I am taking a Kaplan course... I was wondering what specific books I should get from EK or PR... are the EK1001 useful?
Recommended EK and PR books
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Originally Posted by TheBoondocks 
This question gets asked like every three days. In short, EK series are stripped down with the basics you need to know. Get EK bio, it is by far the best for bio, all the responses on SDN say this. Know this book cold. If you don't believe me, type in EK bio in the search function. Personally, you learn the best from passages, If you have time and the cash I highly suggest purchasing Berkeley Review Gen Chem and Ochem. There physics is good too, but with PR it may be redundant. You will thank me later. You'll probably want EK biology review and EK 101 biology passages and EK verbal 101. PR is good, however, if you want to kill the MCAT you have to be able to integrate material. That's what BR does better than anyone else. Like, be able to answer questions if you see the circulatory system wired in parallel series.
bio - 1. EK bio and 101 bio passages 2. Kaplan 3. PR/BR however, these don't suck, they're just detailed which turns off many people.
Physics 1. BR/Nova 2. PR 3. Kaplan I really think BR but they're are a lot of people who swear by Nova on this site
Verbal 1. Ek verbal and 101 passages 2. PR 3. BR 4. Kaplan (read stay from)
Gen Chem 1. BR by far 2. PR 3. Kaplan/EK
O Chem 1. BR by far 2. toss up between Kaplan/PR/Ek
That is a general list of what i have read on SDN for the past 4 years, i came here and lurked throughout highschool. Good luck and hopefully this will help. EK is for people who KNOW the material and want review. If you are weak in something BR is the best since it's the most detailed and PR is detailed too, Kaplan is in the Middle, and EK is the least detailed but that doesn't mean it's bad. Just depends on the person. If you can I would buy the BR Chemistry books and Physics book. If you complete the PR science workbook along with BR passages and EK bio, you will kill the sciences. Ek Verbal should help you out with verbal.
About the EK 1001 series:
Definitely get Verbal 101 and Bio 1001.
For the other EK 1001 books, yeah, I'd still get them. I thought they really helped me nail down my understanding of the various topics. Through using the physics especially, I found that I didn't understand some things as well as I would like. Furthermore, for whatever reason, they helped me visual the problem in the head and made the equations intuitive to use. Plus, doing more timed practice problems is always a good thing.
The only negative for the non-bio and VR practice books is that they aren't in the right format (unless you think of them as tons of discretes). Nevertheless, they were very helpful for the above reasons. Lastly, this problem would be alleviated by the BR books and EK content books containing practice passages. There's also the practice tests as well.
This question gets asked like every three days. In short, EK series are stripped down with the basics you need to know. Get EK bio, it is by far the best for bio, all the responses on SDN say this. Know this book cold. If you don't believe me, type in EK bio in the search function. Personally, you learn the best from passages, If you have time and the cash I highly suggest purchasing Berkeley Review Gen Chem and Ochem. There physics is good too, but with PR it may be redundant. You will thank me later. You'll probably want EK biology review and EK 101 biology passages and EK verbal 101. PR is good, however, if you want to kill the MCAT you have to be able to integrate material. That's what BR does better than anyone else. Like, be able to answer questions if you see the circulatory system wired in parallel series.
bio - 1. EK bio and 101 bio passages 2. Kaplan 3. PR/BR however, these don't suck, they're just detailed which turns off many people.
Physics 1. BR/Nova 2. PR 3. Kaplan I really think BR but they're are a lot of people who swear by Nova on this site
Verbal 1. Ek verbal and 101 passages 2. PR 3. BR 4. Kaplan (read stay from)
Gen Chem 1. BR by far 2. PR 3. Kaplan/EK
O Chem 1. BR by far 2. toss up between Kaplan/PR/Ek
That is a general list of what i have read on SDN for the past 4 years, i came here and lurked throughout highschool. Good luck and hopefully this will help. EK is for people who KNOW the material and want review. If you are weak in something BR is the best since it's the most detailed and PR is detailed too, Kaplan is in the Middle, and EK is the least detailed but that doesn't mean it's bad. Just depends on the person. If you can I would buy the BR Chemistry books and Physics book. If you complete the PR science workbook along with BR passages and EK bio, you will kill the sciences. Ek Verbal should help you out with verbal.
About the EK 1001 series:
Definitely get Verbal 101 and Bio 1001.
For the other EK 1001 books, yeah, I'd still get them. I thought they really helped me nail down my understanding of the various topics. Through using the physics especially, I found that I didn't understand some things as well as I would like. Furthermore, for whatever reason, they helped me visual the problem in the head and made the equations intuitive to use. Plus, doing more timed practice problems is always a good thing.
The only negative for the non-bio and VR practice books is that they aren't in the right format (unless you think of them as tons of discretes). Nevertheless, they were very helpful for the above reasons. Lastly, this problem would be alleviated by the BR books and EK content books containing practice passages. There's also the practice tests as well.
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This post is in reply to a PM.
Honestly, no verbal book is worth getting for its strategy. The reason why one picks one verbal book over another is for the quality of its practice passages. You can easily find tons of effective verbal strategies all over the place. Take a look at the MCAT FAQ for its section on verbal help. There are around 10 or so threads dedicated to the topic. However, verbal strategy ultimately comes down to personal technique.
Here's my favorite verbal guide written by Vihsadas: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6022602&postcount=96
Kaplan is okay. I didn't think their practice passages were as bad as some people made them out to be. Don't get me wrong, I would still use them last out of the big companies.
Honestly, no verbal book is worth getting for its strategy. The reason why one picks one verbal book over another is for the quality of its practice passages. You can easily find tons of effective verbal strategies all over the place. Take a look at the MCAT FAQ for its section on verbal help. There are around 10 or so threads dedicated to the topic. However, verbal strategy ultimately comes down to personal technique.
Here's my favorite verbal guide written by Vihsadas: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6022602&postcount=96
Kaplan is okay. I didn't think their practice passages were as bad as some people made them out to be. Don't get me wrong, I would still use them last out of the big companies.
