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Ok I need honest opinions comparing all three formats. Which is the most comprehensive review and the most effective?
Princeton vs Kaplan vs Examkracker
- Thread starter Telekinesis
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TPR if you have all their materials including the verbal and science workbooks.
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Berkeley ... See SN2ed's 3 month study plan ... He combines this with other books EK, PR ect ...
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Isn' the Berkeley review regional though?
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The classroom BR course is in only available in California, however their home study course (which has awesome materials) can be purchased by anyone. 🙂
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Order early ... BR has an archaic order system ... All mail in ... two week turnaround
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How about you look around the forum and read what people say about the resources? The 30+ MCAT thread is a good place to start.
You're not going to get good or comprehensive reviews in this thread.
You're not going to get good or comprehensive reviews in this thread.
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When comparing only the three listed, TPRH is the best. Again, that's with the H, i.e. the Hyperlearning series. It contains very good, albeit detailed (sometimes overly so), content review across the board compared to the other two. Plus, the Hyperlearning workbooks offer a decent amount of practice material. Still, too many discretes, but good all the same.
For EK, it's great if, and only if, you have a very strong background in the pre-reqs AND you only need a brief refresher. If there's any doubt about whether this will work for you, get another set.
Kaplan is so-so. Is it absolutely horrible, no. However, the other sources explain topics better, give more helpful tricks, provide more AND better practice material, etc. When other sources do something so much better, what's the point in using a source that's merely decent at best? The standout aspect of the Kaplan program is its online practice material. Unfortunately, that's over-priced and the passages aren't as good as TPRH or BR. Kaplan's verbal, well, yeah....
BR is okay strictly in terms of content review. The book overall is worth it for the bio passages which are pretty close to the current MCAT. Overall, if you want a detailed approach, TPRH does it better; if you want a non-detailed approach, EK is better. Again, BR Bio is great for the passages, but not so great for content review. If you do go with EK and BR, use EK as your primary content review source and BR to fill in the gaps if necessary.
Biology: 1. EK Bio (for content) + BR Bio (for passages and further topic depth if needed) 2. TPR Hyperlearning, detail oriented 3. Kaplan
Physics: 1. BR (2011 by far) 2. Nova 3. TPR Hyperlearning 4. EK/Kaplan
Verbal: 1. EK 101 Verbal 2. TPR Hyperlearning Verbal Workbook 3. BR 4. Kaplan (Avoid if possible)
Organic Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan
General Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan
Extra Practice Material: 1. TPR Hyperlearing Science Workbook, good source of practice passages 1. AAMC Official Guide to the MCAT Exam (most representative material available) 2. EK 1001 series, helps nail down basics
For EK, it's great if, and only if, you have a very strong background in the pre-reqs AND you only need a brief refresher. If there's any doubt about whether this will work for you, get another set.
Kaplan is so-so. Is it absolutely horrible, no. However, the other sources explain topics better, give more helpful tricks, provide more AND better practice material, etc. When other sources do something so much better, what's the point in using a source that's merely decent at best? The standout aspect of the Kaplan program is its online practice material. Unfortunately, that's over-priced and the passages aren't as good as TPRH or BR. Kaplan's verbal, well, yeah....
BR is okay strictly in terms of content review. The book overall is worth it for the bio passages which are pretty close to the current MCAT. Overall, if you want a detailed approach, TPRH does it better; if you want a non-detailed approach, EK is better. Again, BR Bio is great for the passages, but not so great for content review. If you do go with EK and BR, use EK as your primary content review source and BR to fill in the gaps if necessary.
Biology: 1. EK Bio (for content) + BR Bio (for passages and further topic depth if needed) 2. TPR Hyperlearning, detail oriented 3. Kaplan
Physics: 1. BR (2011 by far) 2. Nova 3. TPR Hyperlearning 4. EK/Kaplan
Verbal: 1. EK 101 Verbal 2. TPR Hyperlearning Verbal Workbook 3. BR 4. Kaplan (Avoid if possible)
Organic Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan
General Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan
Extra Practice Material: 1. TPR Hyperlearing Science Workbook, good source of practice passages 1. AAMC Official Guide to the MCAT Exam (most representative material available) 2. EK 1001 series, helps nail down basics
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To offer a counter-opinion: I don't think the BR Bio book is good for passages at all. This is coming from someone who has consistently gotten 14-15s on the AAMC tests (as well as on the real one...to be discussed in another post), and I would have done just fine without the BR Bio book.
