Study Recommendations

[VCU07]

I have been studying for the MCAT for the past 3 months or so (off and on) with the Kalpan premier book. I have about 15 chapters to go before I am done with it, but I don't feel confident enough that I am retaining the material. I am a non-trad with a PharmD and feel pretty comfortable with bio/organic, but its been about 6yrs since doing any general chem/physics. Also, I am working full time, which is why I started studying soo early. Any recommendations on a studying plan? I am taking the April MCAT and if I don't do well, it is going to be really tough trying to restudy for a later date. Right now, I fit in studying at every free moment, but since I can't do it continuously I think it may be detremental to my score.

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[nshams]

I have been studying for the MCAT for the past 3 months or so (off and on) with the Kalpan premier book. I have about 15 chapters to go before I am done with it, but I don't feel confident enough that I am retaining the material. I am a non-trad with a PharmD and feel pretty comfortable with bio/organic, but its been about 6yrs since doing any general chem/physics. Also, I am working full time, which is why I started studying soo early. Any recommendations on a studying plan? I am taking the April MCAT and if I don't do well, it is going to be really tough trying to restudy for a later date. Right now, I fit in studying at every free moment, but since I can't do it continuously I think it may be detremental to my score.

Get the Exam Krackers 1001 Questions for both General Chemistry & Physics & do as many practice questions as possible.

Also, I think Nova Physics helped me out a lot. They have a bunch of passage-style questions. Worth the $40.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I have been studying for the MCAT for the past 3 months or so (off and on) with the Kalpan premier book. I have about 15 chapters to go before I am done with it, but I don't feel confident enough that I am retaining the material. I am a non-trad with a PharmD and feel pretty comfortable with bio/organic, but its been about 6yrs since doing any general chem/physics. Also, I am working full time, which is why I started studying soo early. Any recommendations on a studying plan? I am taking the April MCAT and if I don't do well, it is going to be really tough trying to restudy for a later date. Right now, I fit in studying at every free moment, but since I can't do it continuously I think it may be detremental to my score.

Do tons and tons of passages. For every question you miss, try it again and slowly write your thought process down as you repeat the question. After finishing your second attempt, review the answer explanation and correct whatever lead you to a wrong answer. Sometimes it will be information you currently lack, sometimes it will be a careless error, sometimes it will be a misread question, and sometimes it will be a processing error. After review your mistakes, correct the ones you can and become more cognscient of the typical errors you make. By doing this a little bit every day for four months, you'll be more than ready.

However, this method works only if you are using good materials. I personally think most people recommend what they used and not what is the best material. It's human nature. Don't be afraid to use different materials for each sepearet topic, because that leads to the best result usually.

Boondocks did a great summary of which materials people used for success. I believe he looked at 4 billion threads and summarized 8.6 billion opinions to get his conclusion.

Seriously though, he apparently looked only at feedback from people who had taken the MCAT and did it over a four year period. This is an excerpt from what he found:

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. You will thank me later. You'll probably want EK biology review and EK 101 biology passages and EK verbal 101. 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 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.