What books are best for the MCAT- Kaplan, Princeton or others?

[daisy2]

I am clueless where to start as I found Kaplan to be a little too detailed and verbose.

Thanks

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[SN2ed]

Biology: 1. EK Bio (for content) + BR Bio (for passages and further topic depth if needed) 2. TPR Hyperlearning, detail oriented 3. Kaplan

Physics: 1. BR 2. Nova 3. TPR Hyperlearning 4. EK/Kaplan

Verbal: 1. EK 101 Verbal 2. TPR Hyperlearning Verbal Workbook 3. BR 4. Kaplan (Avoid if possible)

Organic Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan

General Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan

Extra Practice Material: 1. TPR Hyperlearing Science Workbook, good source of practice passages 1. AAMC Official Guide to the MCAT Exam (most representative material available) 2. EK 1001 series, helps nail down basics

 

[Integrated MCAT Course]

In addition to at least TBR or EK, you want a short MCAT book too, and use your textbooks. You keep the short MCAT book to have something where you can flip through and look at the whole city in terms of the barest fundamentals. The best two short MCAT books, in my opinion, are Gold Standard, for clear content, or McGraw Hill, for overall design. MCAT Pearls, an SND publication, is also a very good short MCAT book, but it's different. It's a shame it's not on cheaper paper and smaller font, but there is nothing better at the beginning of MCAT preparation to make yourself read MCAT Pearls from cover to cover. You do this before the start to give yourself the shape of the knowledge base and to tell your brain to reawaken your previous familiarities in your memory system, before getting more in depth with EK or TBR in your main conceptual trek. This is tried and true. Some flash cards from Kaplan and others are pretty good. There's are games and drills. Avoid Barrons, Cracking the MCAT (though the really old Flowers book is pretty good), REI, and Flash Card Secrets at all costs. Barrons 9th or 17th edition MCAT book is the worst example of a group of editors not giving a crap ever seen, though it also has its uses in spots for some quick drill before tossing into the recycling bin. No you don't have to memorize the spinal nerves. There's a lot on the web too now. Regrettably, I'm not as familiar with the I-pad world as I probably should be, but the best free websites to make a habit of checking out, I believe, that can really benefit concept review are are perfectly tuned to MCAT level, as long as you follow an MCAT syllabus, are Hyperphysics, Chem1 Virtual Textbook, Bodner Research Group's General Chem pages (Purdue), Virtual Textbook in Organic Chemistry, Kimball's Biology Pages, Wikipedia in biology especially, Medical Biochemistry Pages, and Khan Academy, present company excluded. Kaplan, Gold Standard, TPR, and many other companies have free things that can benefit you behind registration walls. Although I don't know exactly what Kaplan and TPR are doing these days, there have been a lot of good people writing practice MCATs at those companies over the years. If money is no object, their materials are on par with TBR. Also Brett Ferdinand has a lot of stuff I don't know about. I respect the Gold Standard work I have seen, so I don't think you could go too far off base using his Gold Standard services to supplement self-study along with the things he is cooking up with Flowers, who has been working on MCAT stuff on and off for decades. All these things are all condiments and desserts though. If you are self-studying you have to think about how to make the main course yourself. Try to recover everything you know from undergraduate coursework as an overall familiarity and learn the shape of the knowledge base so that you can picture it as imaginative conceptual array of fields of reference within the first month. Look for interconnections because they help you remember and understand things better. This is how the mind works. Let the shape of the knowledge define the way you study and distribute attention based on MCAT priority, weaknesses and interest, following the pathway you optimize and adjust as you go. Look at the material sometimes at the street level and sometimes at the top of the tallest building. Studying for the MCAT will seem arduous at first but anything you do for two weeks becomes a habit.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Because Mr. Wetzel is too professional and honorable to promote his site, I think it's important to make sure it's put up there in the high regards it deserves. Hence, I have nominated myself to followup his post. Wikipremed is without a doubt the best MCAT prep site on the internet. There are other sites that are good for some very specific topics (such as optics for instance), but for all around prep to base a self-study regimen on, Wikipremed is tops by a landslide. If you decide that you want to build a video-based course as your foundation, you should center it around Wikipremed.

As far as materials and sites go, my perspective is that there's too much stuff out there and not enough time to go through it. You must pick the best materials for each subject in the medium you learn best from, and build a schedule from that. SDN is the perfect site to get an idea of what is best in each area. MCAT Pearls, as mentioned above, is a great book to read before you start your study routine. Also, have a reference source for the areas where you need extra help. This is where Wikipremed can be a huge help for people who have books as the foundation of their review, but need extra explanations on some topics.

I completely agree with his comments on the to avoid list, although (and I apologize for the correction) I believe it's REA and not REI, (unless you plan to study alone in the backwoods for three months living on berries and nuts). I agree there are some good test writers at the national courses, but their energy is spent on so many different exams that the nuances of the MCAT may not be empahsized. I am a huge believer that companies dedicated to the MCAT (Wikipremed, EK, and TBR) do an all around better job than the companies putting out materials for all standardized exams. I no doubt have a bias, but the bias aside, it just makes sense that specialists do a better job than generalists.

He makes another great point that once you get your routine down, which they say takes two weeks, the study process becomes so much better (and dare I say enjoyable). There are all sorts of ups and downs in this pathway, so you need to keep your eye on the endgame to help with motivation. The MCAT is simply a tool for getting into medical school. Your job is to get the best score possible, which means you need to learn to take the test as well as review the material. Don't forget to work on test taking tricks and speed. Enjoy the ride!

 

[deep122]

I am going to start studying for the MCAT in late January, but wanted to a review over winter break (not exactly absorbing the information, but just reading it over once). I was planning on just reading through the EK books once, since they are very concise, but it seems like the MCAT Pearls maybe another option. Do you guys recommend one over the other?

 

[mzblue]

Wikipremed is good, especially for physics. I thought the physics flashcards were great for learning the concepts. Have the ochem reaction book and i think it's good for review once you know the reaction. Never got time to do the physiology crossword puzzle book.

deep122, MCAT pearls is more of a review. It's a Q&A of high yield info. I did use the website 3 years ago and liked it. I believe it's the same info in the book minus the study tips Diallo had on his website. I ended up buying the book since the website is sorta down now and it's good. That said, i'll say get EK because it has the in chapter questions and 30-minute exams so you can check your comprehension at the end of each chapter.

 

[deep122]

Thanks. I actually already have EK and TPR class materials. Guess buying Pearls could be overkill.