DPTinthemaking15]

I 100% agree with @dodolol21. Additionally, I would add the UWorld P/S passages at some point. I took the exam this past weekend and it made the pseudodisretes, discretes and a few of the experimental passages seem easier.

 

[thirdfiddle]

I used Khan Academy and the ANKI deck posted on the MCAT reddit. I would be cautious about using UWorld P/S before taking the AAMC practice Exams. There is a lot of overlap and may inflate your score on P/S.

 

[MyOdyssey]

I used Khan Academy and the ANKI deck posted on the MCAT reddit. I would be cautious about using UWorld P/S before taking the AAMC practice Exams. There is a lot of overlap and may inflate your score on P/S.

Thank you!

Do you mean that UWorld P/S essentially copies questions from the AAMC practice exams?

 

[MyOdyssey]

The best MCAT questions are the section banks and the full lengths, IMO. I read an introductory psych book and a sociology textbook online 2 months before the exam, and supplemented the reading with KA 300 page. Try barron's AP psych - it contains a good set of practice questions though not necessarily those you'd see on mcat.

Thank you!

Which intro psychology textbook and intro sociology book did you end up using?

 

[MyOdyssey]

Thanks to everyone who's responded so far.

A few follow up questions:

Regarding good practice questions, apart from official AAMC releases, who puts out the most AAMC-like questions - particularly for the integrated "passage" questions? (I mean to ask about all the MCAT subject areas.)

What's the best way to prepare for the experimental design/integrated P/S passages? Do these include a lot of statistical analysis?

Aside from official AAMC releases, who puts out the CARS practice questions that best mimic the real thing in terms of length and complexity?

I read on Reddit that there're a lot of CARS philosophy based passages. True/false?

 

[deleted938090]

Hello,
I read introducing psychology, giddens sociology, human geography people place and culture, constanzo physiology for neuro, and barrons book for psych. I read these cover to cover across 6 months casually as they are pretty readable and interesting.
Reviewed 300 PS notes 3 weeks before, took aamc fl 2 weeks before.

Edit: How long do you have to prepare for this? Much of what I read wasn't relevant to mcat at all and I'd highly recommend P/S 300 page on website b/c that's basically like 95% of everything on the test.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Hello,
I read introducing psychology, giddens sociology, human geography people place and culture, constanzo physiology for neuro, and barrons book for psych. I read these cover to cover across 6 months casually as they are pretty readable and interesting.
Reviewed 300 PS notes 3 weeks before, took aamc fl 2 weeks before.

Edit: How long do you have to prepare for this? Much of what I read wasn't relevant to mcat at all and I'd highly recommend P/S 300 page on website b/c that's basically like 95% of everything on the test.

I haven't signed up for the MCAT yet. Plan to take it sometime in 2019.

Right now, I'm trying to select classes that will help me prepare for the MCAT by trying to tease out topics I can self-study. Your post is very helpful in that regard.

 

[thirdfiddle]

Thank you!

Which intro psychology textbook and intro sociology book did you end up using?

I am non trad so I didnt really use a book. I read a non-text book called 'history of psychology'

 

[dodolol21]

Thanks to everyone who's responded so far.

A few follow up questions:

Regarding good practice questions, apart from official AAMC releases, who puts out the most AAMC-like questions - particularly for the integrated "passage" questions? (I mean to ask about all the MCAT subject areas.)

What's the best way to prepare for the experimental design/integrated P/S passages? Do these include a lot of statistical analysis?

Aside from official AAMC releases, who puts out the CARS practice questions that best mimic the real thing in terms of length and complexity?

I read on Reddit that there're a lot of CARS philosophy based passages. True/false?

I only advocate for Khan Academy and official AAMC material

 

[Tree1996]

Screw everything else except the Khan Academy videos for P/S. Before I watched them all, I was using Exam Krackers and couldn't break 126 on my practice AAMCs. Watched them all in a week, scored 130 on the real. Pretty atypical, but hey, if it works, it works.