教你如何选择MCAT参考书.docx

The key to MCAT success is not content review, its taking tons of timed practice passages and thoroughly reviewing those passages.Berkley Review- Essientally gods gift to MCAT students. Best comprehensive review tool but sending a money order to a P.O. box makes some students a little nervous. Kaplan- Average, does an okay job of preparing studentsPrinceton Review- About right on with kaplan, doesnt make much of a difference one way or the otherExam Krackers- A good series of questions to do after a great deal of preparation using other sources, Texts provide a broad over view of materialBe careful not to overburden yourself with too much material. Focus on a plan and maximize the stuff you have.Biology: 1. EK Bio + EK 1001 Bio, non-detail oriented 1. BR/TPR Hyperlearning, detail oriented 3. KaplanPhysics: 1. BR 2. Nova 3. TPR Hyperlearning 4. KaplanVerbal: 1. EK Verbal + EK 101 Verbal 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. BR 4. Kaplan (Avoid if possible)Organic Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/KaplanGeneral Chemistry: 1. BR, by far 2. TPR Hyperlearning 3. EK/Kaplan EK bio or BR bio: TBR Bio is very detailed and difficult. EK Bio (not EK 1001) has decent questions and 30minute exams. Id say AAMC is somewhere right in the middle of those 2.Many people that have studied just EK Bio have gotten 12+. It has all of the information you need. The problem with EK Bio is that the passages are much easier than what youll see on the MCAT. This is why people tell you to study EK Bio and do practice with TBR Bio.In EK Bio,memorize everything, and you should be goodEverything other than EK Bio is junk. you can quote me on that EK Bio is excellent. You really dont need too many details because much of the information can be found in the passage. You just need to be familiar with background information, which EK Bio provides you with.Use EK or TPRH for biology content review. EK if you dont need all the details, which is what most prefer. TPRH if those extra details that arent tested are helpful for you to understand the material. In either case, use BR for its passages which are hard, but good.EK is short, sweet, but still covers all of the topics you need to understand while allowing you to spend more time practicing, which is the best strategy for those still in school.For many college students whove recently taken biology courses and done reasonably well, I think EK is absolutely perfectI am following SN2s MCAT studying guide where he recommends EK Bio over TBR Bio for content, but TBR Bio for passages. I also followed the guide to convert from EK Bio chapters to TBR Bio passages.I think the consensus on SDN is that TBR Bio is much more detailed and difficult than the MCAT.I thought part one TBR bio was pretty good. Details werent too bad and it was informative. My advice is that part two is wayyyy overkill, just use it for the passages However TBR physics and TBR GC content is gold.pure gold. I think their GC and physics content is beyond amazing. The in text examples actually do help me, and they explain things nicely.The consensus is that the second BR book is not essential. It is way too in depth for metabolism and seems to lack updates in the genetics sectionThe first book (the physiology sections) are very good. If you feel like you dont have enough practice passages, then these books might be good. Obviously for content review you have enough.If learning the details helps you learn the big picture, the TBR is golden. If you know what you need to know and need a brush up, then you should be okay with EK.I think EK 1001 bio isnt recommended anymore (at least under the SN2ed thread) b/c its not representative of the current MCAT. Keep in mind it was last revised in 2006 which is before the CBT started. I genuinely think TBR bio is crucial if youre a bit weak in bio and Ive found it to be amazingly helpful in my prep. I know a lot of people think the cell bio book is too detailed but when I finally got around to reading it, the content honestly did a lot to help me understand bio in general and make connections b/w subjects etc. At the very least you should be doing all the TBR bio passages.It is still pretty helpful. Not much has changed from the paper to CBT except the length of the exam. I only used BR Bio for the passages.the actual reading was too dense for me. I used EK for the content. S2N has a conversion chart showing what chapters correspond on his guide somewhere. The anatomy and physiology section is great. Very challenging and in depth, yet concise and a focus on passage based learning. I would highly recommend it. However, most of the Cell Biology book is too much. It might be fine for someone who has already taken biochem, but it really is too in depth for those of us who havent had more cellular molecular biology past the intro classes. I thought people were BSing about how ridiculous it was, but they arent. It really does take everything a bit too far.Physics: TBR (TPRH Science workbook for extra practice passages)Gchem: TBR (TPRH Science workbook for extra practice passages)Ochem: TBR for practice, but for content (fill in any holes with TBR content)Bio: TPRH for content, TPRH Science workbook for practice passagesVerbal: TPRH Verbal workbook (EK 101 is too easy, but its also pretty good)（I totally agree with this. Ive bought most of the books you can buy. Take your time in getting the right books for you. I tried chapters from all of the books and in the end, I reached the conclusion above (which most SDN posters suggest). Each book has its strengths and weaknesses and not everyone learns the same way, but after thoroughly reading reviews and working through the books, heres what Im using.Bio: TPRHO-chem: TPRH, a good number prefer BR- In the past, more people preferred BR. Both TPRH