Rating:  Summary: Comprehensive Review: I found this book to be very helpful in studying for the mcat. However, if you have not had basic chemistry, organic, biology, and physics as a foundation, you might find some of the concepts difficult to understand - this is supposed to supplement and direct your knowledge, not teach you everything you need to know for medical school. It told me which subjects were stressed more than others and I used the practice problems, as well as old exams from my college courses to brush up on my problem-solving skills which certainly helps give you extra time for concept and analytic/data interpretation problems. Hint: practice the essays and ask a teacher to critique them for you, because when crunch time comes you need to get the job done, writing DETAILED and COMPLETE essays that should be at least 1.5 pages. It is not enough just to read the writing section.
Rating:  Summary: A superb, thorough, and well written all over MCAT prep text Review: I purchased this book about a month ago and am delighted with it. I have several other MCAT prep texts, and this one surpasses them all in terms of accuracy of material, clarity of presentation, and thoroughness of content review. The software that comes with it is also well written, and includes a set of computer based flash cards that are a very nice bonus. I did have a little bit of difficulty with the software based exam the first time I used it, but that was just a matter of familiarizing myself with its features--unfortunately you can't pause the timer while you acquaint yourself with its features. I ended up scratching my scores for the first quarter section and then restarting the timed exam.If I could change anything about the book itself, it would be to include several full length practice MCATs, and not just one. Otherwise, I highly recommend this as a solid base for MCAT preparation.
Rating:  Summary: You need more than just this book! Review: I recommend that you buy a used copy of this book, even if it an older edition, I've heard they don't change that much from one year to the next (but don't go too old). The reason being because you should determine your weak area(s) and purchase the Examcrackers book specific for that subject. Whatever you do STUDY!!! Don't do what I did and just go take it, it ripped me up one side and down the other! I'm taking it again in August. I got the Examcrackers Verbal Reasoning to go along with this one.
Rating:  Summary: great MCAT prep book!!! Review: I studied this book and later registered for Kaplan's MCAT course. Prior to attending the prep course Kaplan mailed me text books which they were going to cover during the MCAT review courses. The text books were very much similar in content and methods of teaching with this book. Even their so-called "Exercises" were similar to this book's "Section Reviews." What I'm trying to say is this book covers the same depth in materials that are covered in MCAT prep courses, which cost more than a thousand dollars.
Rating:  Summary: This book blows the competition away and really helped me. Review: I used several books when preparing for the MCAT. This one blows the others away. It's great. Lots of detail and practice questions.
Rating:  Summary: Don't use this book as your only study guide! Review: I used this book to study for the August 2002 MCAT and I performed as I expected. I also worked through most questions in the Kaplan MCAT Workbook and several of the Examcrackers books. One thing I noticed very quickly is that had my background not been very strong, those books would have been useless. The key to performing well on such a grueling exam is to review old college materials (notes, textbooks, etc.) and to be a good student in the first place. Any review should just be that, a review and not instruction in materials with which you are unfamiliar. This book is a decent review but not necessarily a complete review. I believed that the physical sciences section was particularly weak when compared to the questions on the MCAT. For a much better review, I worked questions from my old college physics and chemistry books. I suppose the point of my rambling is to say "beware." Even though this book is marketed as a "complete" review, use all materials at your disposal to perform your best.
Rating:  Summary: Decent review. Review: I used this book to study for the August 2002 MCAT and I performed as I expected. I also worked through most questions in the Kaplan MCAT Workbook and several of the Examcrackers books. One thing I noticed very quickly is that had my background not been very strong, those books would have been useless. The key to performing well on such a grueling exam is to review old college materials (notes, textbooks, etc.) and to be a good student in the first place. Any review should just be that, a review and not instruction in materials with which you are unfamiliar. This book is a decent review but not necessarily a complete review. I believed that the physical sciences section was particularly weak when compared to the questions on the MCAT. For a much better review, I worked questions from my old college physics and chemistry books. I suppose the point of my rambling is to say "beware." Even though this book is marketed as a "complete" review, use all materials at your disposal to perform your best.
Rating:  Summary: weak review and many errors Review: i was very disappointed with this book. friends said kaplan was usually very good, but this bookstore text was really weak.
Rating:  Summary: Awesome Text Review: I wish I had this book when I was still un undergrad. student. After taking a course with Princeton Review(totally waste of time) and before taking the real mcat, I bought this book for extra practice. This book was easy to read with lots of neat tips. Even the test questions were similar to those on my actual mcat, unlike the crap on the Princeton Review practice tests. Practice questions at P.R. were so out of whack b/c they they had to be different from other testing publishers(kaplan, colombia, arco, etc.m,)No, I dont work for Princeton Review but I highly recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:  Summary: Good Explanations of Material Review: If you have to take the MCAT, then this book will help prepare you. It skimps on the Molecular Biology aspects, which was on the MCAT I took this spring. It covers Physics from Newton to Electricity and Magnetism. While taking Physics 2, I would turn to this book for explanations that were more helpful then my text book (especially on Optics!). It also has a lot of information on Physiology and tells you how to read Pedigree charts (not on my test, but others had them). The General Chemistry section was decent, but nothing to write home about. In my opinion, the Organic Chemistry section was weak. Since that was my weakest subject area, I wish it had a better explanation. Also, more practice exams would have been helpful. THere weren't too many in this book. That is the best way to improve performance on the MCAT, practice tests, practice tests, and more practice tests. If you are taking the MCAT, this is the best book to help you prepare.
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