PRINCETON REVIEW PREP BOOKS VS. PRINCETON FLOWERS & SILVER BOOKS

[ocdave]

I already posted this once but only one person gave me their input. Please help! Does anyone know what the difference is between the Princeton review MCAT book available in bookstores (by Flowers & Silver) and the books that Princeton gives to its prep course students is? I've heard that the prep course books are by different authors and I know that they are a set of books with an in class compendium rather than the one lump book like the Flowers & Silver book. Do the Prep course books actually offer better prep? Are they organized better? Is the material better? Do the questions regarding each topic directly follow that topic as in the Flowers & Silver book? I hear Princeton?s verbal and writing sample prep is great, but when people say this are they talking about the Flowers & Silver book or the Prep Course Books? Could someone please shed some light on this for me?

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[Anthropic]

Maybe only one person knew about Flowers & Silver.

I have no clue about them, myself.

If you want to bump your thread to the top of the list, just go back in and post in it again.

Bump........

 

[willthatsall]

I'm answering this time because it is all in bold. I can guarantee the course books cover more material because they are much thicker. I haven't read either of them, though. I don't know many people who use TPR Flower and Silver. Probably better off with Kaplan or EK.

 

[bella_dottoressa]

Yeah I don't think they are the same. I got a PR Science Workbook from someone who took the class; only way to get the books is thru taking the course is what I'm thinking. I see that book you're referring to in bookstores too...doesn't seem too popular. Better off sticking w/ Kaplan and/or EK as the previous poster suggested

 

[Phil Anthropist]

I've seen F&S and the PR course books and they are very, very different. Flip through both of them and you'll see what I mean.

Flowers and Silver should probably be at one of your local bookstores. Take a look at it and decide for yourself. But it looked like it was lacking some rather important information. For example, I don't think it even mentioned blood groups.

PR's MCAT (Hyperlearning) course is obviously more expensive than the F&S book, but it's better to pay money for good books then screw yourself over buying lower quality books in an attempt to save money (but there's a definite blackmarket--see Ebay). The new PR course books consist of many books:

*Science Review Q and A: it's just a booklet with a bunch of questions--kinda like kaplan flashcards, except less user-friendly
*Verbal/Writing Review--verbal strategies look stupid, writing isn't too important
*Verbal Workbook--Has practice passages and four full length verbal tests, some sample prompts too I think (but you can get free straight from the AAMC--again, not very important)
*In Class compendium--practice passages, answers explained only on the website
*Physical Sciences Review--Rather large Gen Chem and Physics review (it's like a condensed textbook).
*Biological Sciences Review--Rather large Bio and Orgo (it's like a condensed textbook). It looks very detailed. The bio section has questions contained in the text as you read it--I think it's helpful.
*Science Workbook--A BUNCH of passages in physical and biological for practice
*Practice Tests A-D-- book of 4 tests that are supposed to be harder than the real thing (I haven't actually worked through any so I can't say). Last I looked, they weren't in the proper order (physical-verbal-writing-biological), but you can deal with that

Well hope that helps.