canadaz Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Knowing that I'm not taking any MCAT courses and that I find physics is the hardest subject, what would be the best MCAT study book ? I heard The Gold Standard MCAT by Dr. Brett Ferdinand is pretty good. thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Knowing that I'm not taking any MCAT courses and that I find physics is the hardest subject, what would be the best MCAT study book ? I heard The Gold Standard MCAT by Dr. Brett Ferdinand is pretty good. thx NOVA physics.... seems to be the holy grail of physics books as far as most mcat'ers are concerned... one look on the SDN forums and that's all the rave.... I have found the TPR stuff to be more than fine.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadaz Posted May 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 can we buy the Princeton one without taking the course ? what about the gold standard ? does anyone know if it's effective ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rdale2 Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 Hi, I have the 2008 Princeton review book for sale, along with all the other ones. Check out my thread... http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27378 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 hi... I used the gold standard and I found it good enough... it's to the point, and seems to cover whatever it is you need to know... It may be a bit outdated now since the CBT format came around... the practice tests are actually harder than the actual aamc ones... or at least thats what i found. It's all that I used, and it was good enough for me... In the end, the most effective studying you can do is to spend a month or so reviewing the background info, then writing practice tests AS IF THEY WERE THE REAL THING: time wise etc... Then correct your test, and go over each individual question you got wrong and figure out not jjust what the right answer is, but what thought process is required to reach that answer. Study any background info you found you lacked to answer the question (often will find that you didn't really need to know anything more than what was in the passage). Each test writing/correcting/learning cycle will take AT LEAST 2 days. And this is where you will learn the most: pacing, thinking, approaching the questions... that's my opinion/strategy... some of which i got directly from the gold standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadaz Posted May 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 I am planning on taking the MCAT in 2009 (January or April). Should I wait for the 2009 books to come out ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oohpsjin Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 I'm taking the MCAT this september. And I'm currently studying using Kaplan's Premier Program book. I find it very useful as it covers everything you need to know. I actually spent an entire day at a bookstore comparing MCAT books: the Gold Standard, Kaplan, McGraw-Hill, and Barron's. Based on MY comparisons... 1. Kaplan I bought this from eBay for a little over half the regular price. I have never regretted purchasing this book over any other book yet. Although it is a bit pricey ($150 Canadian regular), it covers basically everything, from biology to techniques on how to ace the test. It also contains 2 full length practice tests (in book) and some short electronic tests as well. Two of my friends, one who has already taken MCAT and is in Med school now, and the other who is taking the MCAT with me, both chose Kaplan with no prior discussions between us. Although I am a science major and find that the book does somewhat oversimplify things...but then again, what other book doesn't? 2. Gold Standard (GS) I found this book sketchy from the very beginning. First of all, it is written by one author, Dr. Ferdinand, as compared to multiple doctors/professors for other books. The ones out in bookstores are highly outdated (doesn't even recognize the CBT) and overpriced. When I was surfing the net to check out MCAT books, popups of GS kept showing up, demonstrating just how unprofessional this book is. However, it was his other book, some guide to Canadian medical schools (in series with GS) that disgusted me: it contained a high number of false information! for instance, it claims that UoT medicine takes only the two best years into its GPA calculations, which never happened in UoT. What's more is that, this guy actually has MCAT tutorials at ridiculous prices at UoT. 3. Barrons Quite trustworthy, but when compared science material with Kaplan, Kaplan always had more indepth information than Barrons. 4. McGraw-Hill Comparable to Kaplan in size and display, but c'mon, this is a textbook company. They're relatively new in making MCAT guides unlike Kaplan, and I thought I could just read my textbooks if I were to buy McGrawhill. Princeton did not have any complete study guides, just practice tests, in that bookstore. Again, these are my opinions, and I'd like to hear what others thought about the guides they chose! Good luck on the MCAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=526557 a particularly good thread outlining different test prep companies and other helpful hints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadaz Posted May 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 For those that have used Kaplan, did you use the Kaplan MCAT Premier Program or other books ? Is the premier program enough by itself ? thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oohpsjin Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 practice is key. Kaplan covers enough detail, but u could consider examkrackers or other books with lots of practice questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cling Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 You can always buy the qbank from kaplan for like 200 smackers. But people find the physics too difficult, verbal too easy (how can reasoning be too easy ) and bio...who cares about bio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g0921 Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 You can always buy the qbank from kaplan for like 200 smackers. But people find the physics too difficult, verbal too easy (how can reasoning be too easy ) and bio...who cares about bio? How do you buy the qbank from Kaplan? Is this the qbank that people who enroll in the Kaplan course get? Because I thought the only way you could get that qbank was by enrolling the course.. which costs way more than 200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cling Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 http://www.kaptest.com/Pre-Med/MCAT/View-Kaplan-Programs/Online-Programs/PM_mcat_qbank.html I am tempted to buy it as well. I really want to get as much practice possible. I am trying to improve my sciences and once you get over 11, improvement is hard, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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