Which books to study first?

[PocketJacks]

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Hi,

I'm planning on going over 2 books per section (just to get different perspectives on concepts, and practice problems/passages) and I wanted to get some opinions on which book I should start with (for each subject).

My main goal is to skim through the first book relatively lightly to get some sort of general idea of the material then afterwards go over the other with more focus.

So here is the list of the books I have for each section:

Phys: BR and TPR
Chem: BR and TPR
O-Chem: EK and BR
Bio: EK and BR
Verbal: EK101 and TPRH Verbal Workbook

Thanks!

 

[tman5890]

Hi,

I'm planning on going over 2 books per section (just to get different perspectives on concepts, and practice problems/passages) and I wanted to get some opinions on which book I should start with (for each subject).

My main goal is to skim through the first book relatively lightly to get some sort of general idea of the material then afterwards go over the other with more focus.

So here is the list of the books I have for each section:

Phys: BR and TPR
Chem: BR and TPR
O-Chem: EK and BR
Bio: EK and BR
Verbal: EK101 and TPRH Verbal Workbook

Thanks!

Just focus on TBR for phys/chem. EK seems to be better for Bio since BR is too in debth. You can start with either for verbal and orgo.

 

[MShopes]

Just focus on TBR for phys/chem. EK seems to be better for Bio since BR is too in debth. You can start with either for verbal and orgo.

To be honest, it all depends on you and your knowledge in this material. Here is what I think: If you just took your pre req and have a good grasp of these material (i.e they are still fresh in your mind and just need a quick review) then EK is the way to go! They are very condensed and to the point. That does not mean that they are bad, in fact they are excellent. I'm using EK solely because I already have good knowledge in all areas (Especially organic chemistry and general chemistry).

However, if you haven't taken these courses for a long time or feel like you need to relearn most of the concepts again, then don't bother using EK. They will confuse you rather than make you understand. And at this point, TBR is the way to go. I have their books as well and I skimmed through some topics of them and I have to say it is excellent in explaining but the downside is they go too much in depth which might be good if you have enough time to read all these pages but might be bad if you are short in time. Sure too much details is always good knowledge for the MCAT, but it might cause you a burn out as well. So it is your pick and it all depends on how much knowledege you have already.

Good luck!

 

[MShopes]

Completely agree about EK. If you're coming in with a good grasp of the material, I would suggest the following: start with EK (for quick refresh) then do TBR for the details. A week or two before your MCAT just do a quick review over EK again.

Here is what I'm planning to do. I'm taking the Aug 23 MCAT for the first time (applying for fall 2013 so not late at all) and I will finish all my content review about a month from now and I will have about 40 days to practise material. I will start with all TBR passages from all kind of subjects (5 passages per subject, total of 25 passages per day) and leave the AAMC exams until the last 15 days to do exam every 2 days to be still fresh in my mind (not the questions only but the style). In top of those, I will also do all kaplan FLs (11 of them as well at some time in these 40 days). Right now I'm doing the EK 30 min in class examinations (3 passages) after each lecture as practice for that lecture. I'm also working in the EK 101 verbal series by doing in average 2-3 passages per day but I will save at least 6 exams to take as a whole test in the 40 days instead of making all of them divided into 2-3 passages per day as it is not very realistic; I need to get used to taking 7 passages in a row. So since my time is short, with my good knowledge, I will use EK solely for content review, TBR for passage practices, and AAMC and kaplan for full length exams.

 

[PocketJacks]

Thanks a lot for the replies, guys! They really help.

Most of these classes (except maybe for bio), I've taken 1 to 2.5 years ago so they are not that vivid in my mind.

So I'm guessing that my best bet would be to start with BR for [Phys and Chem] then perhaps review those sections with TPR as I'm inching closer to the test date.

As for [Bio], I've heard good things about EK so I'm probably going to start with it then add on to it with BR content (as I'm getting closer to the MCAT date) and practice with BR passages.

Finally for [O-Chem], judging from the replies, I'll start with BR to brush up on the concepts then dilute down the material I need with EK.

Sounds good?

 

[MShopes]

Thanks a lot for the replies, guys! They really help.

Most of these classes (except maybe for bio), I've taken 1 to 2.5 years ago so they are not that vivid in my mind.

So I'm guessing that my best bet would be to start with BR for [Phys and Chem] then perhaps review those sections with TPR as I'm inching closer to the test date.

As for [Bio], I've heard good things about EK so I'm probably going to start with it then add on to it with BR content (as I'm getting closer to the MCAT date) and practice with BR passages.

Finally for [O-Chem], judging from the replies, I'll start with BR to brush up on the concepts then dilute down the material I need with EK.

Sounds good?

It all depends still on your test date. When is it?

 

[PocketJacks]

It all depends still on your test date. When is it?

Lol, I didn't schedule one yet. Forgot to say that I was planning on taking it next year (Somewhere between May-July).

Since it's in such a long time, it's hard for me to decide which ones I should start with this summer. I'm not going to be studying extremely hard this summer, I just wanted to have a general sense of the material just to keep it fresh since it'll be hard for me to study intensely during school semesters.

 

[MShopes]

Lol, I didn't schedule one yet. Forgot to say that I was planning on taking it next year (Somewhere between May-July).

Since it's in such a long time, it's hard for me to decide which ones I should start with this summer. I'm not going to be studying extremely hard this summer, I just wanted to have a general sense of the material just to keep it fresh since it'll be hard for me to study intensely during school semesters.

LOL, then definitely go with BR...it is such a great book especially if you have enough time. Good luck!

