The thing about Berkeley Review passages...

[Marjan Islam]

Hmm, so I'm doing Berkeley Review now, and I'm really liking the 14 or so passages they give at the end of each section. That's amazing. BUT, I've also done Kaplan topical tests, and are those more representative than the Berkley Review passages?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm finding these BK passages extremely easy. And the reason for this is because they test the concepts in an VERY FAMILIAR manner. No insane experiments, or unfamiliar apparatus or tough situations (so far, I've done only 2 to 3 sections on Physics and 2 to 3 on Gen. Chem.). I've yet to take any AAMC tests so I've yet to really see what the REAL mcat passages are like, but I was wondering if Kaplan's PS passages really are so out there and are BK passages more spot on? (...cause that would be sweet )

From my brief relationship with BK, it seems that the TIMED passages are more "aamc-like" than the rest, which I guess I should be treating as review. I guess Physics is more "aamc" too now that I think about it. I'm just doing the gen. chem. at this moment, and just wanted some input!

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[alibai3ah]

Yes, from personal experience I feel BR does a much better job with the physical sciences. It seems easy, b/c u probably go over the notes right before the test (so you remember everything), but BR is very good at improving your reading speed (so much practice) and the questions are somewhat similar. If you want crazy passages....kaplan might have a bunch of those, but I felt that Kaplan physics was more difficult than the real exam, but the curve in kaplan is so huge, that it does give you false hope. So if u are looking for really challenging material, kaplan is good too, but BR I felt was better for both G.Chem/Physics.

 

[TheBoondocks]

Hmm, so I'm doing Berkeley Review now, and I'm really liking the 14 or so passages they give at the end of each section. That's amazing. BUT, I've also done Kaplan topical tests, and are those more representative than the Berkley Review passages?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm finding these BK passages extremely easy. And the reason for this is because they test the concepts in an VERY FAMILIAR manner. No insane experiments, or unfamiliar apparatus or tough situations (so far, I've done only 2 to 3 sections on Physics and 2 to 3 on Gen. Chem.). I've yet to take any AAMC tests so I've yet to really see what the REAL mcat passages are like, but I was wondering if Kaplan's PS passages really are so out there and are BK passages more spot on? (...cause that would be sweet )

From my brief relationship with BK, it seems that the TIMED passages are more "aamc-like" than the rest, which I guess I should be treating as review. I guess Physics is more "aamc" too now that I think about it. I'm just doing the gen. chem. at this moment, and just wanted some input!

You're the first person to say that the kaplan topicals are easier than BR. Both the topicals and BR are more difficult than AAMC. BR is different from AAMC, however, it trains you to handle AAMC.