Will current Kaplan 2015 books be obsolete in 2 years?

[Chromium Surfer]

If I were to use the current crop of kaplan books now when I am studying for the MCAT in 2 years will I be at a disadvantage? Or is there not a significant change year to year in the textbook content?
Edit: in 2 years I will be applying so I will most likely be taking the MCAT in 1-1.5 years

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[ready2go2]

You can take a wild guess and say yes. This is a brand new test, even the AAMC themselves are trying to figure this crap out. Material will be constantly changing until things get consistent. Until then, no one knows.

Why are you planning to study for 2 whole years anyways? That seems like overkill.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

You can take a wild guess and say yes. This is a brand new test, even the AAMC themselves are trying to figure this crap out. Material will be constantly changing until things get consistent. Until then, no one knows.

Why are you planning to study for 2 whole years anyways? That seems like overkill.

Completely disagree. The only thing that will change will be the practice tests they provide. Their practice tests are much harder than the real AAMC test, therefore it makes people feel as you are just doing it for the timing practice and not really gaining any beneficial insight into comparative scoring between the practice and the real MCAT. Kaplan has just recently made changes to how they have scored their previous practice exams to better reflect the scores to match current exam difficulty.

Kaplan books, along with other test prep companies, use the AAMC outline to cover EVERY unique aspect and term that the AAMC says you should know. The only thing they might change in the books is how much a topic is emphasized; maybe more detail here and less detail there, something of that sort. The contend review books from the test prep companies are just fine, but if you want a better source I would use Khan Academy. Khan Academy has been directly sponsored by the AAMC as the only resource to have any connection to the AAMC test makers.

 

[Dreamstoo]

One of the instructors at TPR claimed that they will most likely edit their books again sometime soon. Although they claimed that's what was going to happen. A lot of the TPR instructors were med students (so the new MCAT was completely unfamiliar with them) and often times we were to encourage to tell them what TPR may have miss (like memorizing amino acids, I was told not to at the beginning of the course in April but by late May, our bio instructor said he was misinformed and said we had to).

 

[Chromium Surfer]

You can take a wild guess and say yes. This is a brand new test, even the AAMC themselves are trying to figure this crap out. Material will be constantly changing until things get consistent. Until then, no one knows.

Why are you planning to study for 2 whole years anyways? That seems like overkill.

I am not planning on studying for 2 years, but I was thinking if I would be able to use a friends set of unused kaplan books, and make notes in them while I'm in the class that corresponds to the book. Plus I may take the MCAT earlier depending on how my coursework goes.

 

[StudyLater]

Probs.

In all seriousness, most of the books from the mid-2000s aren't totally obsolete. A LOT of the same content is tested. There's just some extra stuff now. Even a lot of the so-called biochem used to just be in the old bio/chemistry section. You just now need to know it in a "biochemical context." Mk.

But at the same time, cheaping out on a couple hundred bucks? For what? I'd go flip burgers if I had to if those books gave me the edge. I also find it kind of funny that you're a gold donor seemingly worried about this small sum of money.

If this is just an in the mean time sort of a thing, though, sure. Whatever. Anything that gets you familiar with the material is fine. An old MCAT book would be great for that. It's just that you're not getting everything. Oh and Khan is free, so that's always an excellent option. You can watch the vids on 1.5-2x to save time.

 

[Chromium Surfer]

Probs.

In all seriousness, most of the books from the mid-2000s aren't totally obsolete. A LOT of the same content is tested. There's just some extra stuff now. Even a lot of the so-called biochem used to just be in the old bio/chemistry section. You just now need to know it in a "biochemical context." Mk.

But at the same time, cheaping out on a couple hundred bucks? For what? I'd go flip burgers if I had to if those books gave me the edge. I also find it kind of funny that you're a gold donor seemingly worried about this small sum of money.

If this is just an in the mean time sort of a thing, though, sure. Whatever. Anything that gets you familiar with the material is fine. An old MCAT book would be great for that. It's just that you're not getting everything. Oh and Khan is free, so that's always an excellent option. You can watch the vids on 1.5-2x to save time.

I just happened to be a gold donor because I had a couple extra dollars from my paycheck haha. For me it's not necessarily the money but I just don't want to invest time in the current crop of books if they're not going to give me a solid review of the content. When I get closer to the test I was planning on buying examcracker to help me with strategy.

 

[ready2go2]

Kaplan is already set (actually it's already up on Amazon!) to release a new set of books with 1100+ extra pages (went from 2000 pages total to 3100 pages total) compared to the book they released last summer for this test. It's likely that they won't make such a big leap again, but yes the books are changing. You can't deny that just on the basis of 2015 vs 2016 version.

 

[DecadentCookie]

often times we were to encourage to tell them what TPR may have miss (like memorizing amino acids, I was told not to at the beginning of the course in April but by late May, our bio instructor said he was misinformed and said we had to).

Same. Although I read SDN early on and figured it was a necessity to memorize them. My instructor also did mention that 'we' (course-takers) should suggest to TPR what they should improve/focus on more.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I tend to think the idea of MCAT prep companies significantly changing their resources is significantly overblown. At the end of the day the incentive just isn't there to truly invest the time and research to make radical changes that are all that meaningful. $$$$$ will keep coming in regardless. People will sign up for Kaplan or TPR based off brand name unless one has serious flaws in MCAT preparation that gets acknowledged universally. Yes the books will change, however this idea that books will be of significantly less use 2 years from now is completely flawed. Hell, there are TPR and EK books from 10 years ago that still have usefulness for this current test(think science and verbal workbooks and EK 1o1 passages as examples).

What will make the MCAT easier to study for later on is as time goes on more AAMC material will be put out. Just having 2 tests this fall instead of 1 makes a big difference. The more general knowledge that comes about this MCAT will be of benefit of well. But at the end of the day, the skills tested are largely similar. Physical sciences has alot of overlap. Verbal is essentially the same. Even Biological sciences for all its biochem emphasis has a ton of overlap with the old test.

 

[dushash]

Kaplan is already set (actually it's already up on Amazon!) to release a new set of books with 1100+ extra pages (went from 2000 pages total to 3100 pages total) compared to the book they released last summer for this test. It's likely that they won't make such a big leap again, but yes the books are changing. You can't deny that just on the basis of 2015 vs 2016 version.

I wonder what they added for extra +1100 pages?! I mean the content was already excellent (maybe except P/S).