and BR are probably about equal with style preference being a large factor.Verbal: TPRH - Verbal is basically entirely practice-based so this doesnt really count. For verbal practice, TPRH easily beats BR.Gen chem: BR, some prefer TPRHPhysics: BR, some prefer TPRHTPRH is the series of books given out to students who sign up for the PR class.The subject books for TPRH and TPR are identical. The only difference is that the TPR subject books have practice problems at the end of each chapter, compared to the TPRH subject books.Anyways, buy the TPR subject books if you want because they use those in the class nowadays. Also, try to buy the TPRH verbal and science workbooks. Those workbooks come with the class only but there are people who sell them after theyre done with them. Again, you cant go wrong with either. For the money, BR is better because it contains practice passages which are vital for success and far more important than content review.Organic Chemistry- Skimming TBR for review (plan to read the lab techniques section in detail). For passages complete TBR and then switch to TPRH for the last weeks.Biology- Reading EK for review (BR for Heart, Kidney, and Lung). For passages complete TBR and then switch to TPRH for the last weeks.Verbal- Reading EK for techniques. For passages complete EK 101 and TPRH verbal book. If Im in need of more passages Ill use TBR (doing the ones with answer explanations that arent too long)General Chemistry- Reading TBR for tricks and review. For passages Im doing only TBR passages.Physics- Reading TBR for tricks and review. For passages Im doing TBR and then will switch to TPRH for the last weeks. Might do small blocks of questions from EK 1001 if I have time at the end.I have the 5th edition of EK but any edition will work. Im using the 2010 TPRH workbooks but any edition will do. Im using 2007 TBR organic chemistry but any edition after 2004 will do. Im using 2009 TBR general chemistry and biology but 2007 or later will do. Im using 2011 for TBR physics. I have the 2009 version and the 2011 is way better.For exams I plan to use AAMC 3 and 7-11 and then BR 1-5. Im following a modified version of SN2eds schedule. I started early but have academic demands until June 12. ）Kaplan is bad in verbal because it doesnt stress the same things as the actual MCAT. For the MCAT, the main idea and authors point of view/opinion are the keys to success. Conversely, Kaplan focuses more on the detail oriented questions; the kind of questions which make you go back over the passage to find the minute detail being tested. On the MCAT, going back to the passages will kill your timing. Furthermore, you rarely receive such questions and when you do get them, they can typically be answered with the main idea or authors opinion.I was the same way before getting them, pretty excited. Now I am reading Gen Chem book I and I looooooooove it! They have a good way of explaining everything and the practice problems after every passage are awesome! EK Series: Frankly, I really have to say this book screwed me over the verbal, because it really made me to think that the passages were as easy as it seemed- but they really werent. Sorry for everyone taking the MCAT, but the verbal section is HARD. Dont have false hopes that it will have a few give away passages. EVERY SINGLE PASSAGE is equally difficult, and definitely more difficult that Id say 80% of all the passages in this book. Examkrackers are good with practicing concepts, but only ones really worth getting and that I would recommend is the biology book, and maybe the physics book. Organic chemistry is way too easy. WAY to easy, and general chem and physics are unnecessarily way more difficult and have some obscure topics you wont have to bother for the MCATs.EK Chem: This book, in essence, is aimed at only someone who has a solid foundation and needs a little help. I found nearly every explanation in the book to be lacking to the point that I was googling as much as I was reading.EK Bio: The book gives you ton of hints of what kind of questions going to be ask and what to memorize. Pictures and diagrams are wonderful and very helpful. Has plenty practice questions to re-enforce concepts.EK Bio 1001: Over the past couple years, BS has moved towards a heavy critical thinking/passage analysis aspect similar in style to VR. Unfortunately, EK Bio 1001 does not focus much on critical thinking/passage analysis and instead relies more on recalling the relevant content. That does not mean there is no critical thinking involved, but it doesnt do it to the same degree as BR Bio or TPRH SW.EK Verbal: The passages are varied and interesting. Attempting to learn anything from the passages, however, is a waste of time. The answers found in the back of the book are arbitrary with justification and reasoning so terrible, contrived, and sometimes utterly wrong, its just unforgivable. Save yourself the frustration and buy a different verbal review book.There are almost no passages in the exam krackers that compare to the real MCATs extremely vague and difficult to decipher passages (such as the humanities ones).In the real MCAT, the questions were typically based upon broad ideas of the passage with sufficiently different answer choices. In the Exam Krackers book however, the questions did occasionally deal with the general idea of the passage, but the answer choices tended to be very similar with adequate evidence to argue wrong answers in many cases.I picked this up along with your verbal strategies and I went from 7-8s to 10s and 11s. The biggest thing for me was getting flustered worrying about time. When you pointed out that people spend 80% of there time answering questions and only 20% reading, that allowed me to actually take time to comprehend the passage before tackling the questions and it helped