Some may say the BR Bio is okay if you want something more detailed (for content), but I also disagree with this. If you want to know something more thoroughly than the level EK gives you, it's probably best if you just look it up yourself online.
To get a top notch score, you're going to want to know the EK book thoroughly, and solve everything else with your intuition and outside knowledge (from classes, books, or real-life experiences). Knowing the BR Bio book cover to cover may be an okay substitute, but studying the book to that extent may be one of the worst ways you can spend your valuable study time.
Besides the questions in the EK book, I used the TPRH Science Workbook and I found it useful to practice my timing. The BR Bio book literally just sat on my shelf after I looked through it and tried taking a few of the passages, deciding that it just wouldn't be worth my time.
If you have the time, and the money, you may find some use out of it, but otherwise I wouldn't give it a second thought if you aren't able to get a copy of it.
Some may say the BR Bio is okay if you want something more detailed (for content), but I also disagree with this. If you want to know something more thoroughly than the level EK gives you, it's probably best if you just look it up yourself online.
To get a top notch score, you're going to want to know the EK book thoroughly, and solve everything else with your intuition and outside knowledge (from classes, books, or real-life experiences). Knowing the BR Bio book cover to cover may be an okay substitute, but studying the book to that extent may be one of the worst ways you can spend your valuable study time.
Besides the questions in the EK book, I used the TPRH Science Workbook and I found it useful to practice my timing. The BR Bio book literally just sat on my shelf after I looked through it and tried taking a few of the passages, deciding that it just wouldn't be worth my time.
If you have the time, and the money, you may find some use out of it, but otherwise I wouldn't give it a second thought if you aren't able to get a copy of it.
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So would it be possible to use EK as the primary and TPR as a secondary source if one can't get ahold of the BR?
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Go with Examkrackers books and audio😍. The first time I studied for the MCAT I used Kaplan and I got a 28. The second time I used Examkrackers and got a 36. Kaplan focuses more on calculations where as Examkrackers teaches the concepts involved in understanding the material. I feel the real MCAT is much less calculation driven than the older AAMC examinations that Kaplan used to generate their course content. Kaplan puts great emphasis on pure calculations and unfortunately for me this didn't transition into point obtainment on my first test day experience.
Obviously at the end of the day your MCAT score will reflect the effort you put into studying and it is important that you find a study source that coincides with your natural learning style. Give the Examkracker books a shot, but if the format doesnt seem to match well I would find something else that does. Look through the material and find what you like best...I didn't do this when I prepared initially and now I really wished I would have.
Good Luck studying and I hope you do great
!
Obviously at the end of the day your MCAT score will reflect the effort you put into studying and it is important that you find a study source that coincides with your natural learning style. Give the Examkracker books a shot, but if the format doesnt seem to match well I would find something else that does. Look through the material and find what you like best...I didn't do this when I prepared initially and now I really wished I would have.
Good Luck studying and I hope you do great
!
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I just took the TPR HL course and wrote May20th.. I think it was absolutely excellent.. all my tutors were PhDs or at the end of their PhDs, very experienced and very knowledgable, with maybe the exception of Bio who had a keener student that had just started an MD. The course is *intense*.. mine was 10 hrs of classroom a week, from Mid-Jan to end of March. Add onto that easily another 10 hours to keep up with readings and prep, and it is already a big commitment.
I am also doing my PhD full-time.. so my only regret is that I didn't have enough time to make use of *all* the materials. There is a HUUUUGE amount of practice material online from TPR. I think if you could truly dedicate all your time to it, you will be very well prepared (although perhaps I should wait to comment on that till I get my score back..lol 🙂 )
My only disappointment was that there was for sure 1 thing (a single FSQ) on the real exam that I am positive was not covered in the TPR course (a biol question). However, if you used POE and your brain, you could get it right.
I am also doing my PhD full-time.. so my only regret is that I didn't have enough time to make use of *all* the materials. There is a HUUUUGE amount of practice material online from TPR. I think if you could truly dedicate all your time to it, you will be very well prepared (although perhaps I should wait to comment on that till I get my score back..lol 🙂 )
My only disappointment was that there was for sure 1 thing (a single FSQ) on the real exam that I am positive was not covered in the TPR course (a biol question). However, if you used POE and your brain, you could get it right.
