Shaum's is overkill right?

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doc3232

doc3232

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Shaum's is overkill right?
I read old threads...too controversial.
I read AP Cliffs and took notes. And did Kaplan also.
 
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I have Schaums Bio, Gchem and Ochem. Last year when I took the DAT I only used Barron's AP Bio. Comparing those two I feel that Schaums covers more but also gives way to much indepth information. It is almost overwhelming.

That being said, I do not have a strong background in general biology so I like Schaums, however, found Barron's AP Bio to be an easier read.

I too am wondering about cliffs and thinking maybe I should give up Schaums.
 
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rdhdds1 said:
I have Schaums Bio, Gchem and Ochem. Last year when I took the DAT I only used Barron's AP Bio. Comparing those two I feel that Schaums covers more but also gives way to much indepth information. It is almost overwhelming.

That being said, I do not have a strong background in general biology so I like Schaums, however, found Barron's AP Bio to be an easier read.

I too am wondering about cliffs and thinking maybe I should give up Schaums.
Click to expand...

I've found CliffsAP Biology to be great. It is easy to read, on topic with DAT material and the right amount of in depth for the DAT practice tests I've taken thus far.
 
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yea cliffs is good especially the questions at the end of each chapter & the two practice tests that they have given.

But I actually used schaums more b/c it has more pictures and examples. I feel like cliffs sometimes doesn't go in depth but schaums goes way too much in depth. I wish there would be something in between. I guess you should be able to figure out what part to focus on in schaums & what to ignore.

Basically I prefer schuams coz i feel like cliffs ignores some stuff.
 
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I looove Cliffs, very easy to read and full of information. I haven't used Schaums, but from the sounds of it, it is overkill. But I guess if you have extra time to kill [studying], why not put in the effort? It's up to you.
 
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PatchJoe said:
Actually if you read Campbell, Schaum's, Cliffs, Examkrackers MCAT bio and DAT GRE Bio over and over and over again, you can pretty much take the test knowing you have given it your all on the Bio section.
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Now that's what I call "OVERKILL". Just kidding. Actually, good for you if you got the motivation and time to do that. You'll probably be in good shape for the bio section.
 
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schaums was really long and hard to read, but it's probably worth it if you have the time. i read through, but use it mainly as a reference for things i'm not that comfortable with.

oh, and barons was pretty lame... i don't think i read anything helpful in it. >_<
 
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I read through Schaum's in 2 days, but, honestly, I really doubt I retained much of the information. The only things I really remember are the dumb little stories like the one about the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
 
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dontwakeme said:
I read through Schaum's in 2 days, but, honestly, I really doubt I retained much of the information. The only things I really remember are the dumb little stories like the one about the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
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hahahaha
 
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which schaums did u have if u read it in 2 days...the one with like 150 pages or the one with 400 pages..bc damn that is awesome if u were able to go through the 400 pages in 2 days it took me 2 weeks to go through it bout 4 hours a day
 
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Definately not, the real dat had weird questions, read read read the campbells book if u really want to do well.
 
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But, isn't overkill a good thing? If I remember correctly, I thought you were shooting for 30 on every section.
 
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Yep, I read through the 430 page Schaum's bio in 2 days. But, like I said, I really don't remember much of it. It was all a blur. After that, though, Cliffs was a walk in the park.
 
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Bruinlove said:
But, isn't overkill a good thing? If I remember correctly, I thought you were shooting for 30 on every section.
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Ya, so over the time since I posted this, I went through about half of it.
Didn't take more than 3 hours because it was mostly stuff I knew.
Also I found a lot of it to contain names of biologists and what not, which was useless for us.
 
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doc3232 said:
Ya, so over the time since I posted this, I went through about half of it.
Didn't take more than 3 hours because it was mostly stuff I knew.
Also I found a lot of it to contain names of biologists and what not, which was useless for us.
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I don't get the point of this thread. If your mind is set on cliffs then why ask every1?
 
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schaums was overkill. i didnt' like this book. I highly recommend princeton review hyperlearning MCAT biological science section book.
 
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dent2009 said:
Sure. But what you should do is read the entire campbell book. Then you cover all your bases!
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Testbook=:boom:



Schaumms=😴 :bang:

Both have too much information. Cliffs is pretty good, and just supplement it with wiki and destroyer.
 
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klutzy1987 said:
Testbook=:boom:

Schaumms=😴 :bang:

Both have too much information. Cliffs is pretty good, and just supplement it with wiki and destroyer.
Click to expand...

Although I agree with you that the textbook is overkill, i did get a 22 in bio by studying from it and i don't mean to disrespect you klutzy, but you did get a 19 (a very respectable score might I add). But of course, I'm in somewhat of a unique situation that required me to do that and i'm sure there are plenty of people out there that scored +20 using schaums and/or cliffs. Anyways, if you got time and you're ambitious enough, you know you can never go wrong with the textbook.
 
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all i can say is I love schaums it sure helped me to get my 23 😍 I have read cliffs too & its a decent book as well. If you have enough time I would definitely prefer schaums over cliffs any day 🙂
 
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