What books and/or prep courses that are good?

If you studied for the MCAT, please tell me the books/prep courses that you have had, and your opinion about each. Was it effectively, which were bad, etc.


It is your opinion, i undestand, i just want to know how people studied/are studying for the MCAT

there are mcat prep courses available through various college campuses (these are pricey $500+ ) there are also many many differente test prep books...my advice on the mcat is to get 2-3 test prep books and use your text books as supplemental...go through all the various things you need to know and basically restudy the last two years of science classes you have had...take a practice test the MCAT is like 5 hours long you need to take a complete test so you know what your in for...also answer every question....the MCAT is scored like the ACT (on a bell curve) you wont get docked for getting an answer wrong...

I used Exam Krackers and they are very good. A lot of people use Kaplan as well, but I find their material to be too heavy on content and not enough focus on technique. MCAT is not about knowing massive amounts of information. Infact, only a few concepts from BIO,CHEM, PHYS and a few important reactions and nomenclature from ORG CHEM is what you need. It is how you apply this knowledge i.e. test taking skills and I think Exam Krackers does a very good job of this.

Also, don't forget to buy practice tests from AAMC. I believe they sell 4 tests. Take them in timed manner just like the real MCAT. They are very useful.

Good Luck.

I took the MCAT in August '06. Because I knew that many people take prep courses, I took the Kaplan online course to stay competitive. I was too far away from a Kaplan center to take a classroom course, but I liked the online version just fine.

I started the course about 3 months before the exam, and did exactly what was prescribed by Kaplan before each session. Kaplan provided a huge amount of extra subject tests and practice MCAT's, but I mostly just did the minimum. I did read through all the subject books (provided by Kaplan), and solved all the problems at the end of each chapter.

Although it is expensive to take a full course, I was very happy with the result. The course made it much easier for me to outline a study plan and to make sure I was covering all the necessary topics. Having a score guarantee was great too - with Kaplan, even if my score was higher than my initial test, if I was unhappy with the result I was allowed to retake the course for no charge. That wasn't necessary, though - my overall score was above 99th percentile the first time I took the real exam.

Obviously, you shouldn't expect those kind of results, but I do think it is a good idea to take a course. With all the money you spend on college classes and med school applications, it doesn't make sense to be cheap on something that will be a big part of your application.