 Excellent book |
| Review Date: April 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Alan McCallister, |
Very well-done book... has comprehensive science review with plenty of advice for the writing sample and verbal reasoning sections. The color pages and diagrams are a major improvement over the 2007 ed. They've also gotten rid of the CD in favor of a completely online companion (this is less cumbersome and much better for the environment). The book questions and online questions come with complete, thorough explanations.
One of the best features is that taking their diagnostic test (and full simulation tests) the program tells you specifically what your weaknesses are. Your overall score can be separated into your biological sciences score and physical sciences score. From here, e.g., your biological sciences score is separated into biology and organic chemistry. If you select biology it will list the topics that were tested and the amount of questions you got right out of how many questions touched on that particular topic. From this you know what your specific weaknesses are... such as the function of carbonic anhydrase in the circulatory system.
This is a major improvement over the 2007 ed. and very helpful in terms of having an exhaustive review of all the material on the test. |
A worthy volume, but not appropriate for everyone
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| Review Date: May 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M.P.H, Shreveport, LA |
This volume is Kaplan's alternative to their $2000 in-person prep course which comes with course books. This is a large, heavy tome--weighing in at 5lbs and nearly 1100 pages--containing condensed course notes for chemistry, physics, biology and organic. The material in this single volume is, for all intents and purposes, nearly identical to the notes you receive in the classroom course.
Now the big question: "Is this the right book for YOU??"
Did you take great notes in biology, chemistry, organic and physics? If you did (and kept them safe) then this book is probably not for you.
Did you send your invaluable course notes and old exams to the landfill after final exams? If you did, then this book is probably for you.
**90% of the pages in this book are NOTES not practice questions. If you already have great notes in the major subject areas, your money is better spent on a set of the Examkrackers 1001 Question books and official AAMC practice MCATs.**
If your surviving course notes leave much to be desired or failed to survive your undergraduate career, then you might consider this book or, alternatively, the Examkrackers Mcat Complete Study Package. The difference in price is not that significant though the Examkrackers books are a bit more in-depth and rigorous than this Kaplan book.
In either case, this book does not stand alone as a COMPLETE resource for MCAT prep, which is why I have given it 4 stars instead of 5. There's simply not enough practice material in this book to develop your MCAT test-taking skills. Kaplan does sell a book of practice MCAT's which compliments this book nicely. The subject notes in this book are concise and complete, however, and may prove to be an excellent timesaver for individuals who find themselves flustered or confused on "where to start."
Overall, I recommend this one for students with gaps in their subject knowledge or library of notes. Pass on this one and spend your money on practice testing material for those who have a firm grasp on the subject matter already. "A-" |
A Soild Backbone for any MCAT Preparation
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| Review Date: June 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: JCousteau, |
Kaplan's Premier Program was a pretty sound investment, and I used it a lot more than the Exam Krackers material that I also used in my preparation. They are good complements to each other, in my opinion.
I think EK is a little more "user-friendly" as far as presenting information, though.
Anyway, there's a lot of breadth in this book, with appropriate depth, especially in the organic chemistry and biology sections. The cell metabolism and and cell cycle sections were really, really solid, I grew to love reviewing them, haha.
The "clinical correlates" and "Kaplan exclusives" really aren't that useful in my opinion, because they are rather superficial and too short.
I was happy with the chemistry and physics sections, though more practice problems would have been nice.
The book's practice sections could have used tested your critical thinking abilities a little more, but for that, I'd recommend MCAT 45 or "MCAT Advanced" as I think it's called now.
I scored in the 85th percentile in April 2009, and I owe a lot of that to practice and drills from the Kaplan online course, but this book formed the backbone of my study. Focus on getting the content down, then testing yourself.
After reading this a couple of times and studying it really thoroughly, and memorizing a lot, you'll be able to do well on the MCAT, provided you have good critical thinking abilities and can successfully apply what you know to novel situations. |
Excellent For Content and Practice
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| Review Date: May 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Navin N. Singh, Saint Petersburg, FL, USA |
| This book has the best content review of any book. But because it is 1100 pages, you MUST start reviewing well in advance- at least 2 to 3 months in advance- of your MCAT exam. The content is extensive, you cannot procrastinate. The content review is excellent and comprehensive; practice questions help with developing analytical skills essential for the MCAT. I would recommend buying the AAMC 8 Practice Tests after completing this mostly content based book. Use this book for content. |
Could be improved, for certain.
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| Review Date: March 16, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Phillip Stall, Milton, WI USA |
For disclaimer, I've yet to take the MCAT proper, but have bought several practice MCAT exams from the AAMC website and score in the 12-13 range for Physical Sciences and consistently 13 on the Biological Sciences part, as well as 11-13 on Verbal(depending upon if there is an Art/Painting question to lower my score). I am also a 4.0 Student in Neurobiology, and have taken the Examkrackers and have found it to reinforce weaknesses and give sufficient negative feedback on difficult questions I had gotten wrong.
As it pertains to Kaplan, I'm not a big fan at all of their practice exams as they suffer from three features that are not reflective of actual MCAT exams made available by the AAMC:
1) Passage Pedantry: MCAT exams consistently (seem to) feature articles from Journals that have a breadth of information in them; with that said, what they won't ever do is focus on minute details of the articles like Kaplan's passages often do. While there are obviously questions that require the passages on the MCAT, there aren't passages that focus on say, a recreation of an ink jet printer's image, as this would not be testing specific physical sciences concepts. An actual MCAT would use an article about a 1987 Earthquake, and extrapolate and assess your knowledge of longitudinal waves, or transfer of energy in resonance, or Work.
2) Ambiguity in the questions or answer choices: oftentimes, Kaplan will be confusing in that it won't be made clear what it is assessing, or rather, will not give sufficient details to answer questions. For example, I had one question that was asking whether a biker who is going down a hill without pedaling had a kinetic energy that was greater than/less than/equal to their lost potential energy (due to resistance), without clearly stating where on the hill the rider was positioned when the -PE vs. KE was being assessed. Obviously, without friction and external forces, KE=PE.
MCAT would have asked the question in this way: Question X: A rider at the bottom of the hill would have _______ momentum and _________ energy. This would be sufficiently complex for most of the MCAT questions, as it would be assessing one's knowledge of conservation of energy and energy transfer from potential to kinetic, as well as conservation of momentum; I got the Kaplan question wrong not because I didn't understand the concepts, but because of ambiguity. I've taken 468 Physical Sciences questions on the MCAT and have gotten confused on what was being asked approximately 5 times, or 1% of the time. This was the first question on an online practice test for Kaplan.
3) I've yet to find an MCAT question that will be standalone and ask you to solve Cardiac Output or Total Lung Volume questions. I've found a couple on Kaplan pre-tests and find it frustrating. You should have a sufficient understanding of Lung Volume and changes due to inspiration, expiration, etc., but MCAT usually couples this with a passage.
4)I bought a 2004 Kaplan MCAT and it has the same typos and same practice questions as the 2009. I'm fairly certain the MCAT has changed and even progressed in its focus on concepts and problem-solving assessment, but this has not been reflected so much in the book itself. Moreover, the book had clear cut inaccuracies such as chief cells being the primary producing cells of intrinsic factor (FALSE: parietal cells)
I would say that it's strengths include many Clinical Correlates, helpful tips, biological detail that even Examkrackers is missing, as well as helpful tools for verbal reasoning and writing sample, so it excels in supplying study materials. With that said, Kaplan is not in my opinion accurate as an assessment tool as to where you stand relative to the actual MCAT exams released by the AAMC, as its focus does not parallel the MCAT's focus per se. Would give it a 3.5 if possible. |
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