is the golden standard MCAT any good?

[Guest UR1FOOLINS]

Hi everyone. I recently purchased the Ruveneco package on ebay as preparation for the MCAT. It comes with audiotapes (equivalent of flashcards i guess), the gold standard MCAT book, the AAMC practice problem booklet, MCATS 3-7, and video lectures covering all the subjects we're expected to know on the MCAT.

 

Has anyone used these preparation materials before? I watched a few video lectures, and this Dr. Ferdinand(sp?) stumbles over his words a bit, but I'd like to be able to trust that there are no holes in the information and study it full throttle.

 

I couldn't find many impartial reviews on the internet..

[Guest mitchie41]

The Gold Standard MCAT book is pretty good.

 

The science notes tend to be shorter than the other commercial MCAT-Prep books since they only really tell you the ESSENTIAL stuff. But I found the 3 practice exams at the back of the book to be very useful becuase the VR passages were long and the making scheme was tough.

[Guest sweetstuff25]

I only watched the videos. The videos are alright, it's very basic but sometimes he will give a few good pointers that will stick to you. The videos do not cover every single topic because he missed a few units like magnetism. I don't know what the book is like.

[Guest UR1FOOLINS]

There are units from the MCAT that are missing from the course? Sounds like a ripoff to me...but i just learned that the mighty Ian Wong swore by the gold standard as well.

 

PS: How'd you do on the MCAT, and did you think the videos helped you?

[Guest sweetstuff25]

I think you'll be good as long as you have the books. Ian Wong was prolly referring to the books as being very useful. The videos will probably just keep the ideas fresh. I haven't written the mcat after watchin the vidoes. Don't regret purchasing them though, every bit of knowledge helps in this exam.

[Guest medeng]

I used the gold standard, and my marks were V11 B12 P14. I thought it was pretty good, straight-forward and to the point for the science sections, the verbal was ok, and the practice tests were good (I actually did better on the MCAT than on the practice tests...)

 

I was especially pleased with the bio section, as I didn't have orgo, and only minimal bio. I found the physics section a bit superficial, but that is probably because I have more than my fill of physics courses, I think that it probably covers all that you really need to know for the MCAT...

[Guest spring2]

I used the gold standard too (that is all i used - i didn't take a course or anything) and I did their pracitce tests at the back of the book and I got 10V, 12P, 12B and Q. I agree with an earlier post that their verbal passages acutally seemed tougher than the verbal in the actual MCAT. I have recommended the book to anyone I know writing the MCAT.

[Guest stevetilley]

Hi All,

 

I used the Gold Standard almost exclusively, its great.

 

I also used the AAMC practice tests 1-5. (I ordered them from the AAMC website, a couple hundred bucks).

 

I never took any courses (although i'm teaching the kaplan one in st.john's this summer).

 

My scores were P-14, B-12, V-9, WS-p.

 

Cheers,

Steve

[Guest UR1FOOLINS]

I got the gold standard on ebay for a couple hundred. They threw in audio tapes, all the AAMC practice tests, the AAMC practice questions booklet, and the video lectures. wasn't a bad deal...just suspicious because it was so cheap.

[Guest tim23]

someone lent me that book, i looked through it as a guide, but didn't find it very useful. My advice if I were retaking, go to AMAC website, print out their outline, get out your science textbooks and work from them. All science textbooks are heavilty edidted, and are just better written, most of these MCAT people are just trying to take your money. There are errors in the answer key just to let you know if you do use it. (I counted aleast 3, there may be updates on his website). You said that you had the past MCATs, these are very useful, make sure you do these, do one of them right away so you understand what it's really like.

 

Tim

 

PS if your studying verbal reasoning their are some good books out there, find ones that focus on understanding rather than stupid details (ie KAPLAN), but don't get discouraged by your score, its very hard to make accurate tests of this nature so the practice ones don't reflect the real thing.

[Guest UofT Student OT7]

Hey everyone,

 

Does anyone have any thoughts about Kaplan Comprehensive Review 2005-2006 vs. Flower and Silver (Princeton Review) MCAT vs. Gold Standard?

 

I was looking over these books at the book store and found the Gold standard was a lot more condensed than the other two books.

 

They are all about the same price so which one should I get?

 

Thanks

[Guest mitchie41]

For last year's MCAT, I used the Kaplan Comprehensive Review and the Gold Standard MCAT books.

 

I found the Kaplan book to be WAY better than the gold standard. The Gold Standard is more condensed, but it does not cover some things that you may have to know for the MCAT. The Kaplan book on the other hand seemed to cover stuff that you didn't really have to know. As as the name implies, the Kaplan Comprehensive review was very comprehensive.

 

I found that the verbal reasoning in the Kaplan practice exams were more 'realistic' than the Gold Standard, because Kaplan focused on understanding questions, whereas the gold standard book seemed to have lots of simple questions straight out of the passage.

 

But in the science sections of the practice exams, the gold standard was definately tougher.

 

It was also really cool that Kaplan had practice questions at the end of each section, as well as a practice exam at the end.

[Guest pinkgal]

I agree that the Gold Standard is @#%$!!

 

Kaplan is much better.

 

My best advice is to use the topic guidelines given on the MCAT website to go through your own university notes. Looking back, I would not have bought any study books unless I hadn't taken some of the courses required (ie: organic chem, physics, etc...).

[Guest UofT Student OT7]

There are several reasons why I want to get one of these books.

 

1. It consolidates all my studying into one easily accessible book, where I have most, if not all the topics in there.

 

2. They have practice exams.

 

3. They have "advice" although I am sure if I looked hard enough, I could find all that advice on this forum haha

[Guest aktpkb]

Yes, I've been looking around for a good mcat book as well. Is there a general consensus as to which one is the best?

 

thanks!

[Guest caliente]

There is no consensus...because a person's unique needs may require a different teaching style or book.

 

I only used the Gold Standard (I think...was the book black?) and the official practice tests provided by AAMC. A couple people here have complained that the book didn't go into enough depth as Kaplan, etc.

 

I never took a course or used Kaplan materials, but I liked the Gold Standard because it was direct and brief. I think this book is good if you already have an extensive science background. Most of the Gold Standard for me was just a reminder...I had already heard of most of the material before. Therefore, I didn't need in-depth explanations, but rather a concise book that would refresh my memory on those things important to the MCAT.

 

It should also be noted that some people naturally perform better than others on standardized tests (which is a criticism of these sorts of things...) If you are the latter, you will just need to study/practice harder and longer to achieve the same result.

 

I received 12V/13P/14B on the MCAT, so for me, the book was definitely helpful - it was my only resource. However, when I did a diagnostic practice test - went in cold without any preparation - I was already receiving good scores (10/11/10) so I only needed to polish things up for the real thing. If you are getting low scores, this probably indicates you do not already understand the material, so the Gold Standard might not be good for you.