Righty123

[Righty123]

So I've been perusing through the materials I have and I feel quite overwhelmed. I have all the books from TPR, and I currently am enrolled in Kaplan. Would you guys recommend that I only focus my attention on the Kaplan prep course, or should I follow my current schedule of reading both books simulaneously. I would read the required chapters in Kaplan, then reinforce the topics covered by reading TPR book (both have different styles of presenting the information.) I figure that if I just follow one course, I would be able to dive into taking practice test much earlier.

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[LaDoctorFutura]

I had the same situation a couple months ago with having both review books and enrolled in Kaplan. I personally read and studied only Kaplan until I took the tests and throughout the class time and then focused on reading the material from TPR that i lacked on from the test breakdown that Kaplan gives after every test. So, a couple weeks into it, i was combining reading materials because TPR gives better basic info whereas Kaplan gets down to details.

I would advise reading TPR to get the gist and when you have that down, read Kaplan to iron out all the exceptions and reinforce what you learned. Also, I bought Examkrackers with about three weeks until the April MCAT and found that material to be easy reading and understanding with dynamite questions at the end of each chapter. I obviously didn't have a lot of time to utilize it, but I do believe in its capability to teach you well without the hassle.

But, with any method that you choose to study, remember DO NOT STUDY WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW. It gets very comfortable rereading the stuff you get because you feel comfortable. Feeling uncomfortable will eventually lead to comfort as far as your score is concerned.

Good luck and happy studying!

 

[Righty123]

I had the same situation a couple months ago with having both review books and enrolled in Kaplan. I personally read and studied only Kaplan until I took the tests and throughout the class time and then focused on reading the material from TPR that i lacked on from the test breakdown that Kaplan gives after every test. So, a couple weeks into it, i was combining reading materials because TPR gives better basic info whereas Kaplan gets down to details.

I would advise reading TPR to get the gist and when you have that down, read Kaplan to iron out all the exceptions and reinforce what you learned. Also, I bought Examkrackers with about three weeks until the April MCAT and found that material to be easy reading and understanding with dynamite questions at the end of each chapter. I obviously didn't have a lot of time to utilize it, but I do believe in its capability to teach you well without the hassle.

But, with any method that you choose to study, remember DO NOT STUDY WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW. It gets very comfortable rereading the stuff you get because you feel comfortable. Feeling uncomfortable will eventually lead to comfort as far as your score is concerned.

Good luck and happy studying!

If you just read TPR, how were you able to keep up with the Kaplan course?

 

[Centinel]

Commented on this already to Nassir. But I'll state it again. DON"T MIX MATCH COURSE BOOKS. If you want optimal scores try to stick with one strategy and use that all the way through. you'll do just fine by looking at Kaplan only. Many have gotten 30-36 just by knowing the Kaplan books only and knowing them well and being confident and doing the practice, etc. etc. etc. etc.

Gotta disagree. I did both Kaplan and ExamKrackers books and would highly recommend to anyone to do the same.

 

[biggoron42]

I also mixed Kaplan and ExamKrackers. Mixing books doesn't mean mixing up strategies. I simply preferred the EK books for subject review (full-color layout, engaging writing, etc.) and the Kaplan practice items for...practice. Besides, what is so bad about mixing strategies? Even though I didn't do it, I have heard of lots of people saying that they use EK Verbal as well as Kaplan Bio/PS strategies, because that's what worked for them. Basically, you still have 2 months to figure out what works for you...there is still time to experiment.

 

[gluon999]

To the OP, I suggest you read the Kaplan books, then do a few subject tests in each section to assess your strengths and weaknesses and start hammering away at those AAMC and Kaplan full lengths.

 

[lastrun82]

if i were you i'd use just kaplan, as it covers all the material you'll have to know

regardless of which set of books you use, do a lot of practice problems, reading the material multiple times is just going to be a waste of time...it takes a bit of practice to get used to the format and difficulty of mcat questions