Purchase 3 NS FLs or UWorld Access for MCAT studying

[medgal98]

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Not sure if I should invest $100 on 3 NextStep practice exams (which many people say are most representative of the MCAT aside from AAMC material) or $200 on the basic UWorld Access?

 

[dadnicetomeetyouhungry]

Do the Uworld. I was debating the same thing when studying for the MCAT a few months ago. I only took the first free NextStep exam but it wrecked me and seemed very content-heavy - I didn’t need to know much of the nitty gritty information NS tested on to get a decent score on the real thing (518). Also their P/S was really fishy, in my opinion. The thing is, Uworld’s explanations are second to none, particularly for P/S, and their bio/biochem passages have a similar feel to the ones you’ll see on test day. I for sure wouldn’t have gotten close to the score I did without Uworld. Just my 2 cents

 

[1uhbedoc]

I did UWorld last year during MCAT prep and I'd preface my answer to how you'd be utilizing these resources. I'd say in general, practice questions are designed to help test content knowledge whereas FL are better for simulating the real thing so you know exactly what to expect. That sounds like a "duh" thing to note, however, if you're specifically looking at purchasing one of these just to bang out practice questions, definitely go with UWorld. If you're a couple weeks out from your MCAT and you've already done the bulk of your review, go with NextStep. I agree with the above poster about UWorld's explanations. They are absolutely second-to-none. I actually ended up ditching the majority of my textbook review once starting the questions bc they cover everything you need to know and explain why and how answers are incorrect, not just that they are wrong. Best of luck.

 

[medgal98]

Do the Uworld. I was debating the same thing when studying for the MCAT a few months ago. I only took the first free NextStep exam but it wrecked me and seemed very content-heavy - I didn’t need to know much of the nitty gritty information NS tested on to get a decent score on the real thing (518). Also their P/S was really fishy, in my opinion. The thing is, Uworld’s explanations are second to none, particularly for P/S, and their bio/biochem passages have a similar feel to the ones you’ll see on test day. I for sure wouldn’t have gotten close to the score I did without Uworld. Just my 2 cents

Thank you! I’ll go with UWorld. When do you think I should start using it? I have 8 months to study but I’ll be taking classes/working/volunteering/doing lab work simultaneously. I was thinking of doing UWorld during my content review stage as practice questions to solidify what I read in the Kaplan books.

 

[medgal98]

I did UWorld last year during MCAT prep and I'd preface my answer to how you'd be utilizing these resources. I'd say in general, practice questions are designed to help test content knowledge whereas FL are better for simulating the real thing so you know exactly what to expect. That sounds like a "duh" thing to note, however, if you're specifically looking at purchasing one of these just to bang out practice questions, definitely go with UWorld. If you're a couple weeks out from your MCAT and you've already done the bulk of your review, go with NextStep. I agree with the above poster about UWorld's explanations. They are absolutely second-to-none. I actually ended up ditching the majority of my textbook review once starting the questions bc they cover everything you need to know and explain why and how answers are incorrect, not just that they are wrong. Best of luck.

Thank you! I’m about to start content review so it seems like uworld is the winner