<p>I was looking through the Biology material in a Kaplan MCAT prep book the other day (no, I am not studying for the MCAT… I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worth auditing the intro-level bio classes that I am exempt from). Anyway, I noticed that, in regards to the structures of the cell (such as ribosomes, golgi apparatus, vacuoles, etc.), the book went into very little detail… just a few sentences about the structures/functions. In AP Biology I remember going MUCH more in-depth with these topics, like learning everything about everything with the endoplasmic reticulum. But for the MCAT, do we really not need to know much beyond the basics of these organelles/structures? I noticed that Kaplan somewhat glossed over other topics that we beat to death in AP bio as well, and I know that Kaplan is generally regarded as the best MCAT prep, so this is why I’m asking. Would simply the basics be enough? Thanks!</p>
<p>Okay, at the risk of making it sound like AP Bio is sufficient for the MCAT (which it is not)…</p>
<p>Recognize a couple of things</p>
<p>1) Kaplan operates with the assumption that you’ve had the college level courses necessary for the MCAT which the AAMC (which organizes the test) defines as a year each (with lab) of Bio, Gen Chem, Organic and Physics. When I taught for Kaplan, I know during the opening session the teachers were supposed to underscore that kaplan was REVIEW not a substitute for having taken these classes, and that because of the amount of material to be covered, the pace of the course was going to be fast and NOT cover everything. Same thing with the review books.</p>
<p>2) With that in mind, the Kaplan course is designed to cover the most highly relevant, most frequently tested topics. As we medical students talk about in regards to USMLE preparation, this stuff if “High Yield” (M2’s are obsessed with things being high yield). If you know these things, you’re bound to get some points. So essentially Kaplan answers the question of “what are the absolute bare minimum things you need to know”.</p>
<p>3) Remember that the MCAT is a test of critical thinking. It is NOT a knowledge based test despite what many people believe. Yes you must know a certain amount, but the majority of the test uses the basic science material as a vehicle to get you to think critically. Only the discrete (not linked to any passage) questions are pure regurgitation of knowledge. If you want a real knowledge based test, go take the DAT.</p>
<p>4) Just to again get my point that AP bio is not sufficient - there is great variation in what is taught across AP courses. Just because your teacher beat cell bio to death doesn’t mean that everyone else’s did. Likewise there are probably other topics that you didn’t cover very much that show up in more depth on the MCAT.</p>
<p>Do you know any resources that might go into a little more depth? or help kids who haven’t taken the required classes?</p>
<p>Taking the required classes.</p>
<p>Kaplan does sell some subject specific guides, books that are intended to be supplemental to to the college courses you are supposed to be taking.</p>
<p>What about the Examkrackers series? Is that good?</p>
<p>blazinyan300:</p>
<p>“Good” means it works for you. I had a Kaplan classmate who was retaking the MCAT (with Kaplan) because Examkrackers didn’t work for him. However, other people have reported success with Examkrackers. So, it depends.</p>
<p>Examkrackers’ verbal strategies are supposedly top-notch. Didn’t really work for me though.</p>
<p>hmm, thanks BRM. I kind of figured that Kaplan assumed you already had the ground knowledge of the topics (just by the way it was going over stuff). I’d like to audit my intro-level bio classes if time permits, but if I were to just look at all the topics that Kaplan covers in its book, and then do some outside/more in-depth reading on those topics, would that be sufficient? Or are you saying that Kaplan completely skips over some topics that might be worth learning for the MCAT (and therefore, might be worth auditing the class to learn)?</p>
<p>Also, how does Princeton Review fare with Kaplan for MCAT prep? I took PR for the SATs and was very pleased, so I just thought it might be a safer bet for me to take PR for the MCAT. However, is Kaplan significantly better than PR?</p>
<p>COLLEGE! I don’t know what you plan to major in. Even if you place out of Bio, I would suggest taking two semesters of higher level bio courses if you do not intend to major in it. Although you may have received a 5 in AP Bio, and you technically meet the pre-med requirements, med schools like to see how well you do in an actual college course. Moreover, biology is such an essential and integral part of medicine. Speaking as a former admissions committee member, if someone did not take a single biology course in college, I would seriously wonder why he/she is interested in medicine.</p>
<p>The thing is COLLEGE doesn’t “technically” meet anything as far as pre-med requirements go with only AP credit.</p>
<p>I suppose the interest in auditing the course comes from the fact that the AAMC claims that one year of intro biology is sufficient for success on the MCAT. Also I can vouch for the fact that upper level courses can indeed cause problems on the MCAT if that knowledge causes you to overthink questions and bring in outside knowledge that goes beyond what is presented in the passage.</p>
<p>COLLEGE! - There are things that will show up on the MCAT that you have never seen before, that’s part of the test, seeing how you deal with new ideas, understand them quickly, integrate them with basic knowledge you already have and then answer intricate questions on them.
There’s no way Kaplan can cover everything that might possibly show up on test day. Suppose there are 300 concepts the MCAT could cover in some form on the test. Certainly some of those items are going to be more common than others - either they’re important, they’re very basic or core principles of biology (ie the central dogma) or there are many ways to examine the knowledge, or even they’re just the favorite subject of one of the MCAT test writers…for whatever reason those topics are almost guaranteed to show up on test day, or will for most people. Kaplan will take the time to go over the top 50 things with you in biology because knowing those concepts is key to doing well on the exam. But they won’t go over all 300. That’s the principle of being “high yield”…it’s worth your time and effort to know those things because you know they are going to show up, and you know other people are going to get the questions right. So there are things that you might wish Kaplan had gone over in class, but that’s only b/c your test had a passage about that topic.</p>
<p>yeah I see what you’re saying. I guess it’ll just be a matter of taking practice tests and figuring out for myself how in-depth I’ll need to go…</p>
<p>pmyen - yes, I believe I’ll be auditing the course, but I wouldn’t get credit or anything if I actually signed up for the class and got a grade (boo bureaucracy). I’m definitely taking a year of upper-div bio classes to fulfill my pre-med requirements (and my major requirements).</p>
<p>Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>bdm, I was advising COLLEGE to take upper level courses not as a means to prepare for the MCAT but rather as a necessary fulfillment of his/her premed requirments. I think the plan to audit the intro bio course is a good one, if only to provide an even stronger base in biology. It certainly can help cover some additional areas of biology that may not have been taught in COLLEGE’s AP class. Yes, like most standardized tests, it is easy to overthink the questions. I think Physics majors see more to the questions than meet the eyes; likewise History and English majors read more into a passage than the test writer intended. I know several people who have taken the Kaplan course recently. One of the major benefits is that by studying the curriculum and answering the test questions, you start getting into the heads of the testwriters and try to think as they would. If there is a difficult and tricky question, it almost always is one that a reasonably bright person should be able to reason through. There really should not be many over your head questions, if you prepare well for the basic areas of the tests. Additionally, taking a lot of practice tests can help you get a feel for the appropriate level of analyses for questions, particularly if you have studied a subject area in depth in college.
COLLEGE-your plan sounds very reasonable. If you don’t mind, am curious what you plan to major in.</p>
<p>I’m going into my 2nd year of Bioengineering</p>