new book or old?

[Guest jeffbeene]

I know that the MCAT has changed slightly. Are we just talking about # of questions in certain areas, or are we talking about new topics that are not covered in older books? My question is, do I need to buy a new mcat prep book, or are the old ones just as good?

 

thanks,

JB

[Guest Ollie]

Hi Jeff,

 

The changes to the MCAT were not too major. Verbal was shortened from 65 questions to 60. In BS, some of the material for O Chem was removed. (I believe it's phenols, ethers, alkenes, and some other topics). If you check the MCAT 2003 announcement on the AAMC website, it will give you a list. As well, the BS section focused more on biology (in my experience particularly molecular) and less on O Chem. I wrote in April and there were only 4 O Chem passages. Yay! An old book would be more than sufficient to prepare you. Don't go out and spend the extra money if you don't need to!