Starting mcat prep. Material question.

[madgasser]

I want to start studying for the mcat but unsure of what exactly to invest in and what not to. I don't want to go overboard with the spending, and will stay away from high cost stuff such as prep courses and the like as I want to self learn. That said, I don't have much background in sciences, so a lot of the stuff will be new to me.

The materials I'll certainly get are the full AAMC stuff, scored fl, section bank, qpacks etc. Then I will probably buy EK and NS FLs, and then maybe even the Altius and TBR/TPR ones for more practice but for now I'll prob just invest in the first two mentioned.

I'll go over all the Khan Academy stuff too since it's free and see it has near universal acclaim.

Now what I'm not sure in, is what books to get and which editions. The main ones I see are EK, Kaplan, TPR and TBR. Nearly everyone says EK is more succinct and to the point, so unsure if this works for me. Kaplan I've seen it praised for its biology materials, and TBR seems to have the most in depth material and saw a lot of postings praise it in particular. Unsure about TPR. In any case, EK, Kaplan and TPR have their penultimate editions posted online on torrent sites, dropbox etc. and TBR has either the 2011 or 2012 version there as well, which is the old format. So I kinda wanted to get TBR for studying purposes, but it's at 375$ for the new version, plus probably more than 100$ shipping since I live in Canada, making it triple the last EK and Kaplan versions which I can get on amazon.ca for about 225 to 250 CAD. So at this point I'm not sure if I should even invest anything with all the free resources available? I mean I doubt there is that much update in the EK, TPR, and Kaplan final editions compared to the previous, but there might be a significant difference in TBR, which is the one I initially wanted to get. Still, spending $500 seems kind of off putting in this instance, given the free material available. Would love to hear some opinions on this however, and whether I should even spend money in this section or just study with the free/torrented materials.

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[radian313]

I want to start studying for the mcat but unsure of what exactly to invest in and what not to. I don't want to go overboard with the spending, and will stay away from high cost stuff such as prep courses and the like as I want to self learn. That said, I don't have much background in sciences, so a lot of the stuff will be new to me.

The materials I'll certainly get are the full AAMC stuff, scored fl, section bank, qpacks etc. Then I will probably buy EK and NS FLs, and then maybe even the Altius and TBR/TPR ones for more practice but for now I'll prob just invest in the first two mentioned.

I'll go over all the Khan Academy stuff too since it's free and see it has near universal acclaim.

Now what I'm not sure in, is what books to get and which editions. The main ones I see are EK, Kaplan, TPR and TBR. Nearly everyone says EK is more succinct and to the point, so unsure if this works for me. Kaplan I've seen it praised for its biology materials, and TBR seems to have the most in depth material and saw a lot of postings praise it in particular. Unsure about TPR. In any case, EK, Kaplan and TPR have their penultimate editions posted online on torrent sites, dropbox etc. and TBR has either the 2011 or 2012 version there as well, which is the old format. So I kinda wanted to get TBR for studying purposes, but it's at 375$ for the new version, plus probably more than 100$ shipping since I live in Canada, making it triple the last EK and Kaplan versions which I can get on amazon.ca for about 225 to 250 CAD. So at this point I'm not sure if I should even invest anything with all the free resources available? I mean I doubt there is that much update in the EK, TPR, and Kaplan final editions compared to the previous, but there might be a significant difference in TBR, which is the one I initially wanted to get. Still, spending $500 seems kind of off putting in this instance, given the free material available. Would love to hear some opinions on this however, and whether I should even spend money in this section or just study with the free/torrented materials.

Im currently an OMS-I so my advice is based on a MCAT score/GPA that got me in.

Make it simple.

Get TBR for content and passages (except verbal and for the love of God do not ignore Organic)
AAMC practice materials including the full lengths
Supplement with Khan academy (mainly for psych/social)
Verbal: see if you can buy the TPR Hyperlearning course books for the new MCAT from somewhere (they were good practice)

The MCAT is not about what you know, its how you apply it. Sure you can memorize all the Amino Acids, great, but can you apply that knowledge in lets a clinical scenario? The science content isnt the hard part, its applying it.

Not sure why folks make this into some super gigantic drama scene of what is good or bad. Content is content no matter what company you go with it. The meat is in the questions and TBR is where its at, atleast for me. Some people hate it because they hate getting 40-50% right on their first pass, sure, it wasnt meant to be easy. But the new MCAT is a different type of exam so you need the appropriate regimen for it.

 

[madgasser]

Yes, I understand. But I was wondering more whether the content I get from the "free" older version of the books (esspecially TBR 2012), might be a bit outdated and obsolete, i.e. not tested on much. I mean should I spend that $ for a new version (especially the new berkley which I don't see many reviews on and is by far the most expensive), or just stick it out with the older material which I assume (I could be wrong) teaches you just the same.

