Study Regimen and Material

[Darkskies]

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Hi,
I was looking for some pointers on what extra material I should get to study for the MCAT. I am taking a Kaplan course that has jut begun so I will be sure to practice everything from their online and workbook material. My strongest section is Verbal and my weakest I know is physics and general chemistry(It's been a while since I took gen chem). I have been studying the Kaplan MCAT physics book in advance and so far it is going well. Browsing through these forums it seems like EK books are a good supplement. Should I get the EK 1001 series or the actual 101 passage based books? I really don't want to spend any money on BR texts so if they aren't absolutely necessary I won't get them. For the EK books should I buy one for every subject or just physics and chemistry(keeping in mind that I have all of the material from the kaplan course)?

Is it possible to have a good understanding of everything on the MCAT from just the Kaplan course?

Thanks a lot!

 

[SN2ed]

Considering your weaknesses are in physics and gen chem, you really should get those BR books. Also, you should get EK Verbal 101.

 

[Darkskies]

Does the Kaplan material not explain physics and gen chem to the level required for the MCAT? Also, why should I get EK 101 Verbal if Verbal is my strongest section?

 

[Darkskies]

Would someone please answer?

 

[Tin Man]

Would someone please answer?

I don't know about Kaplan's program, but I found EK to be quite sufficient for my study purposes. They covered all the equations I needed, and none that I didn't. Unfortunately, their 1001 books over physics and chemistry are a collection of discrete questions (at least most of them) and not written passage-based as the real MCAT is. Regardless, they do test with a decent accuracy the skills, both knowledge-based and math-based, that you'll need on the MCAT.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Would someone please answer?

The first person to reply gave you good advice and you just turned around and questioned the validity of it. Use the search function, make a decision and live with it.

 

[Darkskies]

The first person to reply gave you good advice and you just turned around and questioned the validity of it. Use the search function, make a decision and live with it.

I apologize, I didn't mean to offend anyone. There isn't only one way to study for the MCAT. I appreciated the advice SN2ed provided me with but since I don't particularly want to lay out the dole for the BR books I was looking to see if others had any alternative suggestions that worked for them. If there is overwhelming support for getting the BR books(as in they will be extremely helpful), I will do so. I had also looked at his/her guide linked to in the signature beforehand and the study material referred to in it are for those who are not taking a test prep course. So to seek further clarification I asked whether the Kaplan material doesn't explain the physics/gen chem material to a level sufficient for the MCAT( in which case, I'd be a little bummed for spending the money on incomplete books).

Again, I apologize for ruffling anyone's feathers. If more people could let me know what their studying consisted of, I would immensely appreciate it(particularly if they were enrolled in Kaplan).
Thanks a bunch!

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I apologize, I didn't mean to offend anyone. There isn't only one way to study for the MCAT. I appreciated the advice SN2ed provided me with but since I don't particularly want to lay out the dole for the BR books I was looking to see if others had any alternative suggestions that worked for them. If there is overwhelming support for getting the BR books(as in they will be extremely helpful), I will do so. I had also looked at his/her guide linked to in the signature beforehand and the study material referred to in it are for those who are not taking a test prep course. So to seek further clarification I asked whether the Kaplan material doesn't explain the physics/gen chem material to a level sufficient for the MCAT( in which case, I'd be a little bummed for spending the money on incomplete books).

Again, I apologize for ruffling anyone's feathers. If more people could let me know what their studying consisted of, I would immensely appreciate it(particularly if they were enrolled in Kaplan).
Thanks a bunch!

Check the classifieds here in the SDN forums and Craigslist - you can find the BR books at a significant discount sometimes (like when MCAT season is drying up like it is right now.) I used the EK books and TPR Hyperlearning books I picked up second-hand. EK has all the content review you need. TPR has a little more fleshed out explanation and more practice material. TBR has much more fleshed out explanations, hence SN2ed's recommendation to pick them up if you feel particularly weak in certain areas. I never cared for Kaplan's materials (except their FL practice exams, minus VR, which are quite hard and not particularly similar to AAMC exams, but are good for content review) as I thought their material had too much information that isn't tested on AAMC exams. Just too low yield. My $0.02. I think that if you can conceptually understand the material, i.e. you've had the classes before and you didn't struggle with grasping the material, all you really need is EK + AAMC FL's IF you can commit to taking the exams under test conditions and you do a very tedious and self-inspective review of your exams. Like a day or two to go through every question and beat to death any content deficiency that you find, whether you got the question wrong or not. There is some good, recent discussion of this in the 30+ MCAT thread that's stickied on there by IvyHopeful20 with which I agree. Between that thread and the discussion in SN2ed's 3-month plan thread, there is a method/plan of attack that matches your learning style and ability. You just have to be self-critical about your planning and stick to it.

 

[Darkskies]

Pons Asinorum, Thanks for the detailed post. I'll look into Craigslist and the forums here like you advised for used BR books. I know that this might be an elementary question but when you state that EK has all of the content review necessary, are you referring to the 101 or 1001 books? I understand that the 1001 books have comprehensive explanations for every question but do they have an introductory section where all of the equations you need to know are listed?

 

[Pons Asinorum]

...when you state that EK has all of the content review necessary, are you referring to the 101 or 1001 books?

No, the EK content review books:
https://www.examkrackers.com/store/...68&PHPSESSID=e798963ffe657bb49aad39f327f4553c

 

[alopathik]

i started with examkrackers and then took a kaplan classroom course. i found examkrackers to be a little too concise. i felt alot of the passages tested material outside of what was covered in the content sessions.

kaplan on the other hand is way too detailed - it basically assumes you know nothing about physics etc. what i found most helpful was to read kaplan sections, review the exam krackers book, and then go through kaplan's high yield problems. i realize that having two sets of books is a luxury but there is no right way to study for the mcat.

my final suggestion - everyone is so worried about finding the right study plan before they start studying....just do it. start studying and you'll find out what works for you.

 

[pawank]

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