Honest Opinion of the Gold Standard?

[Guest mecca411]

Has anyone used this with success in the past? I haven't had a science course apart from physics in 3 years. What would you say are your 2-5 most favorite books for someone who need a bit more in the way of a refresher? Thanks.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

I found the Gold Standard was by far the best of the commercial prep books. Other than that, textbooks and the actual AAMCs are the only thing better.

[Guest Lactic Folly]

I liked how its organization followed the MCAT syllabus very closely. It was also pretty thorough, and the practice tests were a little harder than the real thing. The one thing I did not like was its visual layout.. not as easy to read as compared to other books.

[Guest McGill03]

I studied solely from the GS and found it covered virtually everything I needed to know. As Lactic Folly noted, it's not the prettiest book you'll read, but it's concise and clear.

 

The practice tests were useful, but not fully representative of the actual MCAT -- you may want to pick up some old AAMC ones as well.

[Guest aguinar]

I used the Gold standard book as my only study tool for writing the MCAT and I thought it was wonderful. I did pretty well on the test, so I guess the book worked. Without putting in a heck-of-a-lot of study time I pulled off a 9p 11V 12 B Q. It is not as in depth as prep courses or many other books which I really appreciated. It was like reading summary notes for everything that you had learned in University. I would recomend the book for anyone with a science background that wants an efficient way to refresh your knowledge of the MCAT material.