KgirlLA

He goes around trashing Swartwood when he's never taken it.
I think it's that Todd guy. He's just scared b/c Swartwood and crew are way better teachers and are taking a huge chuck of students. I got the mass email he sent me right here with his name on it. It's desperate and sad. SAD really SAD. (wanna see it? Let me know.)

Right on one thing though: Swartwood's an in-class class. I took it, so I know .

Regardless, SELF-STUDY
1. Princeton Review is best all around (lots of good material).
2. Kaplan is ok, but has some mistakes. Bad for verbal. Good at bio.
3. EK is pretty good for biology but a little dense. Verbal Passages are good but have bad explanations.

stonecold23

-Examkrackers is best for Biology, Verbal, and Orgo (if you want a concise orgo)
-Berkeley review is best for Physics and General chemistry, by far.
-BR or Gold Standard are good for practice exams (better than Kaplan, at least)

alias stephanie

I am starting to self study for the mcat sometime in the next week and I am planning to take the mcat in september...is this enough time if I study lets say four to five hours five or six days a week?
I plan to use the kaplan books...

GoldShadow

Yes, that is enough time.

alias stephanie

so i am actually looking ay examkrackers...if i use all their suggested material for home study...what else should use if anything to study?

GoldShadow

I thought Kaplan was very good for science review, but terrible for verbal.

doorak

Anyone tried this free mcat study guide?

metalmethod741

find as many genuine mcat questions go through them all the ones you get wrong and write in the explanations/analysis why in the matching section in a comprehensive but not bulky mcat review book that way you see how all the topics you got wrong are connected to the ones you got wrong. the more connections you see, the more the questions will begin appear the same. it's really a game than something reflective of real life. best of luck! james

leaftye

I have almost all the materials out there except for the Gold Standard book and most of their media.

It's hard to say what's best for you unless you know what you like and actually get to check out the material. That said, the ExamKracker books are the easiest to look at. Definitely get the Audio Osmosis too. Listen to that when you're sleeping. Sleepytime osmosis works for me....not all that well, but not worthless, so it's something I do when I'm studying.

I also think the Berkeley Review books are good. Get their extra tests pamphlets/CBT's if you have the time and money to use them.

A lot of people seem to like the Princeton Review books, but I just don't see it yet. I also have their medschool essays book, and I think it may be useful as well, but that's not for the mcat.

The Nova books are good if you want to do a bunch of questions, but I'd get the EK 1001/101 question books first....wait, I did.

Don't bother with Kaplan. The only worthwhile thing I think they have is the study cards, the laminated quicksheets, and maybe the High Yield book. I won't even bother with the rest of my Kaplan books.

As for CBT's, I haven't bothered with any of them. I think I may use a testing program I have to enter some of the questions from my book....it'll just suck to have to get the questions in there. It helps that I've scanned all my books, but it'll still be very time consuming. At least the good part is that I can do a bunch of questions quickly and paperlessly, and it'll have me review incorrect problems.

appubmm

I read your post and u mentioned u r sofomore in collg done with all pre-requisites and taking the mcat...how is that possible...i thought you had to major in something for 4 years until you get the bachelors degree. I am freshman in collg and taking general classes and next semester, sofomore, i m majoring in bio to get done with the pre-reqs...but u r done in sofomore year itself...can you please tell me how u r done with it??? Wht did u major in?? Wht is the pre-reqs for mcat?? Waiting for your reply...thank you....

mmmcdowe

AP credit and summer classes.

By the way there is a writing sample on the MCAT

martel_pride

I really liked the Kaplan one back when I did it. I bought the book a week before my MCAT, took all of the practice tests over the course of the week, and on my actual test, noticed that the Kaplan ones were actually more difficult than the real thing in my case. I rode those Kaplan practice tests to my 34Q - 13 Bio, 13 Phys Sci, 8 Verbal.

I still imagine what that score would have been had I taken the test a lot more seriously.

RawMcatBB

Hello, nice to see this thread. S is done sopho college finals and all premed pre-requisites. Plan to prep MCAT from Jun to Aug ( for 9/11 test) with :

1. EK complete books + 1001 Science/101 verbal
2. Kaplan live online LEC ( what's the difference in content cf. to self-stduy LEC stuff?)
3. Priceton Review 2 books

Is there enough time if he's doing 4U college ECON in summer too ? ( he had AP MicroECOn already ). How much biochem is tested on OChem MCAT ? He's a sleepy type watching webcast, so i think live lessons online suit him better? Thx for advcie!

MiamiDAP

Do not worry too much about OChem, it is only 25% of Bio section. D found that Verbal is the hardest for her and it is not possible to prep. She has not improved there (practice tests), while 2 others have improved a lot. However, I heard that EK is the best for verbal, she did not have time for EK. D. did not take Biochem, since only one Med. School on her list reguires it and she needs to decide yet if she will apply there. Overall, it seems that your S has too much material. D. has used only Kaplan, took class and The Economist trying to improve Verbal (which apparently did not help much, which we knew based on her history of Reading being the lowest score in all tests in her life). Looks like your S. is all set. Good luck.

phonyreal98

There's actually a schedule up on SDN for people who want to self-study for the MCAT, written by the user SN2ed:
Breaking Down the MCAT: A 3 Month MCAT Study Schedule | MCAT Discussions | Student Doctor Network

I followed a modified version of this schedule and did very well.

The books I ended up using for self-study:
Biology-
Main Texts: Examkrackers Bio, The Berkeley Review Bio. I used EK for basic content review and passages; TBR for passages and to fill in the gaps when needed and as my main source of passages (there aren't too many passages in the EK book).

Physics-
Main Text: TBR Physics. Used for both content and passages.

General Chem-
Main Text: TBR Chemistry. Used for both content and passages.

Orgo-
Main Text: TBR Organic Chem. Used for both content and passages.

I used The Princeton Review's Hyperlearning package (sold directly only to those who take TPR's course, but you can buy them used on ebay) for supplemental passages on topics that I was weak on. For physics, chem, and orgo, The Berkeley Review is EXCELLENT! TBR is not one of the mainstream MCAT prep companies, but if you look at SDN its materials (especially for orgo and PS materials) consistently garner excellent reviews.

For verbal, I had no strategy other than read the passage and answer the questions. I used EK's 101 verbal passages book and TPRH's verbal workbook for practice.

For writing, I wrote two essays sometime the week before the exam.

Oh, and it bears reiterating: TBR is great for PS and orgo!