 

[FCMike11]

Yes, I understand. But I was wondering more whether the content I get from the "free" older version of the books (esspecially TBR 2012), might be a bit outdated and obsolete, i.e. not tested on much. I mean should I spend that $ for a new version (especially the new berkley which I don't see many reviews on and is by far the most expensive), or just stick it out with the older material which I assume (I could be wrong) teaches you just the same.

You need the new books, unless you want to spend your time going over changes to AAMC topic list and follow in your books (screw that).

Look at MCATJELLY'S MCAT study plan on the MCAT forum. Worth it. Have to respect this test.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Yes, I understand. But I was wondering more whether the content I get from the "free" older version of the books (esspecially TBR 2012), might be a bit outdated and obsolete, i.e. not tested on much. I mean should I spend that $ for a new version (especially the new berkley which I don't see many reviews on and is by far the most expensive), or just stick it out with the older material which I assume (I could be wrong) teaches you just the same.

The TBR textbooks were updated in 2016 to meet the changes of the new MCAT. That said, if you plan on studying from TBR, you should get the new set.

 

[madgasser]

You need the new books, unless you want to spend your time going over changes to AAMC topic list and follow in your books (screw that).

Look at MCATJELLY'S MCAT study plan on the MCAT forum. Worth it. Have to respect this test.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile

Yes, but EK, Kaplan and TPR have 2015 editions posted online, tailored for the new MCAT, it's just not their *last edition* which I hear features just slight changes for all of them. It's just TBR that is the older model.

The TBR textbooks were updated in 2016 to meet the changes of the new MCAT. That said, if you plan on studying from TBR, you should get the new set.

I planned on studying from TBR, because from what I see from their pre new mcat reviews, they are widely acclaimed, and seem to be the best suited for me. However, if I get the new set it would cost me 3x as much as Kaplan, TPR, and EK (so I could get all last edition of these 3 in 1 TBR price) and most importantly, I can't find almost any reviews online pertaining to just the new updated version, and even from the few that are posted, I'm not even sure it reflects the new material. So I can't be sure TBR's new material is just as good as the 2010-2013 editions were for the old format.

So with all these "free resources" like Khan Academy, Kaplan, TPR, and EK's next to last editions (which are made for the new mcat), and the older TBR (which even if it's not for the new, I assume has plenty of worthwhile information), it seems like a big gamble to pay that much for the new TBR.

I'm already going through this stuff, and I'm just thinking I could spend more $ in buying other resources instead of spending so much on a set of books which may or may not add much help. Hell, I saw people resell the EK and TPR online courses that went for 2k and they didn't use them for less than $500.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Yes, but EK, Kaplan and TPR have 2015 editions posted online, tailored for the new MCAT, it's just not their *last edition* which I hear features just slight changes for all of them. It's just TBR that is the older model.
I'm already going through this stuff, and I'm just thinking I could spend more $ in buying other resources instead of spending so much on a set of books which may or may not add much help. Hell, I saw people resell the EK and TPR online courses that went for 2k and they didn't use them for less than $500.

In that case, you can start content review from any of the sources you have. Once that's done, take a FL and see how you do. If you feel confident, begin using AAMC materials + KA stuff + others, for that second through review and practice. I think with the 1700+ (from qpacks, section bank, FL, flashcard) questions from AAMC and questions from the books, a person should have enough practice to feel confident. Then, there are FL exams from Ek and NS, etc, for more practice.

I'm using EK with the new TBR set along with AAMC and KA stuff and so far, its going great. It's a lot of work per day but worth it at the end. The TBR books are pricey, but they are the best in terms of passage-based questions and a thorough review of the content. And as you know, you can always sell them for a good price.

 

[BYUCougar2011]

I would recommend studying on your own. Using a variety of resources will be the biggest help to you! I scored a 522 and mainly used the following resources:


1) AAMC Practice Materials. $200 for their MCAT package. Practice questions produced by the same people who wrote the test!

(2) Khan Academy. Free and very useful for reviewing all the material very quickly. I watched every video at 2x the speed within a month of my exam.

(3) Kaplan 7-book series. Great for getting the overall content down.


Don't rely on just one method for your prep. It is important to use a variety of resources. If you need structure, then I would suggest hiring a private tutor rather than using a prep company. You can find freelance tutors for a quarter of what test prep companies charge for private tutoring! Best of luck!

 

[WizzyWatkins]

Has anyone used Varsity Tutors' free resources? If so, what did you think of them?