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Best prep material for MCAT


Tacrolimus

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First of all, I'd like to apologize for making another thread in this forum. (Jeez, I have so many questions... :D ) If there is another thread on this topic, mods, feel free to move this.

 

So my question is:

What, in your opinion, is the best prep book(s) out there for MCAT?

 

My biggest weakness (I THINK) would have to be Verbal (surprise! :rolleyes: ) and potentially Physics in Physical Sciences. My strength is Chemistry (Got A's in Inorganic and Organic) and Biological Sciences though I may be a little weak in cellular biology.

 

What would you recommend? I've been thinking of buying the ExamKracker's Full Package (7th edition?) and the Verbal 101 Passages.

 

Does the Full Package come with practice questions too? In the end, I'm thinking of those two mentioned above and then buying the AAMC exams online. Writing the MCAT next summer, but I might as well start studying and practicing Verbal stuff for the remainder of this summer.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

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Many people over on student doctor network recommend the berkely review and I would agree that the berkely review is very good for physical sciences, but they're hard to find in Canada (easiest option is buying used ones off of kijiji). EK bio is great, and the other books in the ek series are alright but are very concise so they're not that great for learning concepts but they are a good summary of everything. The Ek series books have an ok number of practice questions but berkely review has wayyy more (about three times as much).

 

For verbal, ek 101 is highly regarded but I would recommend that you wait with your verbal practice until the summer of your exam. There isn't a whole lot of good sources of verbal practice so you wouldn't want to waste them so early on. Just practice reading denser articles from humanities and social sciences (ie: from the economist, the new Yorker, etc.)

 

If I were you, I would just enjoy the rest of your summer and hold off on mcat studying until next summer. Maybe read over the aamc outlines to get an idea of what you are expected to know, but I wouldn't want to ruin two summers for the mcat ;)

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Many people over on student doctor network recommend the berkely review and I would agree that the berkely review is very good for physical sciences, but they're hard to find in Canada (easiest option is buying used ones off of kijiji). EK bio is great, and the other books in the ek series are alright but are very concise so they're not that great for learning concepts but they are a good summary of everything. The Ek series books have an ok number of practice questions but berkely review has wayyy more (about three times as much).

 

For verbal, ek 101 is highly regarded but I would recommend that you wait with your verbal practice until the summer of your exam. There isn't a whole lot of good sources of verbal practice so you wouldn't want to waste them so early on. Just practice reading denser articles from humanities and social sciences (ie: from the economist, the new Yorker, etc.)

 

If I were you, I would just enjoy the rest of your summer and hold off on mcat studying until next summer. Maybe read over the aamc outlines to get an idea of what you are expected to know, but I wouldn't want to ruin two summers for the mcat ;)

 

Yeah, I looked for Berkeley but they're pretty hard to find. As for Verbal 101 by EK, yeah, I think I'll wait for next summer. Reading those articles is a good idea. Thank you. :)

 

I want to start studying now because I'm taking Physics II in Spring next year so I'll have to spend time on that (but that should be a good review too, eh?) and hopefully some research project in Physiology.

 

Aside: Does anyone know what the scores really mean? For ex: What does a score of 10 really mean? How many questions do you need to get right (on average) to get 10 out of 15? 11 out of 15? 12? 13?

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Yeah, I looked for Berkeley but they're pretty hard to find. As for Verbal 101 by EK, yeah, I think I'll wait for next summer. Reading those articles is a good idea. Thank you. :)

 

I want to start studying now because I'm taking Physics II in Spring next year so I'll have to spend time on that (but that should be a good review too, eh?) and hopefully some research project in Physiology.

 

Aside: Does anyone know what the scores really mean? For ex: What does a score of 10 really mean? How many questions do you need to get right (on average) to get 10 out of 15? 11 out of 15? 12? 13?

 

The best books for physics , gen chem and organic are by far and away BR (tpr is not bad either).

 

In terms of bio, you want to ideally use the TPRH and EK together to provide the content you need. I have BR bio and the physiology section is fairly straightforward , but when it comes to the molecular bio section it is wayyyyyyyyy too in depth with useless information that will confuse you and waste your time unless you have taken exhaustive biochem and microbiology . I am very strong with the biochemical pathways and was confused as hell trying to get through the metabolism section of BR.

 

For verbal EK 101 and the TPRH verbal workbook are your two best resources. Again, TPRH verbal is even harder to find than BR but is worth it for the extra practice.

 

To answer your last question, the AAMC scores are based on a curve, and it varies on each test depending on the difficulty and how the previous testers did on each section. For instance, on one test a 13 might be 45/52 in the biological section, and 48/52 on another. So even if you score a 90%, if previous mcaters found it easy you might only get a 12 in the section. Hence why a 15/15 is so hard to get in any of the sections.

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The best books for physics , gen chem and organic are by far and away BR (tpr is not bad either).

 

In terms of bio, you want to ideally use the TPRH and EK together to provide the content you need. I have BR bio and the physiology section is fairly straightforward , but when it comes to the molecular bio section it is wayyyyyyyyy too in depth with useless information that will confuse you and waste your time unless you have taken exhaustive biochem and microbiology . I am very strong with the biochemical pathways and was confused as hell trying to get through the metabolism section of BR.

 

For verbal EK 101 and the TPRH verbal workbook are your two best resources. Again, TPRH verbal is even harder to find than BR but is worth it for the extra practice.

 

To answer your last question, the AAMC scores are based on a curve, and it varies on each test depending on the difficulty and how the previous testers did on each section. For instance, on one test a 13 might be 45/52 in the biological section, and 48/52 on another. So even if you score a 90%, if previous mcaters found it easy you might only get a 12 in the section. Hence why a 15/15 is so hard to get in any of the sections.

 

Alright, I'll try and see if I can find TPRH verbal workbook and BR. BR seems pretty expensive, but in the end, I have to consider what is best for getting a high score on MCAT.

 

I would've just finished Physics II in June next summer (taking a spring course) so I might not actually need the best Physics book out there. I'm thinking if I've taken some of the content on MCAT in class next year, it would reduce the study time and overall expense on MCAT material.

 

Thank you.

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