What MCAT prep materials did you use? Recommend or nah

[junejune]

Hey, I'm trying to wrap my head around how to prep for the MCAT. From what I gather so far, EK is really good for concise review and Kaplan is more detailed, but provides more practice questions (is this correct?). I think I'll end up settling for one of the two.

Also, is it correct to assume that people usually gather 3 sorts of materials: MCAT subject review (the stuff you read), practice questions (do these come with the prep sets you buy, or do you need to buy them separately?), and practice tests (I have heard it's a good idea to buy the Princeton Review and AAMC ones).

Basically, does it sound nuts or completely fine to do this: buy the EK books, the Princeton Review practice tests, and the AAMC practice tests. I'm a little concerned the EK prep will "clash" with the PR tests. Does that make any sense? Also I'm planning to use my summer to study, and then take the MCAT at the end of August.

TL;DR: What test prep material would you recommend? What are EK, Princeton Review, Kaplan, AAMC good for?

Thanks so much, I really appreciate your answers!

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[angeloflogic]

For FLs, unless something has changed in the past few months, I don't recommend either the Kaplan or PR practice tests. The best one's I've heard of for the new MCAT are the EKs 1-4 and the NS exams. I used these ones and felt they did a pretty good job preparing me for the MCAT.

For content, what you said previously is fine. Choose whatever you want. It doesn't matter what you use, as long as it covers it all. I have a friend who used only his class notes. He got high 90 percentile and now's at HMS.

 

[magmag]

Khan Academy passages. Because the best things in life are free. And because if I had it to do over again, I would do even more practice passages and even less content review. I used TPR for content review and four practice exams, and I thought it was good. Scored between 80th and 90th percentile.


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[efle]

I'm going to plug The Berkeley Review (TBR) here. Their books for the science sections were fantastic for the old MCAT and I've now had a couple people confirm they are similarly great for the new edition.

AAMC >> everything else, for everything. There's no beating the real source.

After that, Princeton was historically excellent for Verbal. ExamKrackers is a more big picture, easy to read style that a lot of people liked for quick Bio reviewing. And like I said above, TBR was the best in my opinion for Ochem, GenChem, Physics

 

[Fluffy123]

my friends and I bought separate books and shared. I recommend
Biology: Princeton Review/Kaplan (princeton is more indepth, kaplan is concise) depending on how much you know already
Gen Chem: Princeton review
Orgo: princeton review
Physics examkracker
Psych/Soc: Princeton/Kaplan (either is fine here)
CARS: read a book fam

 

[psu228]

Hey, I'm trying to wrap my head around how to prep for the MCAT. From what I gather so far, EK is really good for concise review and Kaplan is more detailed, but provides more practice questions (is this correct?). I think I'll end up settling for one of the two.

Also, is it correct to assume that people usually gather 3 sorts of materials: MCAT subject review (the stuff you read), practice questions (do these come with the prep sets you buy, or do you need to buy them separately?), and practice tests (I have heard it's a good idea to buy the Princeton Review and AAMC ones).

Basically, does it sound nuts or completely fine to do this: buy the EK books, the Princeton Review practice tests, and the AAMC practice tests. I'm a little concerned the EK prep will "clash" with the PR tests. Does that make any sense? Also I'm planning to use my summer to study, and then take the MCAT at the end of August.

TL;DR: What test prep material would you recommend? What are EK, Princeton Review, Kaplan, AAMC good for?

Thanks so much, I really appreciate your answers!

Haven't taken the MCAT yet. I wasn't crazy about Kaplans books; Read more like an old school textbook which I wasn't looking for. Princeton Review on the other hand has very little diction on every page. Just the stuff you need to know and diagrams. I love these books for that.

EK 1001 MCAT questions in the different subjects has been really helpful for me also. The explanations they give for why an answer is right as well as why the other options are incorrect is awesome.