what PCAT book would you recommend? Kaplan or Mcgraw hill

[jungjh9001]

I think Kaplan and Mcgraw Hill are the most popular PCAT prep books..
(other than Dr.Collins..)
what would you recommend?
I don't have any PCAT prep books yet..
so I'm not sure what would be better..
It will be nice if you could recommend any other books better than those two.
There are so many prep books.. and I just can't decide what I should start with..

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[hillwilliam]

I used the Kaplan book as my main tool. When I felt that the Kaplan coverage of a topic wasn't adequate, I referenced one of my old textbooks. The Organic Section looked to be a little thin, but I took the PCAT 4 days after my Orgo II final so I didn't really use that portion of the book. I liked how the Kaplan book was broken up into short sections because if I only had 20-30 minutes on a given day to study, I could get thru a section. I ended up with a 98 on the test.

I have no experience with the McGraw Hill book, so I can't comment on that.

I also purchased one of the on-line practice tests. I think that was helpful for practice.

 

[fullmetalphrm]

I used both, they're both quite useful and have their own strengths/weaknesses. They're relatively cheap books, so may as well invest in both. I liked McGraw Hill a bit more though, in case you have to choose.

 

[Iqra]

I think McGraw one much better. Kaplan goes into way too much detail - detail that is not needed.
I found that McGraw's Bio section is great. the topics smoothly transition form one into the other and it feels all connected unlike Kaplan where all the topics are just 'broken'.
I still have to go through the chemistry section but, at a glance, it looked good.

 

[broland]

I think McGraw one much better. Kaplan goes into way too much detail - detail that is not needed.
I found that McGraw's Bio section is great. the topics smoothly transition form one into the other and it feels all connected unlike Kaplan where all the topics are just 'broken'.
I still have to go through the chemistry section but, at a glance, it looked good.

funny you mention the detail of the Kaplan book. that's the book I'm currently using and I'm kind of baffled at how in depth the biology section is. it's literally 1/2 of the book. The material is nothing new, but it is a huge load. I read through it once and am going through the review questions and things that I highlighted but I wish the bio section was a bit more streamlined.

Other than that Ive found everything to be organized well and easy to comprehend. I'm going to pickup the Dr. Collins material packet everyone talks about on here and hope to get a better picture of what will actually be on the exam through that and the pearson practice tests.

 

[Iqra]

funny you mention the detail of the Kaplan book. that's the book I'm currently using and I'm kind of baffled at how in depth the biology section is. it's literally 1/2 of the book. The material is nothing new, but it is a huge load. I read through it once and am going through the review questions and things that I highlighted but I wish the bio section was a bit more streamlined.

Other than that Ive found everything to be organized well and easy to comprehend. I'm going to pickup the Dr. Collins material packet everyone talks about on here and hope to get a better picture of what will actually be on the exam through that and the pearson practice tests.

Yeah, I am using the Mcgraw one and the bio section is in detail but just the right amount. I am using Dr.Collins as well but the bio in that very basic and lacking, in my opinion. Dr.Collins is good if you are short on time and just want the big picture.

 

[jung1]

I used all the books in 09 I could get my hands on but if I could only choose one, it would be MGH because the Orgo section beat the pants off Kaplan. The new Kaplan might be updated. There were errors in both books, including serious ones, so I would recommend using a variety of sources to confirm what you learn.

 

[ChEStud]

I picked up the Kaplan book and immediately found errors in the diagnostic test key for the math section. It seems like a HUGE chunk of the book is straight biology (but then again I need to brush up on my biology a reason why I got this book). Does anyone know a good place to get flashcards on root words that show up on the PCAT?

 

[jack rabbit]

Mcgraw hill is good for Biology and Anatomy & Physiology, but it does not cover plant biology. Kaplan does. Also, Mcgraw is good for the organic chemistry reactions. I recommend both. But neither is good for Math.

 

[Iqra]

^Yeah, I just did the math section from McGraw and found it to be really easy. What do you recommend for Math?

 

[jack rabbit]

A Calculus textbook.