substantiallyANY year for the TPRH Verbal Workbook is fine. Once TPR switched to their Hyperlearning series, they havent made significant changes to their any of their material (its all very good material at that).BR owns chemistry and physics and EK owns biology and verbalLook at EK for techniques and if you can get your hands on them the BR class notes for verbal reasoning. EK has really good techniques and suggestions and BR notes have great exercises where you practice their techniques. To be honest, the EK, PR, and BR techniques all sort of blended for me, so it probably doesnt matter which source you use (if you already have one of those books). If you are still shopping, I think EK is the cheapest book, so you might as well use that one.Just make sure you focus more on analyzing questions than reading the passage. If the BR verbal teacher taught me anything it was that its far, far better to be able to work through questions than it is to be able to break down a passage. As she said, apparently they only give you points for answering questions.I just want to make sure that I am getting the best books before I spend any of my money on themAmazon is a terrible resource for BR books. They are usually really old and more expensive than new ones directly from he company. If you are going to buy them anywhere besides their website, you should buy them from the SDN classifieds.BR because it contains practice problems. TPR Hyperlearning is equal in terms of content review, but the practice problems are in the science workbookWhile EK was really good for a quick review, stay away from their 1001 books. They arent like the actual MCAT questions and their answer explanations are a joke. Spend your practice time on better materials like BR or PR.I really liked that BR books have passages organized by subjects in the books for reviewing and random passages in practice tests for realism. PR would be smart if they organized their workbook like the BR books.Id rank the books BR PR EK. I bought EK, and I jizzed. In. My pants.网上很多人说examkrackers 家的verbal 1001 不错，题目是最象 AAMC 的The best source of knowledge for the MCAT is in many books. But one book will suffice.Bio - EK and Kaplan does a pretty good job on covering all the basics and general info. I would use the Kaplan online sectional tests and practice exams. Why kaplan online? Cause they present alot of different scenarios of different bio passages that can get confusing. It will help train you for using the passage to answering questions. I found this to be the most similar to the bio section of my mcat. The real mcat had some confusing passages but also some discretes that were strictly memorization based.Verbal - Kaplan + EK + TPR. I just practiced from all the books. One helps you train for one aspect of the test. I found Kaplan helped me with training to find specific details of the passage. EK helped with main idea questions. TPR helped similar to kaplan but with slightly harder passages to read. Best strategy here was to use different sources cause you never know what kind of verbal you will get.Physical - Kaplan + My physics textbook and very little EK. EK has good practice questions in the 1001 book but some of these questions are kind of too tricky and kind of too deep. Kaplan teaches the information well. Physics textbook helped with understanding the information and theory. If you are really struggling with physics, go find a physics tutor to help you grasp the basics and what is covered on the mcat. For practice i used the kaplan online tests; this really helped apply the information. Doing a lot of timed practice sectional tests helped really drill everything in. Overall i would buy just kaplan and EK. For physics, i would just use a physics textbook. Use kaplan for a lot of good practice questions to get timing and hard passages. Do the aamc tests. And then youll be set. Berkeley Review is excellent it was spawned for the UC market in California. In North, they used to have Columbia Review which was very good too. In the south they had Hyperlearning, which got bought out by Princeton. Hyperlearning is a very good review as well as it explains things in a very simple way.albeit wordy. Princeton Review hasnt done crap to it since they bought Hyper. All they done was stick in a PR cover and have not added to it since they bought them years ago.Exam Krackers is like the Cliff Notes to the MCAT. It is very brief and has barely any practice problems.yet you give them higher marks then Princeton.and by extension Kaplan.since you claim they are equivalent.Berkeley Review has a website too. They offer a classroom version too if you can take it in Cali.Buy one based on your learning style. If you need a lot of hand holding then get PR. If you are okay and just need refreshing and pointers, get Berkeley. My friend used Columbia Review and he talked trash about BR. /TBR/home-study.html/forumdisplay.php?f=31 MCATIf you are preparing for MCAT, Id rather purchase ALL of the AAMC practice exams, which is available online for a year, and keep practicing those than to purchase all of examkracker books like me and waste nearly a month doing all the problems.Going cheap isnt worth it. That said, neither is a $1000+ prep course. I would plan to spend around $500 on prep materials when all is said done. (Keep in mind that the AAMC tests alone are $255 for the whole set plus the MCAT Official Guide.) My suggestion would be to purchase the following:Berkeley Review set (all 4 science sets; not the writing or VR) - $240All 7 AAMC exams (plus the free Exam 3) and the Official Guide to the MCAT - $255Exam Krackers VR - $15 (used)TOTAL: $510Then do a steady course of review using all 4 science books and 1 EK VR passage per week for the first 10 weeks (reviewing previous chapters as you go). Starting with about week 5, do one AAMC