Customer Reviews

Barron's MCAT with CD-ROM: Medical College Admission Test (Barron's MCAT (W/CD))

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I've never even posted a review in 12 or so years of being an Amazon customer but this book desperately needs one. I wish someone had reviewed it before I bought it.

Avoid this book at all costs; even if you're already scoring in the high 30s and have used every other resource. It will only serve to confuse you and dilute the already massive amount of material you're expected to know.

The questions in this book are nothing like the questions on the AAMC (real) tests. The material review completely misses the mark; you are not expected to know detailed cellular biology of the tooth. Orgo of alkynes, something that was specifically removed from the MCAT this year, shows up in this book as well. Quadratic equations! mechanical advantage!! Lazzaro Spallanzani!!! I'm not making this stuff up. I don't think the authors bothered to look at the outline of material a test-taker is supposed to know (which is, btw, available directly from AAMC ... just google "MCAT topics AAMC").

SAVE YOUR MONEY.

This book is an old edition. It might work well for you if you need a low price. The new book Barron's MCAT with CD-ROM is much expanded and completely revised.

This has very in depth explanations on certain stuff, but then it will just go by quickly on other things that are fairly important. It's Verbal Reasoning sections on the tests are easy reads, but sometimes tricky questions (not like the MCAT). It is a good deal for the money. I would only use it as a review of all the material once you have already learned everything. Do not try to use this if you are just starting your studying.

As pointed out by other reviewers, the new edition is quite superior. I found it to be comprehensive, well-thought out and well organized -- and considerably better in the areas of choice of subject matter. The latter is the reason why I jettisoned the Kaplan book I'd bought. The new Barron's is clearly better in terms of value for the price.

T

This book is a complete waste of both time and money. It is quite obvious that the editors barely even glanced at an actual MCAT exam when writing it. The review covers a lot of advanced, excessively detailed or off-topic material and the "model" exams (especially the passages) do not even come close to simulating actual exams. Using this book will only confuse you and prevent you from adequately preparing for the exam.

I'd recommend the Examkrackers complete study package as well as purchasing a few real practice exams from the AMCAS website.

Examkrackers Mcat Complete Study Package

Thus is an old edition. There is a newer one from 2011 that is a huge improvement. I recommend that one. Many practice tests, lots of test taking hints and well worth the purchase price.

There are a number of serious flaws that make this book not worth purchasing.

First, the book has not been updated to reflect substantial revisions to the formatting of the MCAT made since 2007 (when the book was written, published in 2008). Second, the review materials are both terse and overly complex. The book is totally inadequate for preparing yourself for the material of the exam. Third, the practice tests present far more difficult material than is actually on the MCAT and themselves are not useful for stand-alone practice.

I would recommend Cracking the MCAT, 2010-2011 Edition (Graduate School Test Preparation), which I have read and is outstanding, or one of Kaplan's book's, which I have not read but about which I have heard good reviews from other students.

While attempting to take a practice exam, already, on the first section, it confuses radius with diameter, angle from the vertical with angle from the horizontal, etc. For kicks (in case my perception of the world/complete understanding of physics turned out to be completely faulty), I checked the answers section, and it cannot properly apply Newtonian formulas. what. a. joke

I bet you saw the price on this MCAT book and got all excited. Other books don't even compare, price-wise. That's what I thought when I decided to buy it. I thought it was a good starting point. It's not. It spends two hundred pages on biology and about fifteen on chemistry. Its physics section is terrible and you get the sense that the company did not do their research as to what is actually on the MCAT. I used the study outlines on the official MCAT site and tried to find and read about each topic in this textbook, but the subjects rarely paralleled. The biology section was loaded with plenty of terms you don't need to know, which, along with the occasional spelling mistake, led to utter confusion. I feel like I did not learn much, and I egret having spent the summer with no text other than this one. Go the extra mile and spend the extra $50 for a real book. You're going to want to buy one anyway after you get this book and realize how unhelpful it is.

I didn't use the book for review, only for practice exams. The questions are either ridiculously easy, or totally confusing and almost impossible to answer. The physical and biological science sections, you didn't even need to read the passages to answer most of the questions because they were straight recall questions. Verbal was the most confusing, they were either ridiculously easy or had no real answer. I wouldn't recommend this book at all.