Subject Review Guide Book Recommendations

[Joel_S]

Hey All!

Asking for recommendations for subject review guides that I can use in conjunction with my science classes. I am not planning on studying for the MCAT yet, but would like to have the guide to help me prioritize the important information within my classes. I am planning on taking the MCAT in 2023.

I am looking at the Kaplan 7 subject set (but it is a hefty price right now for not taking the MCAT within the next year) Would this be a good choice given that I would only be using it as a guide for now?

Are the princeton review books any good?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[JimKimSlim]

Kaplan + KA worked for me.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

I honestly believe all the review books are the same- just use whatever is cheapest or available to you, and then supplement with KA videos and the KA notes.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Kaplan is a solid choice for the review books (and literally nothing else, their FLs are garbage)

The other decent choice is TBR, but imho it dwells way too in depth in content, and for someone studying under a normal time frame, focusing so much on content is a critical mistake. I'd try both to see which one is better, but you can't go wrong with Kaplan.

As a note for P/S I suggest using the 300 page document for studying instead of any other resource.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Hey All!

Asking for recommendations for subject review guides that I can use in conjunction with my science classes. I am not planning on studying for the MCAT yet, but would like to have the guide to help me prioritize the important information within my classes. I am planning on taking the MCAT in 2023.

I am looking at the Kaplan 7 subject set (but it is a hefty price right now for not taking the MCAT within the next year) Would this be a good choice given that I would only be using it as a guide for now?

Are the princeton review books any good?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice

If you're not taking the MCAT till 2023 and simply want materials as a guide, I would find a used set of something. Kaplan, Next Step, E K, TPR, I've worked with students that have used all of them and they are all pretty similar. I think the used market on Kaplan is pretty reasonable. When you start getting ready to study for the exam, I usually recommend TBR depending on the student's needs.

 

[Joel_S]

Thank you all for the advice. This helps as I am not trying to overwhelm myself with options and content before understanding the course(s)

 

[MyOdyssey]

MCAT Resources



AAMC:

• AAMC FL exam 1-4
• Section BANK
• Optional: CARS Q-PACK

Supplemental Q-banks

• UWorld (gold standard)
• TPR Science Workbook
• Berkely Review Books (The Berkeley Review--Home Study Materials)
  • These books are probably the highest quality of content review on the market but I particularly like them because each chapter includes 5 practice MCAT style passages at the end.
  • Now if you use the approach that I tutor with then you can combine content review with MCAT passage skill training.
  • At the end of each book they have two full diagnostics exams: Each with 10 passages, free standing questions and stand alone solutions

Extra FL Practice exams

• Nextstep: There exams are within 1-4 points of the AAMC exam. Nextstep also does a great job writing their questions to model the actual MCAT. At a minimum purchase the 2 latest exams release post-COVID to simulate the new shorter MCAT
• Altius Test Prep: We will most likely use their free full length exam to run your diagnostic 4-8 weeks after beginning content review. I don’t like wasting quality exams when students aren’t at least 60% to their test day capabilities

Is UWorld good for CARS, B/B and C/P? I was under the impression UWorld was only strictly reliable for P/S?

How does one purchase the TPR Science Workbook without signing up for a TPR course?

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Is UWorld good for CARS, B/B and C/P? I was under the impression UWorld was only strictly reliable for P/S?

How does one purchase the TPR Science Workbook without signing up for a TPR course?

UWorld is good for everything. It's not going to be representative of time/question and difficulty of the exam, but there are pretty much no bad questions on uworld.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

I followed the SDN 100-Day plan more or less. TBR for C/P, TPR and EK for CARS, TBR and Kap for B/B, and TPR for P/S. My premed advisor at school said I was going to get a 504 based on my grades and SAT score. I got a 516 the first (crappy CARS though) and 519 the second time. I attribute my 132s to doing TBR passages and learning everything from their explanations and then applying that to the AAMC section banks and exams.

I completely disagree with the comment above that all books are the same, because I literally looked at everything before I started studying and they are very different in style and especially quality of answer explanations, which is what matters most. The SDN list is based on feedback from multiple people who did great or improved massively their second sitting, so you cannot go wrong with it.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

based on my grades and SAT score.

Has anyone ever met a premed advisor that wasn't a worthless hack? Jesus h.