Best MCAT Prep Books and MCAT Study Guides
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The best MCAT study guides for MCAT students.
The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam
This all-new edition is the first and only official comprehensive overview about the new MCAT2015 exam. This guide is for all MCAT exams administered AFTER January 2015.
This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the registration and testing process, details on how the exam is scored, information on holistic admissions, and more. Plus, the guide provides everything you need to know about the sections in the new MCAT exam, tips on how to prepare, and 120 practice test questions and solutions.
great product. It not only mentions all the things needed to prepare for the Mcats but all the rules and stuff. Also it gives many chapters on the new parts of sociology, psychology and biochemistry. It gives practice questions but also gives outlines on what to study. This is the official guide so can be trusted more than Kapan, Berkerley Review, etc. However those other books are not as bad as well but this book gives a great summary of what you need to focus on for the new MCAT in 2015.
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The best MCAT prep books for MCAT students. We believe these books will help you with your MCAT prep.
Kaplan MCAT Complete 7-Book Subject Review: Book + Online (Kaplan Test Prep)
This book features thorough subject review, more questions than any competitor, and the highest-yield questions available. The commentary and instruction comes directly from Kaplan MCAT experts and includes targeted focus on the most-tested concepts plus more questions than any other guide.
100% Recommend this set if you intend on spending the time to study properly. Unlike Princeton Review, you're getting a much more concise product that focuses on what you need to know. Little side panels with MCAT Expertise, Mnemonics, and Real Life ties in are great in case you're having a tough time understanding the section in question. They also do a really good job of tying things together; they make it a point to tell you "well, your studies of Biochem are not isolated. You'll see mention of this concept in Organic Chemistry chapter 8 because it is very important across the board." Stuff like that. There are also some interesting ways that they introduce a chapter and relate it to you- I've even cracked up a few times at their scienc-y jokes.
I just spent the past 8 months with these books. I read them all the way through (except Verbal), highlighting/underlining things I found important. Then I went through them all the way again, taking scrupulous notes on all the important stuff that I had highlighted, or that the MCAT Expertise portions had brought up. Then I went through each practice passage at the end of the chapters, and I made sure I knew why every answer was what it was. The questions at the end of each chapter cover at least a portion of each topic from the preceding chapter, so if you're clueless, you can go back and study up, and then realize what they're asking about. The practice problems were pretty easy, they just made sure you were aware of what to know.
I bought these books back in July for my September 2015 MCAT and I thought they were great books. They contained all the information needed for the test. The only downside to these books is that they sometimes ask questions that are not relevant to the test but I feel that all books do that as a means to A) get you to think in several different ways B) make sure you know the general concepts of the material presented.
All-in-all i thought they were good books. I have a BS in Bio and have never before taken psych or sociology but I was able to easily recognize the material on the actual MCAT due to these books. I advice, but these books, learn the chapters, answer the questions. Ignore all end of chapter questions that require a calculator. Buy and complete AAMC Q-packs, practice exams. Do them several times if needed THEN do Kaplan practice exams. Kaplan exams were bad but nothing mimics the actual exam like the AAMC practice material. Overall, buy these books!
9th Edition Examkrackers MCAT Complete Study Package (EXAMKRACKERS MCAT MANUALS)
Great MCAT book overall with easy-to-understand explanations and diagrams. It is very concise and in my opinion better than Kaplan or TPR books. Each chapter in the book comes with a few sets of discrete questions and a 30 minute passage-based exam, which is a pretty good representation of the MCAT.
I'm an MCAT instructor with MCATProf.com and have been teaching the MCAT for 10 years having previously been an instructor with Kaplan and the Princeton Review. I've read and used all the books available for the current 2014 MCAT (Berkeley Review, Kaplan, Princeton Review, Examkrackers) and in the past wasn't especially impressed with the Examkrackers MCAT books. I've purchased all the 2015 MCAT books that are currently commercially available (Princeton Review Complete MCAT Set, Kaplan 7-Book Subject Review, Examkrackers Complete Study Package, and Next Step Test Prep Practice for Behavioral Sciences)
I'd rank them in the following order
1. Examkrackers Complete Study Package
2. Kaplan Complete 7-Book Subject Review
3. Princeton ReviewnMCAT Subject Review Complete Set
4. Next Step Test Prep Practice for Behavioral Sciences.
Examkrackers is the only set that completely reformatted their books to be inline with the new exam. Every book is almost completely different with reformatted content, and new practice passages that fit the format of the new exam. All their science passages reference primary research articles directly as do the MCAT passages for the 2015 exam. These new types of passages are different than the more information dump type passages for the current 2014 MCAT exam. In addition, all their passages directly involve biological systems even in the physics and chemistry books which is what you'd expect to see with the new 2015 MCAT. They also redistributed the content science content in the book to better adequately represent the degree to which each subject is tested on the new exam. These books are a complete reboot to best fit the new exam. Each chapter has comes with three well written passages and around 20 free standing practice questions.
Princeton Review MCAT Subject Review Complete Box Set, 2nd Edition: 7 Complete Books + Access to 3 Full-Length Practice Tests
Get everything you need to conquer the MCAT with this complete boxed set of The Princeton Review's 7 MCAT Subject Review books + access to 3 full-length practice tests.
The good news for princeton is that they offer 3 full length practice tests for this package, which are brand new. However, because there are not enough passages, excessive content, and differing editions per book, I have to give it three stars. Kaplan seems to have a more concise review than Princeton. Examkrackers has more passages than Princeton. Overall, this Princeton package is good for its 3 practice tests.