 

[PocketJacks]

LOL, then definitely go with BR...it is such a great book especially if you have enough time. Good luck!

Ya I was thinking about that but then again, shouldn't I leave the *best* for when I'm closer to the test (i.e. next Winter)?

Maybe I should just review subjects with TPR for Chem/Phys and EK for Bio/Orgo for now?

I'm scared that I'll forget BR material if I start now

I really don't know what I should do 😛

 

[MShopes]

Ya I was thinking about that but then again, shouldn't I leave the *best* for when I'm closer to the test (i.e. next Winter)?

Maybe I should just review subjects with TPR for Chem/Phys and EK for Bio/Orgo for now?

I'm scared that I'll forget BR material if I start now

I really don't know what I should do 😛

Well you mentioned that you are not going to study very hard this summer. I'm assuming you mean like 10 hours a week? If that is the case, then BR would take you a long time to finish because it is very detailed in every subject. So if you want to take the test in May, don't wait until the winter. Start your studying slightly now and make sure you have finished your content review two months or one month and half before the exam date. In that one month and half or so left, KEEEP PRACTICING !!!!! Do all AAMC exams, do Kaplan full length exams, do princeton review exams. When doing the exams, you definitely will realize that in the questions you got wrong, you need to refresh some concepts so go back and refresh these concepts. See, it is not only about taking exams, it is also about seeing what you got wrong and correcting it. Leaving a good time for practicing is very important. Also during your content review, do the BR passages to help you absorb the concepts. You got what I meant?

 

[tman5890]

Didn't realize you were planning to study a year in advance. In that case you might want to save the TBR passages until you get a couple months before test date. For now just master the material.

 

[PocketJacks]

Well you mentioned that you are not going to study very hard this summer. I'm assuming you mean like 10 hours a week? If that is the case, then BR would take you a long time to finish because it is very detailed in every subject. So if you want to take the test in May, don't wait until the winter. Start your studying slightly now and make sure you have finished your content review two months or one month and half before the exam date. In that one month and half or so left, KEEEP PRACTICING !!!!! Do all AAMC exams, do Kaplan full length exams, do princeton review exams. When doing the exams, you definitely will realize that in the questions you got wrong, you need to refresh some concepts so go back and refresh these concepts. See, it is not only about taking exams, it is also about seeing what you got wrong and correcting it. Leaving a good time for practicing is very important. Also during your content review, do the BR passages to help you absorb the concepts. You got what I meant?

Yup, I got what you meant. Thanks a lot for all of the help!

Didn't realize you were planning to study a year in advance. In that case you might want to save the TBR passages until you get a couple months before test date. For now just master the material.

The thing is that to really master a concept I need to do practice problems and whatnot. And since I want to save the TBR passages for next year, how am I going to practice the concepts? By doing the simple problems, the ones without passages (I think they call them discretes but I'm not 100% sure)? I also have the TPRH Science Workbook so maybe I can use that?

Thanks!

 

[tman5890]

Yeah, they're called discretes. You can do discretes and EK1001 problems to reinforce your understanding of each topic by doing lots of problems. A year in advance just seems like a really long time to me because there's a chance you'll forget a lot of the stuff. Same you may not remember everything from a course you took a year ago.

 

[PocketJacks]

Yeah, they're called discretes. You can do discretes and EK1001 problems to reinforce your understanding of each topic by doing lots of problems. A year in advance just seems like a really long time to me because there's a chance you'll forget a lot of the stuff. Same you may not remember everything from a course you took a year ago.

Great! Are EK1001s only discretes?

 

[tman5890]

Great! Are EK1001s only discretes?

I believe so.

 

[CodeBlu]

EK for bio... 100%

EK for Verbal.... EK for orgo... EK for chem and physics too.

But... NOT WITHOUT TBR for chem and physics.

Also take an advanced genetics class while you're at it.

 

[PocketJacks]

EK for bio... 100%

EK for Verbal.... EK for orgo... EK for chem and physics too.

But... NOT WITHOUT TBR for chem and physics.

Also take an advanced genetics class while you're at it.

Thanks for the reply! but I already bought TPR for chem and phys (to complement TBR Chem/Phys).

And I just took a genetics class last semester 😀

 

[PocketJacks]

As tman said, don't use too much time studying for it now.. You will end up forgetting most of the information. If you do plan on doing some reviewing, I'd go with EK, they're pretty short and serve as a quick review to keep concepts fresh. Avoid taking any of the AAMC tests now though, they should be taken in the 2-3 months leading up to your real MCAT. Also, since you have so much material, be very careful of burning out. Someone I knew took a FL every day for 2 weeks leading up to the real thing. He looked absolutely miserable in the days leading up to the test and ended up scoring a few points below his average on the real thing (still top 5% though, so it really wasn't that bad). So yea, study hard when you need to, but don't force yourself to go through all those books. The Hyperlearning books were thick enough, can't imagine having to add on BR's material as well

Alright! Thanks for the advice

 

[Kangaroo Paw]

Hmm, what do you guys think about the following plan: reading the Kaplan review notes along with the class as my main study material source for all/most subjects, supplementing weak areas with EK chapters, doing 2-3 EK Verbal passages per day, doing one or two Kaplan quizzes per day, and a bunch of EK 1001 questions/passages per day with a few of the EK 30-minute in class exams thrown in? Would this be a successful, comprehensive plan, or does it lack somewhere?
Thanks!
I unfortunately don't have TBR materials, so I won't be able to use them. My test is September 2nd.